The Breakdown: CBS Friday in 2020-21 (MacGyver, Magnum P.I., Blue Bloods and more!)

It's time for a journey through the CBS Friday schedule in 2020-21...

Spotted Ratings, Friday 4/30/21

FINALS UPDATE: NFL Draft (0.5) and Magnum P.I. (0.5) adjusted up while World's Funniest Animals (0.1) adjusted down.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Night two of ABC's NFL Draft coverage (0.5/0.4/0.4) was, like Thursday, down from the big numbers a year ago (0.73) but should end up just a little off from the raw rating from two years ago (0.53).
  

• CBS' MacGyver came to a quiet end with its usual 0.4 prelim, which has generally been adjusting up in recent weeks. Lead-outs Magnum P.I. (0.4) and Blue Bloods (0.4) looked weaker than usual against the draft competition.
  

Spotted Ratings, Friday 4/16/21

FINALS UPDATE: Shark Tank (0.7), 20/20 (0.6), MacGyver (0.5), The Blacklist (0.4) and WWE SmackDown! (0.6) adjusted up.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 4/9/21

FINALS UPDATE: Shark Tank (0.8), 20/20 (0.5), MacGyver (0.5) and WWE SmackDown! (0.6) adjusted up.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 4/2/21

FINALS UPDATE: 20/20 (0.5), MacGyver (0.5), The Blacklist (0.4) and WWE SmackDown! (0.6) adjusted up.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 3/26/21

FINALS UPDATE: Magnum P.I. (0.5) and WWE SmackDown! (0.6) adjusted up.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 3/5/21

FINALS UPDATE: 20/20 (0.6) and Blue Bloods (0.5) adjusted up.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 2/19/21

FINALS UPDATE: Shark Tank (0.7), 20/20 (0.5), MacGyver (0.6) and WWE SmackDown! (0.6) adjusted up.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 2/12/21

FINALS UPDATE: WWE SmackDown! (0.6) adjusted up.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 2/5/21

FINALS UPDATE: Shark Tank (0.8) and The Blacklist (0.4) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Numbers posted.
  

Spotted Ratings, Friday 1/22/21

FINALS UPDATE: Shark Tank (0.8) and MacGyver (0.6) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Numbers posted.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 1/15/21

FINALS UPDATE: MacGyver (0.6) and WWE SmackDown! (0.7) adjusted up.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 1/8/21

FINALS UPDATE: MacGyver (0.6), Mr. Mayor (R) (0.4), WWE SmackDown! (0.6) and Whose Line Is It Anyway? (R) (0.1) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Some of the Friday originals had a high-end return to the new year, with CBS' Magnum P.I. (0.6) and Blue Bloods (0.6) each setting new season highs following a steady MacGyver (0.5). But the night still belonged to ABC led by Shark Tank (0.8), which tied its own season high.
  

Spotted Ratings, Friday 12/18/20

FINALS UPDATE: MacGyver (0.5), Dateline (0.4) and Pac-12 Championship (0.9, +0.2) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• Numbers posted.

Spotted Ratings, Friday 12/11/20

FINALS UPDATE: Shark Tank (0.6), Dateline (0.5) and WWE SmackDown! (0.6) adjusted up.

SpotVault - MacGyver (CBS) - 2020-21 Ratings

MacGyver

Fridays, 8/7c, CBS

Status: ENDING after this season (confirmed on 4/7/2021)

Spotted Ratings, Friday 12/4/20

FINALS UPDATE: WWE SmackDown! (0.6) adjusted up.

WHAT MATTERS:

• CBS Friday returned with 0.5's across the board for MacGyver, Magnum P.I. and Blue Bloods. Mac was two tenths behind its winter 2020 season premiere, while Magnum and Blue were down just a tenth from their fall 2019 premieres (but well below their COVID-fueled highs from the spring).
  

• That left Shark Tank (0.6) as the top Friday program again, even as it declined for the second straight episode. Fox's WWE SmackDown! (0.5) also dropped for a second consecutive week.
  

The War of 18-49, MacGyver

A Friday Splash

Friday night usually doesn't produce one of the biggest surprises of the fall premiere week, but in 2016 it delivered. CBS' reboot of MacGyver exploded out of the gate with a 1.7 demo / 137 Plus, which was the biggest Plus for a Friday night scripted episode since all the way back when Law and Order: SVU was on the night in the early aughts. (For the record, Mac's achievement was upstaged a couple years later by several episodes of Last Man Standing.) Mac did not sustain that level, dropping to 1.3 and 1.1 the next two weeks, but it pretty much held up from there. This was as strong as anything CBS had in this timeslot in the A18-49+ era, even above the peak seasons of Ghost Whisperer.

Finding a Level

MacGyver opened season two with just a 0.8, down by half from the previous season's premiere, and it pretty much held close to that all season long. That left the show at a noticeably lower Plus than in season one, more along the lines of a lot of previous historical occupants of the timeslot (from Ghost Whisperer to Undercover Boss to The Amazing Race). And it was basically even in Plus for season three, mostly hanging around 0.7 with the occasional 0.8 or 0.6.

In 2019-20, CBS decided to add sophomore Magnum P.I. to the Friday rotation. Despite its strength, MacGyver was still the relative weak link in a potent lineup that included Hawaii Five-0 and Blue Bloods, so it got held for midseason and didn't have its season four premiere till February 2020. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the numbers; the show looked solid in the winter, opening the year with three 0.7's, and then it swung up to a couple 0.8's at the height of the COVID-19 viewing inflations. The 13-episode season didn't quite get back up to the season one Plus levels, but it was noticeably above seasons two and three. And, since Hawaii Five-0 ended in the spring of 2020, MacGyver will be back on the Friday first string (and continuing at 8/7c) going forward.

Adults 18-49 info by season:

Seas	Year	Slot	Avg	y2y	Lo	Hi	Results	Grade
1	2016-17	Friday 8:00	1.09		0.8	1.7	detail	A-
2	2017-18		Friday 8:00	0.83	-23%	0.6	1.0	detail	C+
3	2018-19		Friday 8:00	0.70	-16%	0.6	0.8	detail	B-
4	Spring 2020		Friday 8:00	0.67	-5%	0.6	0.8	detail	B+
5	Winter 2020-21		Friday 8:00	0.51	-24%	0.4	0.6	detail	B-

Historical-adjusted ratings by season:

Seas	Year	A18-49+	Label	Now21	y2y	Lo	Hi	Premiere	Finale
1	2016-17	89	hit(Fri)	0.57		68	137	137	68
2	2017-18	76	hit(Fri)	0.49	-14%	59	94	75	59
3	2018-19	74	solid(Fri)	0.47	-3%	61	85	70	68
4	Spring 2020	81	hit(Fri)	0.52	+11%	68	98	81	76
5	Winter 2020-21	78	hit(Fri)	0.51	-4%	68	91	78	70
AVERAGE:		AVERAGE:	80	hit(Fri)
CAREER:		CAREER:	398	utility

The War of 18-49 chronicles the ratings history of veteran primetime series. For more, see the Index.

The Breakdown: CBS Friday in 2019-20 (Hawaii Five-0, Magnum P.I., Blue Bloods and more!)

It's time for a journey through the CBS Friday schedule in 2019-20...

Spotted Ratings, Friday 5/8/20

FINALS UPDATE: The Blacklist (0.6) adjusted up.