If there is one show that we need more of, it’s Brilliant Minds. The first season has come to an end, and now all eyes are on whether Brilliant Minds season 2 will happen.
NBC hasn’t canceled or renewed the series just yet. In a way, this is a good thing. No news is good news at this point in the TV schedule—a renewal would just be better. It gives us hope that there will be more to come, and it’s clear that there are more stories to tell.
So, what are the chances that NBC will decide to renew this series? This is one show that’s definitely on the bubble.
Brilliant Minds season 2 has a 50/50 chance at this point
This is one of those shows that is unfairly on the bubble, and part of that does come down to the pilot episode. I’m not going to lie. The pilot episode was somewhat clunky. It didn’t do the characters justice, making so many of them seem like stereotypes rather than the deep and beautiful characters that they became.
I have always been of the mind that a show needs two or three episodes to gain an audience. The problem now is that there’s so much to watch. A show needs to be able to attract an audience with just the pilot.
It also aired on Monday nights at 10/9c. This is a tricky timeslot for TV shows. We saw Manifest struggle a little in this timeslot toward the end. Other shows have had trouble in the past. There’s a reason NBC and other networks discussed getting rid of this timeslot—people aren’t sticking around to watch when they can stream the following day.
So even without looking at the linear ratings, I’d say that this show would have a 50/50 chance. The fanbase is loyal and vocal on social media, but is that enough to save the series?
The Brilliant Minds season 1 linear ratings haven’t been great
TV Series Finale has a breakdown of the Live + Same Day linear ratings. While these aren’t the be all and end all for renewals, they are still strongly considered. Brilliant Minds didn’t perform the greatest, but it also wasn’t at the bottom.
The show sits in ninth out of 12 TV shows on the network in the average demo. It sits in eighth in the total audience average. Two of the shows behind it are Found and The Irrational, and this could help Brilliant Minds get through. NBC won’t want to cancel all three shows, so we could see one of the crime dramas getting canceled, keeping the medical drama on the air.
It’s hard to call, though. Some of the decisions will be held off until the midseason shows premiere. We have new shows like The Hunting Party and Grosse Pointe Garden Society still to come, which could give Brilliant Minds a boost in the average ratings. Of course, they could also make the medical drama drop lower.
We probably won’t see NBC make a decision until around April or May 2025. We’ll be sure to keep an eye on things to see what the decision could be, but I would love to see Brilliant Minds season 2.
Brilliant Minds is available to stream on Peacock.
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