Questions of the Week: Affiliates, The Big Bang Theory, CBS

 

’The Big Bang Theory: Repeats’ Ordered to Series by CBS, to Lead Off Monday Lineup

Everything old is new again, at least according to CBS. The network has ordered a second spinoff of their huge hit series The Big Bang Theory, to be titled 'The Big Bang Theory: Repeats.' CBS has also confirmed that, after years of disappointing ratings on the night, they hope to use the new spinoff to reinvigorate the struggling Monday lineup. TBBT: Repeats has already aired multiple pilots this year, and CBS has been impressed with the ratings for all of them. The network has stated that TBBT: Repeats will be their #1 priority for the 2018-19 season and say it will receive a promotional push "like you've never seen before."

What do you think of this fake news? Let us know in the comments below!

CBS Renew/Cancel: ‘Superior Donuts’ & ‘Criminal Minds’ Updated, ‘Instinct’ Debuts

"Superior Donuts" | CBS

Welcome to the CBS Renew/Cancel Watch. All in-season, scripted primetime shows airing on CBS in the 2017-18 season are included in the prediction table below. My predictions are current as of March 23, 2018.

The key to the right indicates the colors associated with each prediction. The data in the table includes current season lows, highs, and averages (Adults 18-49 demo), as well as the year-to-year changes for returning shows. The shows are ordered by their season averages against other scripted CBS shows.

Rank	Show	Season Low / High /Average	Y2Y Change
1	The Big Bang Theory	2.5 / 4.1 / 2.87	-7%
2	Young Sheldon	1.8 / 3.8 / 2.34	--
3	Mom	1.4 / 1.8 / 1.50	+5%
4	NCIS	1.2 / 1.6 / 1.44	-16%
5	Kevin Can Wait	1.0 / 2.3 / 1.25	-22%
6	Bull	1.0 / 1.3 / 1.20	-16%
7	Life In Pieces	1.1 / 1.3 / 1.17	-7%
8	SEAL Team	0.8 / 1.5 / 1.05	--
9	Man with a Plan	0.9 / 1.1 / 1.03	-17%
10	S.W.A.T.	0.9 / 1.1 / 1.01	--
11	Hawaii Five-0	0.9 / 1.1 / 1.00	-12%
-	Instinct	- / 1.0 / 1.00	--
-	Me, Myself & I	0.7 / 1.6 / 1.00	--
14	Criminal Minds	0.9 / 1.3 / 0.99	-29%
-	NCIS: New Orleans	0.9 / 1.1 / 0.99	-16%
16	9JKL	0.7 / 1.5 / 0.97	--
17	NCIS: LA	0.8 / 1.3 / 0.95	-27%
18	Blue Bloods	0.8 / 1.1 / 0.94	-24%
19	Superior Donuts	0.8 / 1.0 / 0.93	-21%
20	Wisdom of the Crowd	0.7 / 1.3 / 0.91	--
21	MacGyver	0.8 / 0.9 / 0.86	-20%
22	Scorpion	0.7 / 1.0 / 0.83	-30%
23	Living Biblically	0.7 / 0.8 / 0.73	--
24	Madam Secretary	0.6 / 0.8 / 0.66	-25%

CRIMINAL MINDS The reasons for the show's uncertain fate have been written and explored time and again: it's old, expensive, co-owned, and has had to endure cast shake-ups in the past few years. Its move to 10pm this season accelerated its y2y decline, and while it's averaging an OK 1.0 rating in the slot, it's not bringing much weight to the night anymore. SEAL Team is arguably wasting the potential in Criminal Minds' previous 9pm slot, but there's reason to believe that CBS will want to protect its 100% owned, highest rated freshman drama, and #3 drama over the aging veteran. They need space on the schedule and this would be a reasonable cancellation to make if the costs are just too high for what they're getting out of a 13 year old show. The argument could be made that it deserves a sendoff season, though CBS isn't notorious for providing that treatment. Complicated negotiations with ABC Studios will likely leave the show off of CBS's early renewal radar, but for the purposes of making a more definitive prediction away from the bubble, I have it as Likely to be Canceled at this time. 
SUPERIOR DONUTS What's clear is that CBS needs to improve their Mondays going forward. Kevin Can Wait and Man with a Plan are the strongest players on the night from 8-9 and are expected to be around for awhile. The revolving door of new comedies, including 9JKL, Living Biblically, and Me, Myself & I are not. While the Monday comedies are not really anchor-worthy, Superior Donuts is least qualified for that heavy lifting. To be fair, it's only down a tenth or two from the 8-9 block on any given week, but it's failing to make any sophomore gains (it's down 21% y2y) even with a fall start and a full season to play out at the top of an hour. It'll count 34 episodes by the end of the season, which is easily within the range of a painless cancellation. As for CBS's other comedies, Young Sheldon is the comedy breakout CBS needed to develop this year. The Big Bang Theory, Mom, and Life In Pieces are expected back, and that's all the network needs. CBS has made some interesting choices in the past, such as renewing The Odd Couple twice. Something similar could happen to Superior Donuts, but at this point it doesn't seem worth CBS's while to drag another low-rated sitcom to syndication. The quality of their pilots could be the determining factor, and that's not for me to try to predict. From what I see, it's Likely to be Canceled at this time. 
INSTINCT Since it's aired only one episode so far, Instinct is firmly on the bubble. Its 1.0 premiere rating is fine, but it is likely to fall from this data point going forward as we've seen in the past. S.W.A.T. is probably the safest newbie, with SEAL Team fighting and Instinct yet to prove itself as a contender. CBS has renewed midseason shows in the past, though the ones that come to mind were spinoffs (CSI: Cyber and Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders). It shouldn't be included in a batch of early renewals, so I feel comfortable leaving it On the Bubble for now.

CBS Renew/Cancel: ‘Living Biblically’ Faces Certain Death

Jay R. Ferguson | CBS

Welcome to the CBS Renew/Cancel Watch. All in-season, scripted primetime shows airing on CBS in the 2017-18 season are included in the prediction table below. My predictions are current as of March 12, 2018.

The key to the right indicates the colors associated with each prediction. The data in the table includes current season lows, highs, and averages (Adults 18-49 demo), as well as the year-to-year changes for returning shows. The shows are ordered by their season averages against other scripted CBS shows.

Rank	Show	Season Low / High /Average	Y2Y Change
1	The Big Bang Theory	2.5 / 4.1 / 2.87	+3%
2	Young Sheldon	1.8 / 3.8 / 2.33	--
3	Mom	1.4 / 1.8 / 1.50	+5%
4	NCIS	1.2 / 1.6 / 1.44	-16%
5	Kevin Can Wait	1.1 / 2.3 / 1.27	-21%
6	Bull	1.0 / 1.3 / 1.19	-17%
7	Life In Pieces	1.1 / 1.3 / 1.17	-7%
8	SEAL Team	0.9 / 1.5 / 1.06	--
9	Man with a Plan	0.9 / 1.1 / 1.05	-15%
10	Hawaii Five-0	0.9 / 1.1 / 1.00	-12%
-	S.W.A.T.	0.9 / 1.1 / 1.00	--
-	Criminal Minds	0.9 / 1.3 / 1.00	-28%
-	Me, Myself & I	0.7 / 1.6 / 1.00	--
14	NCIS: New Orleans	0.9 / 1.1 / 0.99	-16%
15	9JKL	0.7 / 1.5 / 0.97	--
16	NCIS: LA	0.8 / 1.3 / 0.96	-27%
17	Superior Donuts	0.8 / 1.0 / 0.94	-19%
-	Blue Bloods	0.8 / 1.1 / 0.94	-24%
19	Wisdom of the Crowd	0.7 / 1.3 / 0.91	--
20	MacGyver	0.8 / 0.9 / 0.86	-20%
21	Scorpion	0.7 / 1.0 / 0.83	-30%
22	Living Biblically	0.7 / 0.8 / 0.75	--
23	Madam Secretary	0.6 / 0.8 / 0.67	-23%

LIVING BIBLICALLY It's not a surprise that the midseason series tanked in its debut. It was never expected to be in a position to succeed, as CBS's Mondays are lacking in strength under Kevin Can Wait and Man with a Plan's leadership, as well as the fact that midseason runs tend to be rough. With a 0.8 and 0.7 across two airings, the religious sitcom is already certain to be cancelled. There's no upside to its dismal performance, especially for an unowned show that is merely continuing a terrible 9:30 trend. It always seemed like its order was mostly a favor to The Big Bang Theory's Johnny Galecki, who EPs the Warner Bros. production, so the loss doesn't seem significant. Moreover, Superior Donuts is the favorite fractional sitcom that stands a chance to make it out of this season alive, and even that is very far from a sure thing. 
With the expectation of early CBS renewals coming soon, new predictions will be made for Superior Donuts and Criminal Minds in the next edition of the CBS R/C. 

CBS Renew/Cancel: ‘S.W.A.T.’ Likely to be Renewed

Shemar Moore ("S.W.A.T.") | CBS

Welcome to the CBS Renew/Cancel Watch. All in-season, scripted primetime shows airing on CBS in the 2017-18 season are included in the prediction table below. My predictions are current as of December 28, 2017.

The key to the right indicates the colors associated with each prediction. The data in the table includes current season lows, highs, and averages (Adults 18-49 demo), as well as the year-to-year changes for returning shows. The shows are ordered by their season averages against other scripted CBS shows.

Rank	Show	Season Low / High /Average	Y2Y Change
1	The Big Bang Theory	2.5 / 4.1 / 2.89	-7%
2	Young Sheldon	1.8 / 3.8 / 2.33	--
3	Mom	1.4 / 1.8 / 1.54	+2%
4	NCIS	1.4 / 1.6 / 1.43	-17%
5	Kevin Can Wait	1.1 / 2.3 / 1.29	-20%
6	Bull	1.0 / 1.3 / 1.19	-17%
7	Life In Pieces	1.1 / 1.3 / 1.15	-9%
8	SEAL Team	0.9 / 1.5 / 1.14	--
9	Criminal Minds	0.9 / 1.3 / 1.05	-25%
10	Man with a Plan	0.9 / 1.0 / 1.02	-18%
11	S.W.A.T.	0.9 / 1.1 / 1.01	--
-	Me, Myself & I	0.7 / 1.6 / 1.01	--
-	NCIS: New Orleans	0.9 / 1.1 / 1.01	-14%
14	Hawaii Five-0	0.9 / 1.1 / 1.02	-10%
15	9JKL	0.7 / 1.5 / 0.99	--
16	NCIS: LA	0.8 / 1.3 / 0.95	-27%
17	Blue Bloods	0.8 / 1.1 / 0.94	-25%
-	Wisdom of the Crowd	0.7 / 1.3 / 0.94	--
19	Superior Donuts	0.8 / 1.0 / 0.91	-22%
20	MacGyver	0.8 / 0.9 / 0.84	-23%
21	Scorpion	0.7 / 1.0 / 0.83	-31%
22	Madam Secretary	0.6 / 0.8 / 0.67	-24%

S.W.A.T. The new drama has averaged just over a 1.0 across eight airings. That's rather impressive when compared directly to CBS's other new dramas. Specifically, this looks rather good against SEAL Team, which airs an hour earlier on Wednesdays, has one of the network's biggest lead-ins, and has only done marginally better despite the help. Of course, Wisdom of the Crowd has turned less than favorable results on Sundays and was not given a full season's confidence by CBS. This leaves S.W.A.T. and SEAL Team in serious contention for renewal, and as it stands now they both seem viable. Compared to past Thursday at 10 occupants, the show is a notable improvement over Pure Genius,, Training Day, and Rush Hour. I've upgraded S.W.A.T. to Likely to be Renewed status due to its stability, good 10pm numbers and improvement of the time slot, and CBS's full season order.