The nearly three dozen series that debuted on the broadcast networks in 2020-21 faced challenges unlike any other first-year class in recent memory.
Added to the years-long downward trend in ratings for broadcast networks, the crop of series entered a TV landscape in which two major media companies had launched streaming services (WarnerMedia’s HBO Max and NBCUniversal’s Peacock) since the end of the previous season.
Oh, and a global pandemic delayed production — or even formal series orders, in several cases — on just about every scripted show and robbed the networks of the force multiplier of their traditional fall launch. The first new scripted series of the fall that wasn’t a 2019-20 holdover or a low-cost import (NBC’s quarantine comedy Connecting, for the record) didn’t premiere until the third week of the traditional season, and most others were at least a week or two behind that.
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It should come as no surprise, then, that breakout shows were awfully hard to come by in 2020-21. Still, a few freshman series managed to separate themselves from the pack and draw sizable audiences despite the larger-than-usual obstacles.
(All ratings figures below include a week of delayed viewing; season averages are through May 9.)
The A-List
CBS’ The Equalizer, NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime and ABC’s Big Sky stand out in the group of 34 first-year shows, ranking first, second and third in total viewers, and first, second and fourth in the key ad demographic of adults 18-49.
The Equalizer rode a post-Super Bowl premiere to the upper echelons of the network rankings, finishing second among all nonsports programs in total viewers (12.69 million, just behind NCIS) and fourth in the 18-49 demo (1.9 rating). Even factoring out the debut episode’s 23.76 million viewers and 5.6 demo rating, the Queen Latifah-led reboot of the 1980s series would rank first among new shows in viewers (10.84 million) and third in the demo (1.3, tied with Fox’s I Can See Your Voice).
Organized Crime, which marked the much ballyhooed return of Chris Meloni to the L&O-verse, debuted with big numbers (11.4 million viewers and a 2.5 in adults 18-49) and has held up fairly well since. For the season, it’s drawing 8.35 million viewers and a 1.7 18-49 rating.
David E. Kelley’s Big Sky, meanwhile, racks up 7.51 million viewers per episode and a 1.2 in the key demo — while also being among the season’s leaders in delayed viewing in percentage terms. The mystery doubles its 18-49 rating and more than doubles its total audience in the seven days after its initial airing.
Building Blocks
Several other shows proved themselves capable of attracting decent audiences: ABC’s Celebrity Wheel of Fortune (7.15 million viewers) and The Chase (5.6 million); CBS’ United States of Al (6.1 million) and B Positive (5.69 million); Fox’s I Can See Your Voice (4.84 million) and Call Me Kat (4.16 million); and NBC’s Mr. Mayor (4.16 million) and Young Rock (3.85 million) have all been renewed. Wheel of Fortune will be part of ABC’s Sunday lineup in the fall, and the two CBS shows will occupy the half-hour slots in the network’s Thursday comedy block. The Fox and NBC series will return in early 2022.
Special Mention: The CW
The fifth English-language broadcaster has premiered three scripted series since January — Walker, Superman & Lois and Kung Fu — and they rank 1-2-3 on the network in total viewers for the season, surpassing veterans like The Flash and the final stretch of Supernatural. Superman & Lois (2.69 million viewers) and Walker (2.68 million) are in a virtual tie for first, and Kung Fu (1.82 million) is third, a couple hundred thousand viewers clear of The Flash.
Not Bad, but Not Enough
CBS’ Clarice and ABC’s Rebel rank fifth and seventh among first-year shows in viewers and are in the top half of the 18-49 rankings. Neither one, however, is returning to its original home next season in two of the bigger surprises of upfront week. Clarice will get to live on, at least, with a move to ViacomCBS’ streaming service Paramount+. Rebel, from Grey’s Anatomy and Station 19 showrunner Krista Vernoff, was canceled after just over a month on the air.
The Vast Middle
Most of the 18 remaining series fall into a shrug-emoji, “I guess it’s fine?” zone, with numbers in several cases good enough for renewal (NBC’s Kenan, ABC’s Home Economics) or anyway not bad enough to be canceled, at least until networks make final decisions among their second-half shows (see: The Masked Dancer, Debris, et al.). Fox’s animated comedy The Great North is among the least watched newcomers in Nielsen’s rankings (1.81 million viewers), but its 0.6 18-49 rating sits a bit higher on the list, it grows substantially on digital platforms and it has already banked renewals through 2022-23.
Bottom Dwellers
Connecting was the first rookie to premiere last fall — and it was also the first to depart, lasting only three episodes on NBC before the remainder of its season was shunted to digital platforms. Still, its 1.84 million viewers was about half a million more than Fox’s Pepsi-commercial-as-game-show Cherries Wild, which averaged just 1.3 million over its six episodes.
