Ratings: Hawaii Five-0, MacGyver, Blue Bloods show remarkable consistency

There are a few things we know to be true about network television these days — it’s a crowded landscape, there are a ton of spin-offs and remakes, and that Hawaii Five-0, MacGyver, and Blue Bloods are going to continuously win Friday nights with a ton of competition. Friday nights used to be the place that televisions shows went to die, but now it’s becoming a hot spot for new programming!

We will be the first to admit that (earlier in the summer) we had some significant reservations about the lineup that CBS was cultivating amidst some of the other competition. We were concerned that the likes of Once Upon a Time, Blindspot, and so many other shows moving to Fridays would eat a big chunk of their ratings. Luckily, that hasn’t happened. As a matter of fact, we would wager that these shows have actually extended CBS’ reign as the top-rated network of the night. There’s less unscripted programming serving as a threat, and with that these shows can all feel as though they are dominating even more than ever before.

Let’s start off here with MacGyver, which generated in total a 0.9 rating in the 18-49 demographic. We mentioned last week that the show outperformed several other networks combined in total viewers, and it did that again here. If you were to combine NBC, ABC, and The CW’s viewership for the hour, the Lucas Till drama would still be ahead of the game with almost 7.2 million viewers.

Here’s where things get even crazier — Hawaii Five-0 won Friday night overall (in the demo) with a 1.0, and with over 9.1 million viewers it actually had more than all of the other four broadcast English-speaking networks combined. Crazy. This is the value of developing a brand and sticking to it. Viewers know what they are getting on CBS on Friday nights and they’re clearly loving what they are producing. There is value in establishing this level of commitment with your audience – TV comfort food at it’s best.

Finally, let’s turn now to Blue Bloods. The Tom Selleck series tied Hawaii Five-0 with 9.1 million viewers, and while we know its ratings have been down slightly this season there’s still not enough being said about how this show gets so many people to watch on a weekly basis airing late on a Friday night. It’s really one of the most under-reported shows out there.

Basically, what we’re saying here is that there are a lot of people watching shows on CBS these days.

What did you watch this weekend? Be sure to share some of your thoughts in the comments!

(Photo: CBS.)