• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, January 15, 2024

Season-ending TV series episodes were a big deal years ago. Big cliffhanger dramas like “Grey’s Anatomy” or even the comedy series “Friends” season ender could be a thing

Those May episodes' time period, where TV advertisers could ponied up big dollars, was fairly assured to be a highly rated episode yielding major impact and engagement.

Fast forward to around two decades later, when the explosion of TV networks -- especially cable and now streaming -- has spread the wealth around.

The thrill of seeing a season-ending episode has diminished with the rise of time-shifted programming.

This has accelerated in recent years as streamers like Netflix released a full season's worth of episodes of a TV series -- the original bingeing exercise -- which fans could devour over a weekend. 

The most-watched individual telecasts of 2023 were, of course, dominated by the NFL -- 28 of the top 30 shows. 

“The Oscars” on ABC landed in 15th place (19.4 million viewers) with Fox's “Next Level Chef” (22nd place) at 16.9 million viewers. The latter ran after Fox's airing of the Super Bowl on February 12. CBS' “The Grammy Awards” came in 36th (13.1 million).

You need to go to 43rd place to find the highest-rated scripted entertainment episode -- the 12th episode of the first-year CBS drama “Fire Country” -- 12.2 million. A bit farther down the list, tied for 51st place was CBS' sister channel Paramount Network with “Yellowstone,” at 11.5 million viewers.

Two CBS episodes of  “60 Minutes” landed in 40th and 41st place with 12.7 million and 12.5 million, respectively. CBS' now perennial top-rated TV series, “NCIS,” in terms of average ratings across episodes for a season, posted its top episode of the year on January 9 with 11.25 million viewers. 

What does this mean going forward? We know what the NFL -- as well as other sports programming -- means to broadcast and cable TV. It remains a big deal. 
This list is likely to be even heavier at the top viewing levels. All this will push those scripted/non-scripted shows farther down.

But in the near term, if you are a scripted or non-scripted producer/studio of a TV show, what will it mean -- if anything -- to crack into the top 30 shows, or even the top 50 shows of the year?  

What attention and value does this offer -- to viewers and advertisers who invest in those shows? Maybe some clapping of hands.