There is finally some good news for a CBS show on the bubble. One of the freshman series has finally landed a renewal!
Yes, it’s all about Watson. Two months after the debut of the series, we finally got the good news that there will be a second season. It seemed like a no-brainer when looking at the average linear ratings, but when you look closer at the numbers, it was easy to see why CBS was a little on the fence about the show’s future.
Watson’s premiere position gave the series an excellent start
The series premiered on Sunday, Jan. 26, straight after the AFC Championship. This strong position gave it a great start, pulling in a higher number of viewers than it would have got premiering just after a new episode of Tracker. There was a bit of a wait for the second episode, but multiple reruns helped to keep it on the minds of people.
There was a small dip in the linear ratings after that, though. Watson doesn’t quite keep the viewership that Tracker offers it, but the linear ratings are steady for a Sunday night, and that’s what really counts.
The Hollywood Reporter shares that 9.58 million people viewed the premiere on the network, with that figure growing to 18.7 million over the course of five weeks across the different platforms available. It has dropped to 6.8 million viewers per episode across the week of DVR playback, but that number doesn’t include streaming in the way that the first figure did.
The pilot episode has become the most-watched original series episode on Paramount+, with seven million people tuning in. There’s no doubt that it made sense for CBS to renew the series.
What’s still on the bubble at CBS?
There are still two shows on the bubble at CBS. Poppa’s House is the other freshman series still to land a renewal, and it’s looking dicey with how long that series has aired so far — it was a fall show, compared to Watson being a midseason show.
The Equalizer is the other series on the bubble, and Watson’s renewal could be a bad sign for this one. The Queen Latifah series airs on Sundays after Watson and has seen a dip in the linear ratings this year. It’s also a third-party series, produced by Universal TV, which means extra negotiations and costs. The fifth season finale has been written to work as a series final if needed, but negotiations are currently underway for a sixth and final season.
Watson airs on Sundays at 9/8c on CBS, and we’re certainly excited for a second season.
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