The broadcast television summer season is underway and as is the case every year, the networks have hopes of launching a series or two that catches on with viewers and can be a returning staple for summers to come.
Unfortunately, summer is harder than the regular season to develop not only a hit series, but even one that is watched by a significant-sized mass audience. That's why each network summer after summer consistently brings back a few key series that have a proven following to keep it competitive.
For NBC it's America's Got Talent and American Ninja Warrior. For CBS it's Big Brother, which the network airs three nights a week, and the more recent Under the Dome. For ABC it's The Bachelorette and Rookie Blue. And for Fox it's Masterchef and So You Think You Can Dance.
America's Got Talent, which just returned for its 10th season, is king of the summer and has been for virtually all of its 9 previous seasons. Last summer AGT averaged 10.4 million viewers and a 2.4 18-49 demo rating for its twice weekly first-run shows, numbers that would rank it among the most-watched during the regular season also.
American Ninja Warrior, which just began its seventh season, started airing in the summer of 2011 during its third season. The series last summer averaged 5.3 million viewers and a 1.8 in the demo and had a median age audience of 48, one of the lowest on summer broadcast TV.
Both have aired for two weeks so far this summer with AGT averaging 11.1 million viewers and a 2.6 demo rating and Warrior averaging 6.3 million viewers and a 1.9 in the demo, both drawing larger audiences than they averaged last season.
Big Brother on CBS has been a summer staple for the network since 2000 and returns for its 17th season in late June. The network airs three first-run Big Brother episodes each week and last season the trio averaged 6.4 million viewers and a 2.2 demo rating. It also draws a younger summer audience with a median age of 49 last summer.
CBS may have gotten its hopes up two summers ago when it premiered sci-fi drama series Under the Dome and it averaged 11.2 million viewers and a 2.7 in the demo to unseat AGT as the top broadcast show of the summer. However, like most regular season sci-fi shows, when Under the Dome returned for its second season last summer it took a big dip in the ratings, averaging 7.2 million viewers and a 1.6 18-49 demo rating. While still good for summer, it didn't come close to dethroning AGT as the most-watched summer series.
ABC's The Bachelorette returned three weeks ago for its 11th season and it has been airing during the summer on the network since 2008. Last summer The Bachelorette averaged 6.6 million viewers and a 1.7 18-49 demo rating. This summer so far, it has averaged 6.3 million viewers and a 1.9 in the demo, but one of those episodes aired on Memorial Day when viewership is traditionally low. So expect those numbers to rise a bit.
Rookie Blue has not been a big ratings draw for ABC, but the police drama which began airing during the summer of 2010 and is now entering its sixth season, averaged 5.2 million viewers and a 1.0 in the demo last summer. And those numbers of strong enough to return the series summer after summer rather than trying to replace it with a new series from scratch.
Masterchef which premiered on Fox on May 20, is now in its sixth season. Last summer it averaged 5.4 million viewers and a 1.9 18-49 demo rating with a median age audience of 49. So You Think You Can Dance, which returned for its 12th season on June 1, has been airing during the summer since 2005. Last summer it averaged 4.1 million viewers and a 1.3 demo rating.
Last summer the broadcast networks took a major step aimed at no longer taking a back seat to cable when they introduced 13 scripted and nine new reality series. However, there were no major hits.
CBS is bringing sci-fi drama Extant, starring Halle Berry, back for a summer season. It averaged a good-for-summer 6.1 million viewers, but only recorded a 1.1 in the 18-49 demo and had a median age audience of 60.
NBC premiered drama The Night Shift last summer leading out of AGT and while its numbers were good, averaging 6.6 million viewers and a 1.4 in the demo, it lost a huge chunk of its lead-in audience. NBC did move the series into its regular lineup this past spring and it averaged 5.5 million viewers and a 1.4 in the demo.
NBC also premiered sitcom Undateable last summer and it averaged just 2.8 million viewers and a 0.9 18-49 demo rating. However the network also moved it onto its regular season lineup in the spring and it averaged 5.3 million viewers and a 1.5 in the demo.
So NBC did launch a couple of series last summer that filled slots in its regular season lineup, although both were far from hits.
Cumulatively, ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and The CW will introduce 17 news series this summer and bring back 23 series from last summer.
Here's a closer network-by-network look at the new and returning summer 2015 programming.
ABCThe Bachelorette returned on May 18 and has averaged a similar-sized audience compared to last summer, and the network has also already run a short-run new game show 500 Questions which aired on five consecutive weekday nights beginning May 20 and averaged 4.8 million viewers and a 1.0 18-49 demo rating. Celebrity Wife Swap also returned on May 20 at 10 p.m. and through two episodes is averaging 3.3 million viewers and a 1.1 demo rating, compared to last summer's average of 3.6 million viewers and a 1.1.
Extreme Weight Loss premiered for the summer on Tuesday, May 26 at 9 p.m. with only 2.9 million viewers and a 0.9 18-49 rating. That compares to the 3.6 million viewers and 1.0 demo rating it averaged last summer.
New summer drama series The Whispers debuted at 10 p.m. on Monday, June 1 and drew 5.7 million viewers and a 1.5 18-4
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The broadcast television summer season is underway and as is the case every year, the networks have hopes of launching a series or two that catches on with viewers and can be a returning staple for summers to come.
