Below are the top 25 programs on cable on Wednesday, 12/29/21. Items of note include College Football on ESPN, All-Elite Wrestling on TNT, and The Bradshaw Bunch on E!.
(Click the names of the shows written in teal or blue to be taken to their pages in the TV Ratings Guide Cable Database.)
Given the pandemic left a narrow margin for new arrivals, the renewal side of the schedule leans heavily in favor of CBS comfort food. Sunday NCIS spinoffs are performing at expectations, Monday sitcoms are keeping at average or higher, Tuesday's procedurals remain a sweet spot and rank higher in their respective timeslots and the Friday crime element helps CBS win another season. Where the network needs help is Wednesdays deliver stiffer competition from FOX reality platforms and NBC's Chicago-verse. Monday's dramas deliver ordinary results despite some powering from the sitcoms, and Thursdays have an uneven tone with Young Sheldon winning, B-Positive and Mom performing at bar and The Unicorn is sinking.
In a better year, Mom would rank higher as a Certain Renewal. However, they lost a lead star, and all hinges on if Allison Janney wishes to continue her run. The same dynamic comes into play with procedurals Blue Bloods, NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: New Orleans. All are veterans of 7-12 seasons and are relying on if the stars remain intact. Blue Bloods would register higher, but last season's surprise ending of Hawaii: Five-O lead to cautious optimism. SWAT is demonstrating codependence on SEAL Team, leaving it as a On the Bubble. The same goes for All Rise, which does not hold the starpower of Bull despite narrowly outrating. And B-Positive? It is indeed performing at expectations, but again is contingent on other show's renewals and whether CBS wishes to update and do away with the Thursday 9:00 hour for sitcoms and plug in another run of the mill procedural.
