CBS Dramas Dominate Prime Time Halfway Through TV Season

• by Wayne Friedman , 10 hours ago

Through 19 weeks of the TV season, CBS’ crime-procedural dramas dominate the top TV broadcast spots in terms of prime-time entertainment viewing.

CBS’ “NCIS” averages 15.1 million viewers in Nielsen-measured live program-plus-seven days of time-shifted viewing through Feb. 2. CBS’ “FBI” is next at 12.4 million, with CBS’ “Blue Bloods” at 11.8 million.

In fourth and fifth place, NBC’s “This Is Us” has 11.7 million and its “Chicago Fire” has 11.3 million.

In spots six through 10 are Fox’s “The Masked Singer” at 11.2 million, CBS’ “Young Sheldon” at 11.2 million, NBC’s two other Chicago-themed dramas -- “Chicago Med” at 10.98 million and “Chicago PD” at 10.92 million -- and ABC’s “The Good Doctor” with 10.8 million.

These prime-time dramas have seen viewership gains from their initial prime-time airing through seven days ranging from 33% (“NCIS” and “Young Sheldon”) to a high of 90% (“The Good Doctor”).

The best-rated, non-scripted competition shows are: Fox’s “The Masked Singer” at 11.2 million; NBC’s “The Voice” (Monday) at 9.83 million; “The Voice” (Tuesday edition) at 9.76 million; NBC’s “AGT Champions” at 9.0 million; CBS’ “Survivor” at 8.7 million; ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” at 7.8 million; and ABC’s “The Bachelor” with 7.7 million.

The top comedies are CBS’ “Young Sheldon,” in first place with 11.2 million; followed by CBS’ “Mom” at 8.4 million; ABC’s “The Conners” at 7.6 million; CBS’ “The Neighborhood” at 7.4 million; and CBS’ “Bob Hearts Abishola” with 7.3 million.

Virtually all prime-time shows have seen double-digit percentage declines from a year ago.

Overall, for this 2019-2020 TV season, entertainment prime-time broadcast network series have dropped 14% to 5.6 million from 6.5 million a year ago in Nielsen’s live program-plus-seven days (L7) of time-shifted data through Dec. 8, 2019.