Broadcast Rankings: Most and Least-Watched Scripted TV Series of 2021-2022 Season

This story contains spoilers from the series finale of “This Is Us”.

took the simple route when it came time to close the books on six seasons — and it was all by design.The series finale on Tuesday closed out a glorious six-season run with quiet moments of reflection. In the distant past, a young Pearson family — with Jack and Rebecca leading a little Big Three — enjoying a lazy Saturday, a culmination of small, insignificant moments that amounted to something more.

Ashton Kutcher has a bone to pick with Time magazine.

Wilson Chapman editorThe theater kids of East High are in rehearsal for Season 4. Disney+ has renewed “High School Musical: The Musical: the Series” for a fourth outing, ahead of the Season 3 premiere.In addition to announcing a fourth season, Disney also announced that Season 3 of the musical series will premiere on the streamer July 27.

Ahead of its Season 3 premiere, Disney+ has ordered a fourth season of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. The eight-episode third season will premiere on July 27, with each episode streaming weekly on Wednesdays, exclusively on Disney+. The streamer also released a first-look clip of Season 3 (see above).

Deadline TV critic Dominic Patten and Awards Columnist Pete Hammond take on the status of a major staple of broadcast tv, talk shows, and their status as this year’s Emmy race gears up. It is all in our latest edition of the Deadline Podcast series, TV Talk. We argue that maybe it is time for some new blood in the winners circle.

Kevin Feige turned up to Disney’s Upfronts and revealed that Loki was the most-watched Marvel series to date and dropped the first trailer for comedy She-Hulk Attorney At Law.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterAfter a bit of a delay going into Fox’s Monday upfront presentation, the broadcast network has finally renewed “9-1-1” for a sixth season.The Ryan Murphy-produced first-responder drama “9-1-1” stars Angela Bassett as Field Sergeant Athena Grant, Peter Krause as Capt. Bobby Nash, Jennifer Love Hewitt as Maddie Kendall, Oliver Stark as Evan “Buck” Buckley, Aisha Hinds as Hen Wilson, Kenneth Choi as Chimney Han, Ryan Guzman as Eddie Diaz, Corinne Massiah as May Grant, Marcanthonee Jon Reis as Harry Grant and Gavin McHugh as Christopher Diaz.“9-1-1” follows the work and personal lives of the members of Station 118 of the Los Angeles Fire Department, along with those inside the 9-1-1 call center and Los Angeles Police Department field sergeants like Bassett’s Athena Grant.

Fox put a number of its non-scripted competition series including Next Level Chef and a new Gordon Ramsay series front and center of its 2022/23 slate.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterMayim Bialik’s “Call Me Kat” has been renewed for a third season by Fox.The multi-cam comedy stars Bialik as Kat, an optimistic and fun-loving woman continuously defying societal expectations, and her mother’s wishes, to prove she can live a happy and fulfilling life on her own terms. Her first move? Using her entire savings to open a cat café in Louisville, KY.Along with Bialik, “Call Me Kat” stars Swoosie Kurtz as Sheila, Leslie Jordan as Phil, Kyla Pratt as Randi, Cheyenne Jackson as Max and Julian Gant as Carter.CLICK HERE to follow Variety’s coverage of Upfronts 2022Based on the British series “Miranda,” “Call Me Kat” is created by Miranda Hart.

The broadcast networks have largely made their new series pickups for next season. The picks include several IP-based shows, ABC’s Rookie spinoff, Quantum Leap for NBC, True Lies for CBS, Supernatural spinoff The Winchesters, Walker: Independence and Gotham Knights. There are also a couple of starring vehicles, ABC’s drama Alaska, which had been set up originally with Hilary Swank as the lead, Max Thieriot’s CBS drama Fire Country, The Rookie: Feds, starring Niecy Nash, and NBC comedy Lopez vs. Lopez with George Lopez. Pending is Fox’s straight-to-series order to John Eisendrath’s missing person procedural drama Alert, which is expected by Monday.  (Fox also has on tap for fall country music dynasty series Monarch left over from this season as well as straight-to-series anthology drama Accused, originally ordered last May.)

On the eve of the 2022 Upfronts, broadcast networks cancelled more than a dozen series, adding to a long list of TV shows that have ended in the past year, are about to wrap or are going dark in 2023.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterYaya DaCosta-led drama “Our Kind of People” has been canceled after just one season at Fox, Variety has confirmed.Based on Lawrence Otis Graham’s book “Our Kind of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class” and produced by Lee Daniels and Karin Gist, the series takes place in the aspirational world of Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard, a historical stronghold where the rich and powerful Black elite have come to play for more than 50 years.“Our Kind of People” follows strong-willed, single mom Angela Vaughn (DaCosta) as she sets out to reclaim her family’s name and make an impact with her revolutionary haircare line that highlights the innate, natural beauty of Black women. But she soon discovers a dark secret about her own mother’s past that will turn her world upside-down and shake up this community forever.

The most watched scripted television shows of the 2021/2022 TV season have been revealed.

EXCLUSIVE: Apple TV+’ murder mystery comedy The Afterparty has made another high-profile cast addition for its upcoming second season. Actor-comedian Ken Jeong is set as a new series regular on the hit show from Oscar winners Chris Miller and Phil Lord.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterComedies and dramas traditionally make up a large portion of the broadcast TV landscape between September and May, but networks don’t deny the continuous draw of hit reality TV and competition shows. Each season, ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox, the so-called “Big 4” broadcasters, bring back old staples and add in new unscripted content in hopes of topping each other outside of their sitcoms and procedurals.While there could always be slight adjustments to season-long averages by the end of the traditional broadcast season in a few weeks, Variety has gathered Nielsen’s “most current” data through May 8 to rank ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox’s highest and lowest-rated unscripted series among adults 18-49. Below are the lists, which count 33 completed weeks of the soon-ending season.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterThe traditional September to May broadcast TV season is coming to a close in a few weeks. Though there are still several finales left to air during that period, including the series closer for NBC’s tearjerker “This Is Us,” it’s pretty clear at this point what the highest and lowest rated shows are that have aired across the so-called “Big 4” broadcast networks throughout the 2021-2022 season.Keeping in mind there could always be slight adjustments to these season-long averages by the end of the month, Variety has sorted through Nielsen’s “most current” data through May 8 to rank ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox’s best and worst performers among adults 18-49.Below are the lists, which count 33 completed weeks of the soon-ending season. These ratings are averages across the shows’ respective seasons and based on a week’s worth of delayed viewing.