The Rookie is on the move, but is this new night and time a bad choice for the hit show? It's certainly a risk for the series.
There’s always a risk in finding the right timeslot for a TV series, no matter how popular it is. A show can dominate in the ratings for years in one time slot only to falter when moved to another day and night. A good case is NCIS seeing a slump in ratings when it was moved to Mondays a couple of years ago, and now back on Tuesdays.
That’s why fans of The Rookie are concerned over the announcement that starting Monday, Jan, 26, the show will move from Tuesdays to Mondays at 10/9c, following American Idol. That’s another shift for the series, which has endured a couple of time slot swaps already.
For the record, the show debuted in 2018 in the Tuesday 10/9c timeslot where it quickly became a hit. The second season had it moved to Sundays at 10/9c where it remained until swapped to Tuesday at 8/7c midway through its fifth season. The last two seasons had it moved back to 10/9c on Tuesdays.
This isn’t as massive a shift yet it has made fans more concerned about the series and whether it can survive moving to a new night against some competition and other issues!
Is The Rookie doomed on Mondays?
On the one hand, moving to Mondays may work out a bit for The Rookie. It has a big lead-in with American Idol, which helps the ratings. However, starting in February, it’ll face off against the new FBI spinoff CIA, which is sure to get more attention. It’ll also be up against the return of NBC’s Brilliant Minds.
That’s stiffer competition and also means The Rookie no longer has the lead-ins of Will Trent and High Potential to help it out. It fits being on after two successful crime shows for a good block, and moving it to a different night may lose more of the casual audience.
The show is just two episodes through the eighth season, so it hasn't gained too much momentum yet, but ABC pushed the idea of consistency when holding The Rookie back until January 2026. While The Rookie remains strong among viewers, the producers face the challenges of rising costs in contracts and productions, and the tough question of whether it’s worth renewing this show.
A coming spinoff only complicates things, as this may be a temporary spot before the series moves yet again to be paired with the spinoff. That's not the stability a series needs to continue growing its audience.
Any move for a series this old is risky, and while fans of The Rookie hope it works out, there’s good reason to be concerned that a move to Mondays could be a mortal blow for the show.
The Rookie moves to Mondays at 10/9c on ABC on Monday, Jan. 26. It will air on Tuesday, Jan. 20 at 10/9c.