The Breakdown: CBS Friday in 2019-20 (Hawaii Five-0, Magnum P.I., Blue Bloods and more!)

It's time for a journey through the CBS Friday schedule in 2019-20...

NOTE: In addition to classic A18-49+, Breakdown posts in 2019-20 also use CVPlus, comparing spring ratings against a higher league average due to viewership inflation from COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. See here for more.


fall

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30	Avg
2018-19	MacGyver		MacGyver	Hawaii Five-0		Hawaii Five-0	Blue Bloods		Blue Bloods	82
	2018-19	75		75	84		84	86			86	82
2019-20	Hawaii Five-0		Hawaii Five-0	Magnum P.I.		Magnum P.I.	Blue Bloods		Blue Bloods	83 (+1%)
	2019-20	89 (+19%)		89.1056415602778	79 (-6%)		79 (-6%)	80 (-7%)			80 (-7%)	82.7754872067357
VsAvg	+24%		0.240460016416072	+12%		0.120141323309517	+11%		0.105868470731308	+16%
Rank	2/19		2/19	4/19		4/19	7/19		7/19	3/19

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30	Avg
2018-19	MacGyver		MacGyver	Hawaii Five-0		Hawaii Five-0	Blue Bloods		Blue Bloods	82
	2018-19	75		75	84		84	86			86	82
2019-20	Hawaii Five-0		Hawaii Five-0	Magnum P.I.		Magnum P.I.	Blue Bloods		Blue Bloods	78 (-5%)
	2019-20	84 (+12%)		83.8704043314994	74 (-12%)		74 (-12%)	76 (-12%)			76 (-12%)	77.9121664936266
VsAvg	+17%		0.172074972060381	+6%		0.0579941504829286	+4%		0.0444669195080872	+9%
Rank	3/19		3/19	5/19		5/19	10/19		10/19	5/19

CBS moved its 9/8c tentpole Hawaii Five-0 down to the 8/7c hour, where it benefited from the earlier timeslot and provided a nice hammock for sophomore Magnum P.I. After a rocky freshman season on Monday, Magnum proved a better fit amidst this company. It was not quite as strong as Five-0, and Blue Bloods was also down some at 10/9c, but Five-0's gains made up for them.

winter

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30	Avg
2018-19	MacGyver		MacGyver	Hawaii Five-0		Hawaii Five-0	Blue Bloods		Blue Bloods	84
	2018-19	79		79	87		87	86			86	84
2019-20	MacGyver		MacGyver	Hawaii Five-0		Hawaii Five-0	Blue Bloods		Blue Bloods	83 (-1%)
	2019-20	82 (+4%)		81.6801714302547	85 (-3%)		85 (-3%)	83 (-3%)			83 (-3%)	83.1495501755608
VsAvg	+11%		0.113197472570062	+18%		0.176135580167901	+13%		0.12675679126004	+14%
Rank	6/19		6/19	5/19		5/19	7/19		7/19	5/19

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30	Avg
2018-19	MacGyver		MacGyver	Hawaii Five-0		Hawaii Five-0	Blue Bloods		Blue Bloods	84
	2018-19	79		79	87		87	86			86	84
2019-20	MacGyver		MacGyver	Hawaii Five-0		Hawaii Five-0	Blue Bloods		Blue Bloods	78 (-7%)
	2019-20	77 (-2%)		76.8812039705412	80 (-8%)		80 (-8%)	78 (-9%)			78 (-9%)	78.2642520842969
VsAvg	+5%		0.0514129006290285	+11%		0.111074810027567	+6%		0.0642644291813024	+8%
Rank	11/19		11/19	7/19		7/19	9/19		9/19	8/19

The winter saw the reunion of a trio that had aired three full seasons in this order. Once again, it was the 8/7c hour that fared best, with MacGyver kicking off a season of growth, while Five-0 was not quite as impressive back at 9/8c.

spring

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30	Avg
2018-19	MacGyver		MacGyver	Hawaii Five-0		Hawaii Five-0	Blue Bloods		Blue Bloods	72
	2018-19	66		66	73		73	75			75	72
2019-20	MacGyver		MacGyver	Magnum P.I.		Magnum P.I.	Blue Bloods		Blue Bloods	76 (+5%)
	2019-20	74 (+11%)		74.0764805021945	75 (+3%)		75 (+3%)	77 (+2%)			77 (+2%)	75.5105079529327
VsAvg	+22%		0.22389660600113	+23%		0.226656623029322	+14%		0.135569738920466	+19%
Rank	3/19		3/19	3/19		3/19	5/19		5/19	1/19

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30	Avg
2018-19	MacGyver		MacGyver	Hawaii Five-0		Hawaii Five-0	Blue Bloods		Blue Bloods	72
	2018-19	66		66	73		73	75			75	72
2019-20	MacGyver		MacGyver	Magnum P.I.		Magnum P.I.	Blue Bloods		Blue Bloods	86 (+20%)
	2019-20	84 (+26%)		84.0506813249369	85 (+17%)		85 (+17%)	88 (+16%)			88 (+16%)	85.6777967528848
VsAvg	+38%		0.376749934838535	+38%		0.379827895821215	+28%		0.278185057057172	+34%
Rank	1/19		1/19	1/19		1/19	1/19		1/19	1/19

A Friday night lineup with a lot of casual viewership was probably as well-suited as anything to benefit from the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. And though Hawaii Five-0 was gone, the network grew in each hour during this period. Once again, 8:00 trended the best of the three, while the growth slowed when Magnum was compared with Five-0.

Rating the Ratings

Name	Lo	Avg	Hi	y2y	Plus	Label	Plusy2y	Results
Hawaii Five-0*	0.6	0.72	0.9	-7%	87	hit(Fri)	+8%	detail
MacGyver	0.6	0.67	0.8	-5%	81	hit(Fri)	+11%	detail
Magnum P.I.	0.5	0.65	0.8	-24%	79	hit(Fri)	-12%	detail
Blue Bloods*	0.6	0.65	0.8	-18%	79	hit(Fri)	-5%	detail

Hawaii Five-0: Perhaps its fall 8/7c run was another illustration of just how "easy" the Friday 8/7c slot is, because it did not look quite that good in the winter when it returned to 9/8c. But it was still a nice way for this show to go out. Looks better in CVPlus since it only got to air a couple episodes post-pandemic. Grade: B+.

MacGyver: I have always been fairly down on this show because it has lagged as a DVR gainer, and part of me says it was extremely ripe to benefit from the spring conditions. CVPlus wipes away some of this growth but it's still a bit too much for me to go any lower than a Grade: B+.

Magnum P.I.: Considering how shaky it looked at times in its freshman run, it was a positive result for this show to come to this night and be only a little weaker than Five-0. It is increasingly worthwhile to question how much of a downgrade airing on Friday actually is, especially among this esteemed company, but CBS will happily allow this presumably cheaper show to keep the Friday flow going. Grade: B.

Blue Bloods: The least healthy of the hours in this lineup this season, but like Five-0 it didn't get to air many originals during the spring inflation (three out of 19), which narrows the gap a little. Grade: B-.

The names in this last table link to the shows' War of 18-49 pages. Links with an asterisk(*) have been updated with the new info. Updates to younger shows will come later in the summer.

Previous Breakdowns for CBS Friday: 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19

Here's the now updated Schedules Plus for CBS Friday.