The end of a season always brings questions about the future. We want to know if we’re going to be left with a cliffhanger. Sadly, The Irrational wasn’t renewed for season 3 ahead of the season 2 finale, and now we need to know if there will be more.
NBC has made few decisions on the future of its shows. There are a few that we expect to see renewed, but is The Irrational one of them? No, it’s not. This one is on the bubble, and we take a look at the chances of it being canceled or renewed.
The Irrational season 3 likely won’t happen
I hate writing that line. This is a series that I enjoy, and it’s one that I’ve stuck with from Day One. It’s well written, and it has some great lessons in behavioral science. There is always something to learn in each episode, even if you think you know the fact that Alec is going to bring up about the way people behave.
The characters have also gained some impressive development over the seasons. Just as I was getting bored of Rose’s back and forth about being with Alec, we saw her realize that she needed to accept that Alec was in her life. She had to stop with pushing him away, because he wasn’t going anywhere. Then there was Marisa being able to tell her a secret, and Rose keeping that secret close to her chest. I had a lot of respect for Rose after that.
We got to see Phoebe grow as a person, as she realized that she needed to do the right thing in reporting her boss for plagiarism. She ended up coming back into Alec’s employ, only for her to realize that she, Rizwan, and Simon would need to figure out a way to work together.
Those are just two examples of the character growth we’ve seen. Each character has had their own, but there’s clearly more to come.
So, why would I say that The Irrational season 3 likely won’t happen? Well, it’s linked to the linear ratings. These aren’t the only factors that NBC will look at to determine the future of the show, but they are some of the strongest factors.
The Irrational is one of NBC’s worst-performing shows
TV Series Finale has how all NBC shows are doing in the Live + Same Day linear ratings. Now that all episodes of The Irrational season 2 have aired, we can take a look at how the series has performed up against other shows on the network, and the numbers aren’t good.
The Irrational is the second-worst series in the average demo, dropping by 37% from the first season. The only show behind it is the Sunday night drama Grosse Pointe Garden Society, which is moving to Fridays in an attempt to give the linear ratings a boost.
It sits in 11th place when it comes to the total average audience. While that isn’t as bad as 14th, it is still low. It’s also a 39% drop from the first season.
Now, the first season was a bit of an anomaly. The series had episodes filmed ahead of the writer’s and actor’s strike of summer 2023, which allowed it to air some episodes in fall 2023 when other networks had to pivot to streaming and reality shows. NBC may take this into account, but I am worried.
Working against it is the fact that the series didn’t manage to hold steady in the linear ratings. The first episode was pretty strong, pulling in a 0.36 demo and 3.093 million viewers, but then within two weeks, the demo dropped to 0.19 and the audience dropped to 2.414 million. The demo managed to remain pretty steady from that point, but the total audience dipped around 1.5 million at times.
Something positive for the series is that NBC isn’t looking at picking up any drama pilots this year, according to Deadline. However, it will lose a night of programming due to the NBA fixtures, and this could affect a chance of The Irrational being renewed. It’s hard to say at this point, but I’m expecting to see this series canceled.
The Irrational is available to stream on Peacock.
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