CBS has made back order decisions on two more of their new series for the Fall. SWAT has received a full season order after a few weeks of airing and their comedy 9JKL has received three more episodes to prove its case.
SWAT has received an order for seven more episodes, bringing its total to 20 episodes. While that is two short of a traditional full season (22 episodes), it is considered a full season as SWAT launched more than a month after the start of the season. The series isn’t exactly setting the ratings on fire but the 10 PM timeslot on Thursday is tough for any network. Despite this, the show has held up pretty well, dipping from 1.1 to 0.9 and from 6.7 million to 6.4 million viewers (Live+Same Day) between weeks 1-3. In Live+7, the action drama is averaging 10.36 million viewers, 1.9 in adults 18-49. Its November 2 premiere delivered CBS’ best performance in the Thursday 10 PM time period with entertainment programming in almost two years, since January 6, 2016 in viewers (10.52 million in L+7) and since March 3, 2016 in 18-49 (1.9)
9JKL has been a modest but steady performer on the struggling Monday comedy lineup for CBS. The show benefitted greatly when The Big Bang Theory aired before it on Mondays but since that flagship series has moved to Thursday nights, 9JKL has come down a bit on its own. The series launched to a so-so 8.2 million viewers and a 1.6 in adults 18-49 (Live+SD) behind Big Bang on Monday and ended its four-week run in the Monday 8:30 PM slot with a 1.4 in the demo and 7.2 million viewers. Since moving to the 9:30 PM berth with no Big Bang on Monday, 9JKL has posted a 0.85, 0.8 and 0.8 in 18-49. In L+7, the comedy is averaging 7.40 million viewers. The modest numbers could be why it didn’t get a full backorder but getting extra episodes (as opposed to a script order) is a sign that the network sees potential.
