Will a New Amsterdam season 2 happen? Our first ratings progress report

Throughout November, one of the things that we’re going to be looking to do here at CarterMatt is offer up some early ratings progress reports on a number of different shows on the air to help us look into our metaphorical crystal ball to reveal what we think their futures may be. Are they charting towards another season, and is there a reason for hope? We’re going to look at that further in an honest, unabashed way so that we aren’t giving you false hope if we really think there isn’t any. Granted, things are also so early in the season that there’s plenty of room for growth / decline. That’s why this is a progress report, as opposed to a “this is where the show is and where it will always be” report.

It makes some sense to kick off our series with NBC’s New Amsterdam, one of the biggest ratings champions of the season. (For some more discussion, check out our video below as a part of our ratings watch series and subscribe to the CarterMatt YouTube channel for daily videos!). Somehow, it has managed to surge despite coming on at a time when there is an over-saturation of medical shows. It’s benefited from airing after This Is Us, having the same ability to tug at heartstrings, and also having a killer cast including Ryan Eggold, Janet Montgomery, Tyler Labine, and Jocko Sims. When there are a lot of people at the top of your call sheet who are talented and likable, it tends to bode well for the future.

The performance so far – 1.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic and over 7 million viewers weekly. Note that these are live+same-day averages and don’t include the army of people watching after the fact via DVR.

What’s working for the show? – The lead-in is a big factor first and foremost, but let’s make one thing clear: Lead-ins are mere entry points. This Is Us is a show that is allowing New Amsterdam instant success, but if it was hot garbage, viewers inevitably would tune out no matter if it’s lead in was a ratings monster like Game of Thrones. That hasn’t happened. They’ve stuck with it and allowed it to have some time to build up its characters, including the sprawling New Amsterdam hospital itself. It’s almost like the West Edmonton Mall of hospitals; we were fascinated by that mall for many years because it has miniature golf, a waterpark, an ice rink and a roller coaster! New Amsterdam is like that for hospitals, except most of its stuff (a courtroom, classes, the hospital itself) are basically all the opposite and nobody ever wants to go there. The all-encompassing idea of the institution is fascinating.

What’s working against it? – As of right now, we don’t know what its ratings would be if This Is Us wasn’t around. It’ll get that test later this season and we have to think there’s a chance NBC would move it to a different timeslot if it’s renewed, mostly so that they can open up this spot to another show to get off to a similar start. Other than the uncertainty, this series is pretty golden — its reviews are mostly positive and it has kept the characters consistent throughout. Nobody’s making any head-scratching or out-of-line decisions with the story and that’s keeping people watching.

Early prognosis – It’ll be renewed. It’s a slam-dunk for it with the ratings that it has. We’d be shocked if NBC makes you wait until the spring for more news on that. In the meantime why not check out a preview of  what lies ahead? We have some more scoop on that over at the link here.

Do you want to see a New Amsterdam season 2 based on the information that is out there? Share in the comments. (Photo: NBC.)