Midseason Ratings Report: What Are CBS’ Best & Worst Shows?
Now that the broadcasters have completed their run of fresh episodes for the fall, let’s see how each network’s shows are stacking up thus far for the 2017-18 TV season, now turning to CBS.
Listed below is the average Live+Same Day demo RATING for each CBS series. Beside that is the percent CHANGE versus each program’s previous full-season average (or its time slot predecessor’s performance, if noted to the right). The NOTES section also reminds of any time slot changes to keep in mind when eyeballing up/down movements. Each program’s RANK refers to perhaps the most critical measure — how it is faring compared to other shows on CBS, since come springtime heads must roll to make room for shiny-and-newish pilots.
THE TVLINE BOTTOM LINE: Young Sheldon‘s freshman year gets high honors, as TV’s top-rated (and most-watched) new fall series. (And before you cry, “Cushy lead-in,” know that Sheldon is delivering a remarkable 80 to 90 percent retention out of TV’s No. 1 comedy, whereas The Great Indoors last season didn’t even hold onto half its numbers.) On the drama side, S.W.A.T. may not have quite come out guns a-blazing, but it is outperforming Pure Genius‘ year-ago average, besting ABC’s How to Get Away With Murder in the demo and drawing the Thursday time slot’s biggest audience (edging out NBC’s Chicago Fire). On the down side, Criminal Minds‘ slight improvement of Wednesday’s 10/9c time slot is offset by SEAL Team falling shy of its predecessor; Wisdom of the Crowd‘s troubled launch is hurting Sunday’s average; MacGyver cooled a bit quickly; and Scorpion has curiously slipped a lot with only a slightly weaker lead-in.
Which ranking or percent change most surprises you?
Want scoop on any of the above shows? Email InsideLine@tvline.com and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line.
Nothing I watch seems to be in jeopardy, so all is good for me for CBS (unlike with ABC’s Once and Murder)
I can’t decide if the title of the article is trying to be click baity or not. It sure is not about the quality of the shows on the network, its about the ratings of those shows.
I will say that unlike the ABC chart, CBS has a few shows that are up vs year to year.
The first three words establish the topic/parameter, and the chart lays out in descending order the network’s lineup of shows, from best to worst rated. We’re good 👍
True, but I have to agree with Jericho. “Best” and “Worst” are quality, not quantity, adjectives. Without a qualifier like “-performing” or just different words, like “Most-Watched” and “Least-Watched” it comes off as terribly click-baity.
The only shows that are up are new shows or shows in new time slots. For example, Criminal Minds is up vs Code Black/Beyond Borders but it’s down vs season 12, same for Madam Secretary.
Unless the article title changed from when you read it, there’s no mention of quality, just ratings.
Wasn’t NCIS LA on at 8pm last year on Sundays and not Madam Secretary? So the comparison should be Wisdom of the Crowd this season vs NCIS LA last season.
Indeed, I must have pulled up the wrong fall grid. Good catch/fixed!
I miss Elementary. Hoping it comes back soon.
CBS needs to move Madam Secretary. The easiest thing is to just cancel Wisdom of the Crowd and move everything up.
Alan Cumming’s INSTINCT is replacing WISDOM though (starting March 11).
I agree. But I have to admit, I’m happily surprised that their ratings haven’t changed that much compared to last season and they are doing better than Elementary did in this slot.
Madame Secretary is my famiy’s favorite show. The acting and the writing are both superb. I think the problem is its time slot, which has been very frustrating.
I agree. The later time slot for Madam Secretary is not good.
IMO, Criminal Minds is doing respectable on its new timeslot.
Agreed. I think this season’s been a pretty good one overall thus far. The episodes have been pretty good overall, Luke’s settled into the team quite nicely, and I’m glad that Tara’s been able to last a little longer thus far than some of the other recent female team members who’ve come and gone. And while I still think eight team members is a lot to juggle, if they had to bring in somebody new, adding Matt from “Beyond Borders” was a wise decision, since CM fans who watched that show are already familiar with him. Saves the show the time of having to develop yet another brand new character and their backstory.
I agree. I think the team right now is pretty well balanced. Plus, I don’t know if it’s just me but it seems like screen time or character focus is more equal.
I agree. I hate that they have so many characters and truly feel they just wanted equal men and women. But I like the addition of Matt.
Better than ABC but still worrying for the networks in general; obviously the non-traditional outlets are cutting into their base audience
Networks problem is they program for an incorrect demo. Fewer people watching and fewer younger people. They need to get at least the age 50 crowd and even higher. But no they won’t.
Its because they don’t matter to advertisers.
Which is re-re-re-explained here in detail, by experts, but… people! https://tvline.com/2017/05/11/tv-ratings-renewed-cancelled-shows-frequently-asked-questions/
50+ doesn’t matter because advertisers sell to 18-49. They sell to 18-49 because that’s what the networks measure. Catch-22?
The 50+ don’t matter because their kids have left, they’ve paid off the mortgage, can at last start to spend on luxuries, take holidays – obviously the advertisers don’t want them
Yea yea you are all telling me stuff I know. Much of what you say in the real world is lies. And if the networks don’t change viewership will continue to nose dive as the population ages. And culus what you say is absolutely ridiculous
“Much of what you say in the real world is lies”? Good-bye, Brad.
Amen!
Anything was better than The Great Indoors.
Not Kevin can Wait, I CANT wait til it gets cancelled!!!!
Ha ha good one 🤣
stop hating
BEST: Young Sheldon (whether they liked it or not). WORST: 9JKL (really hope it won’t last that long whether or not you believe me).
Sunday night shows should not be rated untill football is over. The start times can be different from week to week and shows like Madame secretary even if recorded ending can be missed.
Madam Secretary is in a terrible time slot. The football games interfere every week in the fall.
No talent left in Hollywood, i don’t watch any of these shows. Absolutely no originality in production.
How would you know that if you didn’t watch them ?
Yup, my question also!
“No talent left in Hollywood, i don’t watch any of these shows. Absolutely no originality in production.” Said someone in 1990 and then people just kept repeating it. (Kind of like people do about SNL.)
There’s more talent now in the TV industry than ever. With all of the streaming, cable, pay nets we’re swamped with shows that are great.
The Networks are working off of old advertising models they’re (understandably so) terrified to challenge. What with the internet being what it is all it takes is one angry person to decide a scene they saw where someone fed pigeons in the park is “offensive” and “demeaning” and next thing you know there are online petitions calling for the cancelation of the show.
The Nets won’t take chances because the costs associated with failures are too high so they go with middle of the road stuff that’s safe. You say there are no more new ideas? I agree. But cop/hospital shows are easy. New cases/patients each week, etc. Cable shows don’t have the same demand (audience-wise) so they can be more niche.
Nets will eventually turn around. They’ll have to. But not any time quick.
It’s like pizza.
Nets offer mostly plain because that’s what the majority like. They make a pepperoni and veggie available too, maybe, but mostly push the plain.
Netflix, HBO, Hulu, etc. offer meatball and Hawaiian and barbecue and jalapeño because they’re not available elsewhere.
Hopefully the Nets turn it around and offer better shows soon but I don’t see it happening. We don’t need it to happen now. The “Big Three” (ABC, CBS, NBC) aren’t the only options anymore. They’ll most-likely always be the “safe” ground.
Love Madam Secretary my favorite program.
I was interested in Madam Secretary, but with Sunday sports always moving it, I’ve never seen more than a few episodes in the first season. (Just like loving Amazing Race and giving up on it, despite the fact that they’ve finally moved it to a weekday.)
This is why I don’t watch Madam Secretary. I would, and every time I catch an episode I love it, but I just won’t deal with the Sunday sports pushes all the time.
This has been such a problem for year. First, CSI Miami always had those issues. Then the Mentalist. Fix it already haha.
CBS makes a lot more money from Sports than they do from the programs they air Sunday at 10 PM, so get used to it. It’s probably a choice between airing Sunday at 10 PM or getting cancelled.
Maybe you could go to the CBS website and find out if there’s a way to watch a program on your computer that was suppose to air Sunday night at 10 PM, but, was preempted by a Sports show.
I’m pretty sure this is going to be the last season for Madam Secretary. The ratings are low and it has run four seasons. I suspect it will get canceled
Naw, they’ll give it a 5th season for sure. That’ll let them hit the 100 episode mark and its relatively stable for what it is.
It got a syndication deal so it’s profitable for CBS and the ratings matter less. See also: Elementary.
I don’t watch or havn’t ever watched much on that list. I like Seal Team. I tried to watch SWAT. I couldn’t get through the first episode.
I loved Pure Genius will it be returning for second season?
Nope. It’s been cancelled.
Me, too. Sadly, it’s DOA.
2 Broke Girls not looking too shaby now eh. I miss that show
Honestly, probably the worst show I ever wasted a half hour on, I just didn’t think they could act. It was like someone lost a bet and they had to cast those girls.
Agreed. That show was awful. I can’t see how it lasted as long as it did. Not only did someone lose a bet, but someone had to be being blackmailed to force CBS to keep it on the air.
Scorpion is hurt by its new timeslot against Good Doctor which is a big hit.. I for one always watch it and Good Doc off my DVR…
Wow lots of negatives there but there is for every network. Young Sheldon has done terrific for CBS especially keeping close to its lead in. Also S.W.AT. is doing far better than I thought. Mind you not great but better than what CBS has had there. Very surprised at how low Five O dropped considering how some of us( including me) thought it would be far worse off with the casting exits. And of course CBS is going to continue to hold on to Seal Team’s ” most watched Wed drama” but in reality they have to be disappointed by it. It was given a good timeslot and not only bleeds too much from Survivor( itself still a beast) but has lost most of is time slot to a 19 year old show( SVU, no offense to fans of that show which has shown remarkable staying power) and FOX’S Star( again no offense to fans it has benefitted greatly from Empire in front of it). Seal Team should not be losing to those shows and its low numbers have affected CM even if CM has improved slightly from last years Wed slot. And the fact that there are still outlets that consider ST ” a breakout hit” is absurd. it is doing fine but not great and not a breakout hit. CBS seems to be hurting across the board way more than they usually do but maybe I am wrong. But they still have a steady Friday and Tuesday and Thursday but boy their other nights need help
That’s right. Apart from Young Sheldon and The Good Doctor, (which CBS passed on, so Daniel Dae Kim took to ABC), and possibly The Orville, there has not been much that debuted since September that could be called a true hit.
Seal Team is an okay program, however, it’s just not that good compared to the other choices on many other networks.
CBS’ Monday is terrible and the ratings are just awful. I hope the fans like them, because, Monday night is just not CBS for me.
CBS is Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sixty Minutes and NCIS: Los Angeles on Sunday.
Great for S.W.A.T. This show is probably one of the most promising show on a network TV. Shawn Ryan (the co-creator; showrunner) is amazingly great.
Please please please save Scorpion
Kevin can Wait really is terrible. I liked the story of a newly retired police officer getting on the families nerves as he settles into his new life. Good dynamic, and then they went with this in season 2 . It’s like a King of Queens meets Undercover Boss, every week new hi-jinx in the workplace as Carrie berates Doug for his oafness and big exterior and he comes back with witty zings. Enough, put this show out of its misery!!
then don’t watch it hater
CM doing well for switching time slots. And for those not watching, it has been really good this season. 2 Broke Girls is missed and if Kevin Can’t Wait didn’t kill Donna, I’d still be watching. King of Queens ended a long time ago. Also, the comedy to watch is Man With A Plan.
Still frustrating that 2 Broke Girls was cancelled for 2 worse preforming shows. They could have given it a 8-12 episode season to tie it all up.
At the tiny, most minimum, an hour special to cover the wedding that was in the works. I think it ended fairly well, otherwise.
TV stinks!!
Do you have Smellevision? Wow! Try watching more PBS; they have outstanding dramas, mysteries and comedies because they target viewers with intelligence and higher aesthetic standards.
Wouldn’t it better to compare fall 2016 vs fall 2017 ratings rather than fall 2016 vs full season 2016-17 ratings? For example compare Superior Donuts with 2 Broke Girls 6A (0.9 vs 1.4) And for shows with two or more timeslots, like 9JKL, maybe separate the averages for each timeslot or maybe just use the most recent timeslot (9:30) since including its 8:30 ratings does not yield a fair comparison. I don’t recall t getting a 1.0 at 9:3 so its average should be lower
I know it’s a lot of work but it should have been done properly.
Separate comparisons for multiple time slots? Sounds like I would not have any time left to write any other stories for the site. Nah I’m fine. And there are a bazillion reasons (or around 3) to not compare “Fall to fall,” but it is bedtime here in USA.
That’s why I said the recent timeslot is enough just like what you did with 9JKL. But it is still a not a fair comparison since you’ve included its ratings OUTSIDE 9:30. Regarding fall vs fall, well it would have given better figures rather than fall vs full season dince full season averages include spring ratings which drag down the average. Then we get to the end of the season that’s when you compare full season averages.