Magnum PI season 5: Why ratings expectations are a challenge

If you are going into Magnum PI season 5 next year with any sort of expectation as to how the show could or will perform, here’s a bit of advice: Don’t. We are all venturing into the great unknown together following the NBC move, and in general, we’re probably in the most uncertain TV ratings era ever since the Nielsen system was first introduced.

Of course, we want the series to be a huge ratings hit in its new home, but the truth is there are so many different factors at play. Take, for starters, wherever it ends up airing on the schedule. The expectations for Friday nights at 9:00 p.m. Eastern would probably be different from if the show airs on Sundays after the NFL season. Also, in general NBC generates less total viewers for some of their scripted shows than CBS does, other than potentially One Chicago. We don’t expect the same numbers at the network that we saw at CBS … but that’s only talking in terms of live+same-day viewing.

Where Magnum PI season 5 could be most successful is, ironically, the part of the TV equation that we don’t see. We are speaking here specifically about the streaming figures or all of the DVR data after the fact. We’ve reported in the past that streaming could be one of the most important cogs to the series future but, unfortunately, no specific plan for season 5 has been revealed as of yet — the same goes for the show’s overall catalogue. Regardless of if it lands at Peacock, Paramount+, or somewhere else, those viewer totals are not released publicly. While some internally may now how the show is faring there, it is only a tiny handful of people. The entire cast and crew may not get all the numbers!

In essence, the only way to really know how Magnum PI season 5 fares is based on what NBC decides to do. If they order more episodes beyond the 20 already commissioned (split across two different seasons), then we know that they are happy. If they let it go quietly into the night, the opposite may be true.

What we don’t want to see is anyone freaking out based on the numbers for any given week; ratings are far more complicated these days. Just celebrate that we’re getting these episodes given that, at one point, that was very-much unclear.

How are you planning to watch Magnum PI season 5 when it premieres?

Be sure to share right now in the comments! Once you do that, come back for other updates you do not want to miss. (Photo: NBC.)