The Breakdown: NBC Sunday in 2021-22 (Weakest Link)

It's time for a journey through the NBC Sunday schedule in 2021-22...


fall

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30	Avg
2020-21	Football Night in America p3	Sunday Night Football					Sunday Night Football	Sunday Night Football	Sunday Night Football	Sunday Night Football	661
	2020-21	392	715					715	715	715		715	661
	2020-21												392	715	715	715	715	715	661
	2020-21	554		554	715		715	715		715		661
2021-22	Football Night in America p3	Sunday Night Football					Sunday Night Football	Sunday Night Football	Sunday Night Football	Sunday Night Football	851 (+29%)
	2021-22	511 (+30%)	928 (+30%)					917 (+28%)	917 (+28%)	917 (+28%)		917 (+28%)	851.281867864226
	2021-22												511.460480142595	928.049834573536	917 (+28%)	917 (+28%)	917 (+28%)	917 (+28%)	851.281867864226
	2021-22	720 (+30%)		719.755157358065	917 (+28%)		917 (+28%)	917 (+28%)		917 (+28%)		851.281867864226
VsAvg	+158%		1.58091090949089	+149%		1.49135972750642	+151%		1.51392282329881	+152%
Rank	1/21		1/21	1/21		1/21	1/21		1/21	1/21

Football. Like the Fox package on Thursday, NBC's Sunday primetime games were up year-to-year in raw numbers.

winter

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30	Avg
2020-21	The Wall (R)		The Wall (R)	Ellen's Game of Games		Ellen's Game of Games	Good Girls		Good Girls	50
	2020-21	41		41	52		52	57			57	50
2021-22	The Courtship		The Courtship	Weakest Link		Weakest Link	Transplant		Transplant	31 (-37%)
	2021-22	27 (-33%)		27.4427498189718	41 (-21%)		41 (-21%)	25 (-56%)			25 (-56%)	31.3631426502534
VsAvg	-52%		-0.519578985332224	-44%		-0.444074210916847	-64%		-0.640921726980202	-53%
Rank	21/21		21/21	20/21		20/21	21/21		21/21	21/21

NBC aired a random collection of stuff prior to the Olympics, and this lineup actually only aired for the last two weeks of the winter period. Then spring hit and massive disaster The Courtship got moved to USA. Transplant was the only one of the imported COVID filler dramas to make it back to the big four during the 2021-22 regular season, and it didn't exactly justify that decision.

spring

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30	Avg
2020-21	Ellen's Game of Games		Ellen's Game of Games	Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist		Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist	Good Girls		Good Girls	48
	2020-21	49		49	41		41	52			52	48
2021-22	American Song Contest (R)		American Song Contest (R)	Weakest Link		Weakest Link	Transplant		Transplant	37 (-23%)
	2021-22	31 (-36%)		31.3631426502534	49 (+18%)		49 (+18%)	29 (-44%)			29 (-44%)	36.5903330919623
VsAvg	-49%		-0.490829248481974	-36%		-0.356492823647786	-60%		-0.600650514012838	-48%
Rank	21/21		21/21	19/21		19/21	21/21		21/21	21/21

Weakest Link did not get any more help after The Courtship was gone, trading out a flop lead-in for a repeat of a flop. It was still easily the most competitive of the three hours.

Rating the Ratings

Name	Lo	Avg	Hi	y2y	Plus	Label	Plusy2y	Results
Weakest Link	0.2	0.26	0.4	-62%	50	flop	-52%	detail

Weakest Link: This is one of those worst-case scenario timeslot downgrades. It didn't air till more than a year after the last season's finale, it moved to Sunday, and it had absolutely horrific lead-ins. It has improved rather nicely in its summer airings after American Ninja Warrior, so clearly the timeslot explains most of this drop, and it grew by a lot on the lead-ins it was given. I probably would've gone a little worse if we hadn't seen it perk up in the summer but I'll go with Grade: C.

The names in this last table link to the shows' War of 18-49 pages. Links with an asterisk(*) have been updated with the new info. Updates to younger shows will come later in the summer.

Previous Breakdowns for NBC Sunday: 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21

Here's the now updated Schedules Plus for NBC Sunday.