US REPORT – THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2021: CBS’ FBI FRANCHISE, NBC’S NEW AMSTERDAM FOURTH SEASON

BROADCAST RATINGS:

Broadcast Primetime Live + Same Day – Tuesday, September 21, 2021

BROADCAST RATINGS REPORT:

• FOX’S THE RESIDENT season debut aired to .5 and almost 3 million viewers. OUR KIND OF PEOPLE also premiered its debut season about a single Black mother in a wealthy Martha’s Vineyard community that critics have branded “soapy” but worth streaming.
• ABC’S BACHELOR IN PARADISE ticked down from .9 to .8 and THE ULTIMATE SURFER held at .3.
• CBS’ FBI and FBI MOST WANTED season debuts aired to .7/.6 respectively, and FBI: INTERNATIONAL series debut aired to .6 and just under 6.5 million viewers.
• NBC’S NEW AMSTERDAM season debutaired to .5 and over 3.5 million viewers.
• CW’S DC’S STARGIRL and SUPERGIRL both held at .1.

CABLE RATINGS:

Top 25 Original Programs on Cable– Tuesday, September 21, 2021

CABLE RATINGS REPORT:

• FOX’s TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT ticked up from .28 to .32, AMERICA REPORTS aired to .17/.18, THE STORY was at .16, THE FIVE held at .25, SPECIAL REPORT WITH BRET BAIER ticked up from .19 to .21, and FOX NEWS PRIMETIME ticked up .01 to .19.
• ESPN ‘s PARDON THE INTERRUPTION held at .20 and SPORTSCENTER EARLY held at .18.
• DISCOVERY’s DEADLIEST CATCH was at 0.30/0.16 compared to last week’s 0.18/0.15

and DEADLIEST CATCH: BLOODLINE aired to .16.

• TLC’s WELCOME TO PLATHVILLE was up 0.04 to 0,18 and MY BIG FAT FABULOUS LIFE gained 0.05 to 0.20.
• MSNBC’s RACHEL MADDOW SHOW at 0.16.
• FX’S AMERICAN CRIME STORY: IMPEACHMENT dropped .04 to .20.
• USA’S WWE NXT dropped .01 to .20.

OTHER NEWS:

STREAMING UPDATES:

• NETFLIX has greenlit a limited series based on Anthony Doerr’s Pulitzer Prize-winning World War II novel ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE. The streamer also attracted a lot of media attention this week by releasing a trailer for a Britney Spears documentary BRITNEY VS SPEARS, premiering next week—which is perfect timing with the ongoing news about Britney’s conservatorship ending soon.
• VIACOMCBS is making moves to bulk up PARAMOUNT+ to be more competitive in the streaming landscape. The company plans to double its streaming content spend to bulk, as it currently spends $15 billion annually split between linear and digital — and is hunting for partnerships. And the aggressive approach is finding favor in Wall Street, who have reappraised the company's prospects.
• PEACOCK will launch spinoff children’s series DRAGONS RESCUE RIDERS: HEROES OF THE SKY, based on the series that has run on Netflix for two seasons, starting end of November.
• POLARIS, the Black-owned, free ad-supported streaming channel, is coming to Vizio’s SmartCast platform. Created by digital media pioneer and journalist Rahman J. Dukes, Polaris aims to uncover and share stories created by Black, Indigenous and People of Color about Hip-Hop and Black culture with the world.
• MATV MOTORSPORTS NETWORK launched 24/7 streaming channel MAVTV Select on Pluto TV. It features a vast lineup of racing content including AMERICAN SPRINT CAR SERIES, LATE MODEL DIRT SERIES, PRO PULLING LEAGUE, and more.
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TV UPDATES:

• SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE returns for its 47^th season on October 2! Kim Kardashian has been tapped to host on October 9 which is already drawing lots of media attention.
• NBC tapped Meghan Rafferty as new executive producer of NBC NIGHTLY NEWS.
• FOX new singing competition show ALTER EGO debuts yesterday and today, September 22 and 23, at 8:00 PST. The look we have gotten so far into the show has resulted in a wide range of responses from the public—with some people like Will.i.am branding avatar series as the future, while outlets like The Guardian are calling the avatars “legitimately nightmarish.” The avatars themselves are intriguing in their scale, design, and movements, but they are no doubt a little bit creepy as well. The show’s concept is centralized around the idea that the contestants have chosen these strange avatars because they have anxieties and insecurities that inhibit them from being able to take the stage as their own identities out of fear of being judged. What the show has received a lot of backlash from critics over, is the fact that the show could have been arguably stronger without the constant justification of insecurity for why the contestants are performing as avatars. The show doesn’t need to inform each performance with a sob story to justify the avatars. Fox should put the sob stories on the back burner and bring the creative process of the avatars to the forefront. The show’s concept needs some tweaking—because it should simply be owning the fact that the avatars are the show, not trying to constantly explain to us why they are. Audiences were also not entirely impressed with the way that the avatars can do absolutely anything in the physical space they inhabit, yet every contestant stood stagnantly on stage. When avatars can do anything, who wouldn’t Fox rev up the excitement factor with some more stage performance? The avatars are cool, and Fox isn’t playing that up enough—it’s still focusing on making them feel human. The judges’ attitudes serve as a good example of that—where in one segment of the show the judges cannot tell if one singer named Seven behind a gender-neutral avatar is male or female, and they continue to harp on the question until it basically reinforces the very insecurity the contestant was trying to overcome. If the show were really interested in fostering a non-judgmental space, it might have allowed Seven to perform as themself without instantly litigating the gender question. And perhaps Fox needs to reconsider the idea of judges for this concept overall… considering it markets itself as the future, maybe it’s time to consider that the model we have always used for singing competition shows of four judges at a table doesn’t best serve the concept of this show.

Renewed:

• NETFLIX has told us what we’ve all been waiting for sinceMarch 2020… TIGER KING is coming back for season 2 before the end of the year! The announcement for TIGER KING 2 comes as the streamer prepares to roll out an impressive true crime slate through early 2022.
• TBS renewed FULL FRONTAL WITH SAMANTHA BEE for a season seven and moved the late-night series to Thursdays.

Ordered:

• LIFETIME has ordered three new unscripted series: plastic surgery transformation series MY KILLER BODY WITH K. MICHELLE, dating series FIVE GUYS A WEEK, and family docuseries LIVE IT TO GEEGE.
• SONY PICTURES TV has ordered A SOLDIER’S PLAY to series, which is adapted from a play first produced Off Broadway in 1981 by the Negro Ensemble Company in a staging that included young Denzel Washington and Samuel L. Jackson.

Canceled:

• NETFLIX and CHANNEL 4 announced that Irish teen comedy DERRY GIRLS will end with season three.

INDUSTRY NEWS:

• WHIP MEDIA and NATPE have partnered to launch a report on global content viewership to help buyers and distributors evaluate what international content is most popular among US viewers. Leading the pack of the 10 most-viewed non-U.S. TV series is Netflix’s global hit MONEY HEIST followed by SEX EDUCATION, SCHITTS CREEK, and LOVE ISLAND.  Belgium’s INTO THE NIGHT ranked #5, followed by KIM’S CONVENIENCE, SLASHER, CORONER, DOCTOR WHO, and BURDEN OF TRUTH.
• SHOWTIME is releasing a Dexter podcast coinciding with the 15^th anniversary of the original series titled DEXTER: NEW BLOOD WRAP-UP WITH SCOTT REYNOLDS with sixteen episodes dropping weekly starting October 1.
• THE EDITOR’S GUILD and IATSE are urging their members to vote “overwhelmingly” to authorize a strike against the film and television industry after recent negotiations with the ALLIANCE OF MOTION PICTURE AND TELEVISION PRODUCERS for a new Basic Agreement broke down. To reiterate from recent updates, the main issues here at hand are unlivable low wages for below-the-line crew and industry enforcement of brutally long workdays. The guild has also raised concern over the union’s ailing pension plan for members. The AMPTP said on Monday that they have submitted a “meaningful” proposal to amend their issues with the guild, but that “IATSE leadership walked away from a generous comprehensive package.” The Editor’s Guild also announced they are exploring ways to provide financial relief to members in the event of a strike.