Friday Ratings Scorecard: CBS’ Drama Lineup Continues to Lose Steam

Friday, March 5, 2021 – Preliminary Ratings

Total Viewers:
CBS: 5.25 million, ABC: 3.79, NBC: 2.78, Fox: 2.17, CW: 741,000

Adults 18-49:
ABC and Fox: 0.6 rating/4 share each, CBS and NBC: 0.4/ 3 each, CW: 0.1/ 1

CBS remains the network to beat in total viewers but the line-up of “MacGyver” (Viewers: #1, 4.87 million; A18-49: #3, 0.5/ 3 at 8 p.m.), “Magnum, P.I.” (Viewers: #1, 5.70 million; A18-49: #1t, 0.5/ 3 at 9 p.m.) and “Blue Bloods” (Viewers: #1, 5.25 million; A18-49: #2t, 0.4/ 3 at 10 p.m.) continues to trend downward. At 11 seasons, “Blue Bloods”, in particular, is really showing its age.

Tops for the night in total viewers was ABC’s “Shark Tank”, which at just a 0.7/ 5 in the demo in the 8 p.m. ET hour magnifies the difficulty the broadcast networks have attracting an audience on Friday. Lead-our newsmagazine “20/20” slipped to 3.46 million viewers (#2) and a 0.5/ 4 (#1t) from 9-11 p.m., which was still stronger than NBC’s competing “Dateline” (Viewers: #3, 2.60 million; A18-49: #4, 0.4/ 3).

Earlier on NBC was already renewed “The Blacklist” at a paltry 3.15 million viewers (#3) and a 0.3/ 3 in the demo in the 8 p.m. hour.

Elsewhere, “WWE Friday Night Smackdown” was at typical preliminary levels (see Fox’s average above). And The CW featured two repeat episodes of tired “Who’s Line is it Anyway” and “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” (Viewers: #5, 712,000; A8-49: #5, 0.1/ 1 at 9 p.m.).