The Breakdown: CW Friday in 2021-22 (Nancy Drew, Charmed, Dynasty and more!)

It's time for a journey through the CW Friday schedule in 2021-22...


fall

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
2020-21	Masters of Illusion	Masters of Illusion (R)	World's Funniest Animals	World's Funniest Animals (R)	13
	2020-21	12	13	14		14	13
	2020-21						12	13	14	14	13
	2020-21	12		12		14		14	13
2021-22	Penn and Teller: Fool Us		Penn and Teller: Fool Us	Nancy Drew		Nancy Drew	13 (0%)
	2021-22	17 (+40%)		17.3967431888125	9 (-35%)			9 (-35%)	13.3810630317705
VsAvg	-35%		-0.348940491963131	-63%		-0.628460143359828	-48%
Rank	19/21		19/21	21/21		21/21	21/21

With the CW back in business earlier in 2021-22, they were able to get some scripted programming onto Friday with third-year drama Nancy Drew. But it took steep drops from its Penn and Teller lead-in, so the night was not able to grow vs. last year's reality programs.

winter

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
2020-21	Whose Line Is It Anyway?	Whose Line Is It Anyway? (R)	Penn and Teller: Fool Us		Penn and Teller: Fool Us	20
	2020-21	24	22	18			18	20
	2020-21							24	22	18	18	20
	2020-21	23					23	18	18	20
2021-22	Penn and Teller: Fool Us		Penn and Teller: Fool Us	Nancy Drew		Nancy Drew	17 (-18%)
	2021-22	21 (-8%)		21.1701212889211	12 (-30%)			12 (-30%)	16.7106744433382
VsAvg	-22%		-0.21989681671393	-50%		-0.504166538377876	-36%
Rank	15/21		15/21	19/21		19/21	17/21

The ratings improved for both Penn and Nancy in the new year, with Fool Us actually breaking a 0.10 most weeks, but they were up against an even stronger unscripted lineup from a year ago, so they declined noticeably from that.

spring

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
2020-21	Charmed		Charmed	Dynasty		Dynasty	11
	2020-21	14		14	8			8	11
2021-22	Charmed		Charmed	Dynasty		Dynasty	10 (-15%)
	2021-22	12 (-14%)		12.4145772990587	7 (-16%)			7 (-16%)	9.69208227733527
VsAvg	-47%		-0.471465805291965	-68%		-0.681369384821606	-57%
Rank	21/21		21/21	21/21		21/21	21/21

In the spring, like last year, came the returns of Charmed and Dynasty, which looked somewhat weaker than last year.

Rating the Ratings

Name	Lo	Avg	Hi	y2y	Plus	Label	Plusy2y	Results
Dynasty*	0.0	0.04	0.1	-17%	8	flop	+5%	detail
Penn and Teller: Fool Us	0.1	0.10	0.2	-22%	19	flop	-2%
Nancy Drew	0.0	0.05	0.1	-36%	10	flop	-19%	detail
Charmed*	0.0	0.06	0.1	-25%	13	flop	-6%	detail

Dynasty: After years of renewals with zero first-run ratings justification, its luck finally ran out. It kind of found a level at the end, perhaps in part because it aired about two months earlier than last year. Honestly, though, there really just wasn't much farther to fall. Grade: C-.

Penn and Teller: Fool Us: Fool Us came to the regular season during the COVID year, but it looks like it's here to stay. It was basically even in Plus with last season. Last season had some Monday episodes, but the Friday eps moved to the easier 8/7c hour, so it all looks like a wash. Grade: B-.

Nancy Drew: Moved from Wednesday after Riverdale to Friday, but also had a good lead-in on Friday and aired much earlier in the season. Still, it was one of the few low-tier scripted series on the network to survive to next season. Grade: C-.

Charmed: Like Dynasty, higher standards on the CW meant Charmed finally found the end of the line. The y2y trend for the season is bad for spring vs. spring, but not that terrible for the full season because the Sunday episodes last year were so awful. 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 CW Friday: 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21

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