Networks Bet On Franchises Like FBI, CSI to Boost Broadcast's Fall Ratings

As movie studios try to woo audiences back into theaters a year and a half into the pandemic, they have packed their fall slates with new editions of several big franchises, like Marvel, James Bond, Halloween and The Matrix. Broadcast networks are taking a similar approach to their fall schedules following last season’s pandemic ratings plummet. Several of them are relying on new and returning installments of their most popular franchise procedural shows—including FBI, NCIS, Law & Order, CSI and Chicago—as their best hope of bringing viewers back to linear TV. CBS is leading the pack, as its fall schedule includes three NCIS shows (NCIS and new spinoff NCIS: Hawai’i premiered Monday; NCIS: Los Angeles will return Oct. 10), three FBI series (FBI, FBI: Most Wanted and the new FBI: International, all of which debut tonight) and one CSI (“sequel” series CSI: Vegas will premiere Oct. 6). NBC, meanwhile, has five Dick Wolf-produced franchise procedurals in its fall schedule. Its One Chicago lineup (Chicago Med, Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D.) returns Wednesday, followed by a pair of Law & Order shows (SVU and spinoff Organized Crime, which debuted earlier this year) on Thursday. Broadcasters Expect Linear Bounce Back This Season After Pandemic Ratings Plummet And Fox, which united its 9-1-1 shows last season, has opted to split them up this year: 9-1-1 premiered Monday while 9-1-1: Lone Star will return in January. CBS has no qualms about going all-in on franchises this fall. “These powerful franchises check every single box for success in the current TV landscape,” CBS Entertainment president Kelly Kahl told reporters earlier this month. “They still garner audiences in the tens of millions on live linear broadcast, dwarfing the vast majority of shows on all other platforms. They have millions of viewers that watch on a delayed basis, they are major streaming magnets and they remain incredibly popular globally. These series … are franchises that are immediately identifiable with CBS and we monetize them on every platform and outlet.” Frances Berwick, who heads up program strategy for NBC as chairman, entertainment networks, NBCUniversal television and streaming, said she also created her fall schedule “around the things that we felt are really the ace in the hole for broadcast,” most notably the Dick Wolf-produced Chicago and Law & Order procedurals. “We feel very good about having the bench strength of that Wednesday night, One Chicago, that leads into the two Dick Wolfs on Thursday,” said Berwick. “That was one core piece of the schedule that we leaned into.” All night long As it loads up on new franchise offerings, CBS is taking a page from NBC by scheduling all three of its FBI shows, which are also executive produced by Wolf, on the same night, echoing NBC’s One Chicago Wednesday night lineup. “It’s no secret, Dick and his team have cracked the code on how to do that” with NBC’s Chicago shows, Kahl told Adweek. “So we obviously had confidence they know how to make that work.” His Chicago shows have thrived on the same night because research shows “the average binge is three hours,” Wolf told reporters earlier this month. “That seems to be where people are most comfortable. … And after 40 years of doing this, the one thing I know is that if you set the table correctly for an American television audience, they’ll stay.” After all, Wolf added. “We’re all basically lazy.” When his shows take up an entire night’s primetime lineup, “You can get a complete fix and you don’t have to move. People are very content to go from 8:00 to 11:00 if they’re being entertained.” However, CBS opted not to air all of its NCIS shows on the same night, despite its all-FBI Tuesday lineup. NCIS and NCIS: Hawai’I are back-to-back on Mondays, while NCIS: Los Angeles is on Sundays. “You don’t always have nights where you have the space to stack three shows together, nor does it always make sense,” said Kahl. Fox, which paired 9-1-1 and 9-1-1: Lone Star last season, chose to separate them again this year to maximize their ability to draw audiences to its freshman lineup, by airing The Big Leap after 9-1-1 on Mondays. The network is “using some of our most established shows to help strengthen the launches of our new shows,” Michael Thorn, president of entertainment, Fox Entertainment, told Adweek earlier this month. Franchise overload? But how many franchise shows are too many? “The audience is going to tell you. You’ll hit diminishing returns and the audience is going to say, ‘We’ve had enough of this,’” said Kahl. CBS also believes that “any new iteration has to stand on its own as a unique piece of content, not duplicative of the shows that preceded it,” said Kahl. “As long as think there’s material to be mined, there’s no reason these franchises can’t go on for quite a while.” To that end, Wolf said that his three FBI shows each have “different” identities: the NYC-based original series is “a classic two-handed cop show,” spinoff Most Wanted focuses on the most violent felons anywhere in the country (“and gives you different storytelling modalities to explore”) while International finds the team as “visitors in foreign cities and cooperating with authorities. So, very different storytelling dynamics.” And when networks aren’t able to develop a new spinoff that can stand on its own, they’ll pull the plug. In July, NBC scrapped plans for a third Law & Order show, For the Defense, which had been planned for Thursday as part of an all-Law & Order Thursday night. If any or all of these new spinoffs take off this season, it could help invigorate their respective franchises, especially as older series near the end of their runs. But Kahl said the performance of NCIS: Hawai’i won’t affect whether or not CBS decides to end NCIS after the current Season 19. “They’re separate decisions,” said Kahl. “Every year we look at each show on a creative basis, a financial basis and a scheduling and fit basis. And each show really stands on its own in that regard.”