CBS Earns Massive Ratings Wins as TV Season Wraps Up
With the 2022-23 broadcast television season coming to a close, CBS is once again back on top with the ratings. Deadline reports that while NBC's football coverage was the top winner, long-running procedural NCIS was the "clear winner" for scripted programming. It was previously reported that CBS was the most-watched broadcast network during primetime, with an average of 5.96 million viewers each night. It's the network's 15th consecutive year that it's been first in viewers, and it doesn't seem to be slowing down.
Despite being in its 20th season, NCIS takes the cake of being the most-watched scripted series of the season with almost 10 million viewers, though it did lose a million average viewers from last season, which isn't so surprising considering how long the series has been on. Meanwhile, FBI, Blue Bloods, and Young Sheldon are also among the most-watched programs of the television season.
Ghosts also ranked in the Top 10, as well as freshman success Fire Country. CBS dominates the Top 40, claiming half of the titles in terms of total viewers. Unfortunately, also among the top series of the season is East New York, which is the most-watched broadcast series to get canceled this season. CBS canceled two series this season, including East New York, with the other one being freshman drama True Lies. NCIS: Los Angeles also ended this season after 14 seasons.
Excluding sports and unscripted series, S.W.A.T. is in the Top 20 of most-watched programs for the season. CBS famously canceled the series before reversing its decision just days later after an uproar from fans. The network is giving the cop procedural a seventh and final season, with just 13 episodes to close out the series. While it is shorter than some would hope, it is better than nothing, which is what fans almost got.
With CBS' fall schedule having a mix of old and new shows, the network is starting off the 2023-24 season strong. It is also going to start the new year off strong next year, as the network will be hosting the Super Bowl, meaning that it will have the coveted post-Super Bowl time slot as well. This Is Us alum Justin Hartley's new show Tracker will be in the prime timeslot following the biggest game of the year, so it's going to be interesting to see how it will do. However, there's a good chance that CBS will once again come out on top. For now, the focus can be on the upcoming season and just looking forward to even more shows on CBS.