Will Madam Secretary season 4 be hurt by new timeslot?

We thought about creating a new addition in our Fall TV Showdowns series with the Sunday night lineup at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, but we’ve ultimately decided against it for one clear reason: It’s roughly nonexistent. Other than ABC’s new drama Ten Days in the Valley and CBS’ Madam Secretary, there is not too much to speak of beyond football.

The main focus of this article is whether or not we could end up seeing Madam Secretary season 4 suffer some sort of dramatic drop on the numbers because of its new timeslot, and what could be done to avoid that.

The downside of the timeslot – Sleep. It’s silly, but that’s it. 10:00 p.m. shows tend to draw lower ratings, first and foremost, just because there are plenty of people out there who (understandably) have to get up early in order to go to work the next day. Add to this the fact that there are some nights where NFL football could push the show until 10:30 or even later. Who is going to stay up for that?

Another major downside for viewers is going to be keeping track of when it’s on the air and when it’s not, given that you can almost guarantee that Tea Leoni and company are going to be preempted on one occasion at least at the last minute thanks to football. If you love the show and you got a DVR, set it for the weeks that the show is on for extra time, and then if it gets preempted, see if it aired in other time-zones and seek it out online the next day.

Is there any upside? – If there is, it’s that the show is no longer airing opposite The Walking Dead, which is the top-rated show on TV. However, it’s hard to envision there being some sort of enormous crossover audience between that show and this one. Madam Secretary appeals mostly to an older crowd interested in stories that are a little more relatable — given the current political climate, you can almost see that even more than ever before.

The data – Season 3 of the show averaged in total a 0.9 rating in the 18-49 demographic and almost 8.3 million viewers, which are both down more than 17% from season 2. If the show even averages a 0.8 rating and around 7.5 million viewers, odds are that will be enough for a guaranteed renewal, given that it would be much better than how Elementary fared this past season.

Are you planning to watch Madam Secretary live in its new timeslot this coming season? Sound off now in the comments!

Meanwhile, click here to secure some further news right now when it comes to the show. (Photo: CBS.)