Early Struggles
Fox set up a Thursday comedy hour at midseason in 2021 to launch new comedy Call Me Kat. Though Kat was fizzling out two years later, Fox tried to keep the hour alive by passing the torch to Joel McHale-led newbie Animal Control starting in February 2023. The show started with a 0.31 demo (73 Plus), then mostly held in the 60s for the next couple months before a few ugly 50ish results to end the season. Still, it looked better than Kat and far better than the comedy that had anchored the hour in the fall (Welcome to Flatch) so it sailed to renewal on scripted-starved Fox.
Fox briefly switched up the Animal Control plan in season two, sending it to Wednesday as a spring The Masked Singer lead-out. This was its weakest season, rarely even managing to hold half of its unscripted lead-in and averaging a 50 Plus, but it got a season three anyway. In a return to its original Thursday timeslot, it managed a minor recovery, but that was with a lot of airings in the favorable early winter, and it once again fizzled into some ugly results later on.
Late Bloomer?
Animal Control got the Thursday 9/8c hour back yet again for season four, where it finally started to show signs of momentum. Despite just a 0.15 (50 Plus) in its timeslot premiere, it surged to 0.20 the next week and spent most of the meat of its season in the 60s, even cracking the marginal label on a few occasions. If they could renew it after all those low ratings in the first three seasons, season five was a no-brainer. But it got much more than just a renewal; it'll not only be airing in the fall for the first time, but it'll go to Sunday alongside the football-fueled The Simpsons. That should provide ample opportunity to see whether the momentum is real.
Adults 18-49 info by season:
| Seas | Year | Slot | Avg | y2y | Lo | Hi | Results | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spring 2023 | Thursday 9:00 | 0.25 | 0.2 | 0.3 | detail | C | |
| 2 | Spring 2024 | Wednesday 9:00 | 0.19 | -24% | 0.1 | 0.2 | detail | C- |
| 3 | Winter 2025 | Thursday 9:00 | 0.17 | -9% | 0.1 | 0.2 | detail | C+ |
| 4 | Winter 2026 | 0.27 | +56% | 0.1 | 1.2 | detail | B+ |
Historical-adjusted ratings by season:
| Seas | Year | A18-49+ | Label | Now26 | y2y | Lo | Hi | Premiere | Finale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spring 2023 | 58 | flop | 0.17 | 47 | 73 | 73 | 52 | |
| 2 | Spring 2024 | 50 | flop | 0.15 | -15% | 37 | 61 | 55 | 50 |
| 3 | Winter 2025 | 54 | flop | 0.16 | +9% | 41 | 79 | 66 | 41 |
| 4 | Winter 2025-26 | 90 | marginal | 0.27 | +66% | 47 | 401 | 401 | 53 |
| AVERAGE: | 63 | flop | |||||||
| CAREER: | 252 | blip | |||||||
The War of 18-49 chronicles the ratings history of veteran primetime series. For more, see the Index.
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