It’s that time of year when our favorite TV shows go on their winter breaks. We know that they’ll return in 2025, and most of them come back in January or February. The Equalizer season 5 will be back after the Super Bowl, but there is some worrying news.
When The Equalizer returns it will be in the latest timeslot on Sunday nights. Rather than air straight after Tracker, it will now air after Watson, the new CBS series starring Morris Chestnut. While putting the new series on at 9 p.m. ET/PT is great for it, we are worried about The Equalizer.
The Equalizer was already pushed back an hour
Since it first began, The Equalizer took over the first timeslot of Sunday nights. It’s performed well in this timeslot, but fans saw a change happen in fall 2024. The Equalizer was pushed to the second timeslot, behind Tracker.
This has arguably contributed to the show dropping 27% in the average demo and 22% in the average total audience compared to season 4. While a lot of other shows saw a dip, any show moving to a later timeslot tends to see a dip in the linear ratings.
This has us worried about the next move. Fans are already not tuning in live, and now more could end up dropping away. While some will opt to watch the show on Paramount+ the following day, not everyone will choose to do this.
The Sunday late slot has been a tricky one for some time
The 10 p.m. ET/PT timeslot isn’t great across any of the networks. There are a few outliers, such as Chicago PD and FBI: Most Wanted, but for a lot of networks, the later TV shows see a big dip in the linear ratings. Sunday nights on CBS have been problematic for a while. We just have to look at recent shows like NCIS: Los Angeles and Madam Secretary that ended up canceled after long stretches in this later timeslot because the ratings took a dip.
The Equalizer is already an expensive show, especially thanks to the main cast. It is licensed through Sony rather than being created by CBS TV Studios, and if the series doesn’t perform well, Sony could decide not to renew it. This was a series on the bubble in the 2023–2024 TV season, and now we’re worried about it once more. After all, if the ratings continue to take a hit, Sony won't want to continue with it.
The Equalizer will return on Sunday, Feb. 16 at 10/9c on CBS.
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