The Breakdown: CBS Monday in 2020-21 (The Neighborhood, Bob Hearts Abishola, All Rise, Bull)

It's time for a journey through the CBS Monday schedule in 2020-21...

NOTE: In addition to classic A18-49+, Breakdown posts with 2019-20 ratings 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. Also see here for information on the 2020-21 league average.


fall

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30	Avg
2019-20	The Neighborhood	Bob Hearts Abishola	All Rise		All Rise	Bull		Bull	89
	2019-20	113	95	81		81	82			82	89
	2019-20										113	95	81	81	82	82	89
	2019-20	104				104				81	81	82	82	89
2020-21	The Neighborhood	Bob Hearts Abishola	All Rise		All Rise	Bull		Bull	84 (-6%)
	2020-21	117 (+3%)	93 (-3%)	76 (-6%)		76 (-6%)	71 (-14%)			71 (-14%)	83.8351248636367
	2020-21										116.553410612595	92.5606493178288	76 (-6%)	76 (-6%)	71 (-14%)	71 (-14%)	83.8351248636367
	2020-21	105 (+0%)				104.557029965212				76 (-6%)	76 (-6%)	71 (-14%)	71 (-14%)	83.8351248636367
VsAvg	-10%		-0.100262297030073	-42%		-0.417234894287096	-39%		-0.394733366987678	-31%
Rank	12/20		12/20	20/20		20/20	19/20		19/20	20/20

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30	Avg
2019-20	The Neighborhood	Bob Hearts Abishola	All Rise		All Rise	Bull		Bull	84
	2019-20	107	90	77		77	77			77	84
	2019-20										107	90	77	77	77	77	84
	2019-20	98				98				77	77	77	77	84
2020-21	The Neighborhood	Bob Hearts Abishola	All Rise		All Rise	Bull		Bull	83 (-1%)
	2020-21	115 (+8%)	93 (+3%)	74 (-3%)		74 (-3%)	70 (-9%)			70 (-9%)	82.6721998453965
	2020-21										114.707677285488	93.006224826071	74 (-3%)	74 (-3%)	70 (-9%)	70 (-9%)	82.6721998453965
	2020-21	104 (+6%)				103.856951055779				74 (-3%)	74 (-3%)	70 (-9%)	70 (-9%)	82.6721998453965
VsAvg	-10%		-0.103726267533194	-43%		-0.429600284621878	-40%		-0.401756976075031	-32%
Rank	12/20		12/20	20/20		20/20	19/20		19/20	20/20

The CBS Monday lineup returned intact, but not until mid-November due to COVID production delays. (Big Brother and import drama Manhunt: Deadly Games were both close to qualifying as the most frequent occupants in the fall.) The late fall episodes experienced only a modest decline from the fall 2019 numbers, with the comedies closer to even and Bull faring worse.

winter

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30	Avg
2019-20	The Neighborhood	Bob Hearts Abishola	All Rise		All Rise	Bull		Bull	86
	2019-20	112	93	76		76	78			78	86
	2019-20										112	93	76	76	78	78	86
	2019-20	103				103				76	76	78	78	86
2020-21	The Neighborhood	Bob Hearts Abishola	All Rise		All Rise	Bull		Bull	92 (+7%)
	2020-21	136 (+21%)	108 (+16%)	78 (+2%)		78 (+2%)	76 (-3%)			76 (-3%)	91.9113505635882
	2020-21										135.539094556864	108.49724514921	78 (+2%)	78 (+2%)	76 (-3%)	76 (-3%)	91.9113505635882
	2020-21	122 (+19%)				122.018169853037				78 (+2%)	78 (+2%)	76 (-3%)	76 (-3%)	91.9113505635882
VsAvg	+4%		0.0431134449929554	-39%		-0.388209581264809	-32%		-0.324793111604584	-23%
Rank	9/20		9/20	19/20		19/20	19/20		19/20	16/20

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30	Avg
2019-20	The Neighborhood	Bob Hearts Abishola	All Rise		All Rise	Bull		Bull	82
	2019-20	107	88	73		73	76			76	82
	2019-20										107	88	73	73	76	76	82
	2019-20	98				98				73	73	76	76	82
2020-21	The Neighborhood	Bob Hearts Abishola	All Rise		All Rise	Bull		Bull	92 (+12%)
	2020-21	136 (+26%)	109 (+23%)	78 (+6%)		78 (+6%)	76 (+0%)			76 (+0%)	91.9728223280036
	2020-21										135.634077871354	108.507262297083	78 (+6%)	78 (+6%)	76 (+0%)	76 (+0%)	91.9728223280036
	2020-21	122 (+25%)				122.070670084218				78 (+6%)	78 (+6%)	76 (+0%)	76 (+0%)	91.9728223280036
VsAvg	+5%		0.0455358880379271	-39%		-0.388878924453415	-32%		-0.323005197656638	-23%
Rank	9/20		9/20	19/20		19/20	18/20		18/20	17/20

But the winter brought a pleasant surprise for this lineup, as The Neighborhood and Bob Hearts Abishola had an old-fashioned winter bounce the likes of which we rarely seem anymore. The Neighborhood even hit 1.0 a couple times in January, some of the biggest comedy episodes of the entire season (excluding football-boosted eps on Sundays). They easily outrated the bounce-less winter episodes a year ago, and also managed to pull the drama duo much closer to even.

spring

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30	Avg
2019-20	The Neighborhood	Bob Hearts Abishola	All Rise		All Rise	Bull		Bull	79
	2019-20	104	89	69		69	73			73	79
	2019-20										104	89	69	69	73	73	79
	2019-20	97				97				69	69	73	73	79
2020-21	The Neighborhood	Bob Hearts Abishola	All Rise		All Rise	Bull		Bull	76 (-4%)
	2020-21	105 (+1%)	89 (-1%)	64 (-7%)		64 (-7%)	69 (-6%)			69 (-6%)	76.3610631607702
	2020-21										104.964168017994	88.7988003696535	64 (-7%)	64 (-7%)	69 (-6%)	69 (-6%)	76.3610631607702
	2020-21	97 (+0%)				96.881484193824				64 (-7%)	64 (-7%)	69 (-6%)	69 (-6%)	76.3610631607702
VsAvg	+1%		0.00568135584074275	-44%		-0.443554627814968	-36%		-0.355575936679837	-28%
Rank	8/20		8/20	19/20		19/20	16/20		16/20	18/20

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30	Avg
2019-20	The Neighborhood	Bob Hearts Abishola	All Rise		All Rise	Bull		Bull	89
	2019-20	118	98	78		78	81			81	89
	2019-20										118	98	78	78	81	81	89
	2019-20	108				108				78	78	81	81	89
2020-21	The Neighborhood	Bob Hearts Abishola	All Rise		All Rise	Bull		Bull	76 (-14%)
	2020-21	105 (-11%)	89 (-9%)	64 (-19%)		64 (-19%)	69 (-15%)			69 (-15%)	76.3610631607702
	2020-21										104.964168017994	88.7988003696535	64 (-19%)	64 (-19%)	69 (-15%)	69 (-15%)	76.3610631607702
	2020-21	97 (-10%)				96.881484193824				64 (-19%)	64 (-19%)	69 (-15%)	69 (-15%)	76.3610631607702
VsAvg	0%		-0.001025655083229	-45%		-0.446449738106135	-36%		-0.358277948512124	-28%
Rank	9/20		9/20	19/20		19/20	16/20		16/20	18/20

The momentum basically dissipated by the springtime, as the comedies returned to even-ish and the dramas returned to down somewhat. Keep in mind that Neighborhood and Bob were among the stronger performers during the COVID lockdowns in winter 2020, so matching those numbers was still pretty good.

Rating the Ratings

Name	Lo	Avg	Hi	y2y	Plus	Label	Plusy2y	Results
The Neighborhood	0.6	0.76	1.0	-15%	118	solid	+8%	detail
Bob Hearts Abishola	0.5	0.62	0.8	-17%	96	marginal	+5%	detail
All Rise	0.4	0.46	0.5	-26%	71	marginal	-6%	detail
Bull*	0.4	0.46	0.5	-28%	71	marginal	-8%	detail

The Neighborhood: In season one of The Neighborhood I found myself torn between A- and B+, and I'm kinda back in that same spot here. What tips me toward the more generous grade is pulling this off amid the general malaise for broadcast comedy. This hour is really the closest thing we have to a "growth story" in the entire space, and pulling off a virtual tie for #1 comedy with Young Sheldon is a nice achievement. Could it get an even more decisive #1 next season? Grade: A-.

Bob Hearts Abishola: Similarly, a second-year comedy growing in year two is a bit of a unicorn these days; The Neighborhood itself couldn't do it last year. Its retention got a touch worse in each period, but it's looking like a long-term player now. Grade: B+.

All Rise: A little disappointing that it didn't fare better given the comedy momentum, but overall not really that surprising of a result. CBS knew the level they were getting when they renewed this, and they got more of it. It wasn't enough for a season three. Grade: C.

Bull: Identical Live+SD numbers to All Rise and basically the same y2y trends as well. It's considerably stronger in DVR (as expected when comparing a 10:00 show to a 9:00 one), which made it a more sensible renewal, but it's shipped off to the Thursday 10/9c hour where it will be a bit of an afterthought. Grade: C.

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 Monday: 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20

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