The Breakdown: CBS Sunday in 2023-24 (The Equalizer, Tracker, CSI: Vegas and more!)

It's time for a journey through the CBS Sunday schedule in 2023-24...


fall

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30	Avg
2022-23	60 Minutes	The Equalizer		The Equalizer	East New York		East New York	NCIS: Los Angeles	154
	2022-23	332	138		164	98		108		86	154
	2022-23										332	138	164	98	108	86	154
	2022-23	235		235	131		131	97		97	154
2023-24	60 Minutes		60 Minutes	Yellowstone (R)		Yellowstone (R)	Big Brother		Big Brother	144 (-7%)
	2023-24	253 (+8%)		252.738761396973	81 (-38%)		81 (-38%)	97 (+0%)			97 (+0%)	143.56011644093
VsAvg	+89%		0.890923701602864	-13%		-0.134632427013478	+18%		0.176012363535239	+39%
Rank	1/25		1/25	21/25		21/25	4/25		4/25	2/25

CBS mostly aired repeats of the Paramount Network smash Yellowstone on its NFL-boosted fall Sundays, then finished out the summer Big Brother season at 10/9c. The network would air two Yellowstones on non-NFL Sundays (8:00-10:00) and on NFL Sundays would extend 60 Minutes to 90 Minutes and then air one Yellowstone at 9/8c-ish, which is how we irregularly end up with 60 Minutes as the most frequent occupant for the full 8/7c hour.

winter

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30	Avg
2022-23	The Equalizer		The Equalizer	East New York		East New York	NCIS: Los Angeles		NCIS: Los Angeles	86
	2022-23	97		97	85		85	77			77	86
2023-24	The Equalizer		The Equalizer	Tracker		Tracker	CSI: Vegas		CSI: Vegas	107 (+23%)
	2023-24	118 (+22%)		117.722811291016	127 (+49%)		127 (+49%)	76 (-2%)			76 (-2%)	106.594784353059
VsAvg	+30%		0.304271620059373	+44%		0.435267228143981	-4%		-0.0394685906516973	+24%
Rank	3/25		3/25	2/25		2/25	16/25		16/25	2/25

Ever-consistent The Equalizer returned in February, but this time it had much more help than usual for the winter/spring months, as new drama Tracker took over in the 9/8c hour and usually matched or built on Equalizer. CSI: Vegas moved to its third night in as many seasons and got some noticeable help from the Tracker lead-in (while still dropping roughly 40% from it).

spring

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30	Avg
2022-23	The Equalizer		The Equalizer	East New York		East New York	NCIS: Los Angeles		NCIS: Los Angeles	85
	2022-23	109		109	77		77	70			70	85
2023-24	The Equalizer		The Equalizer	Tracker		Tracker	CSI: Vegas		CSI: Vegas	103 (+21%)
	2023-24	111 (+2%)		111.447608130514	120 (+57%)		120 (+57%)	76 (+10%)			76 (+10%)	102.662323705811
VsAvg	+27%		0.2737976022187	+44%		0.441699871632176	+4%		0.0356444527549906	+26%
Rank	3/25		3/25	2/25		2/25	13/25		13/25	2/25

Tracker had some of its highest ratings (high 0.5's and low 0.6's) in the spring, when it got to air directly after basketball- and golf-boosted 60 Minutes. (A couple of those are not included in the above average since they aired at 8/7c.) Even after those lead-ins were gone, it held onto mostly high 0.4's and built from Equalizer more reliably.

Rating the Ratings

Name	Lo	Avg	Hi	y2y	Plus	Label	Plusy2y	Results
60 Minutes*	0.3	0.67	1.4	-15%	176	big hit	-4%	detail
The Equalizer	0.3	0.43	0.6	-14%	113	solid	-3%	detail
Tracker	0.4	0.48	0.6		126	hit		detail
Big Brother Sun*	0.4	0.52	0.8	-32%	122	big hit(sum)	-18%
CSI: Vegas	0.2	0.29	0.3	+2%	77	marginal	+15%	detail

60 Minutes: A rare down season for 60 Minutes, perhaps in part because of the small league average decline. Overall, though, it seems like the show's seemingly inevitable post-NFL upward trajectory has slowed a bit, as it has hovered between 171 and 183 for four years now. Grade: B-.

The Equalizer: Might be tempted to go harsher here because it could've benefited from Tracker's success, but it also missed out on the fall which is more significant here than with most shows because of the NFL lead-ins. 116 -> 119 -> 117 -> 113 is pretty crazy consistency. Grade: B.

Tracker: How sad that we went three full seasons without a single broadcast scripted newbie crossing the "hit" threshold, after having at least one in each of the first 21 seasons of the Plus era! The streak is finally over thanks to Tracker, and because it's been so long and the comparisons with East New York are so eye-popping I have to go with Grade: A. With a lot of post-NFL exposure on the way, the question now is if there's even more upside available.

CSI: Vegas: With a Tracker lead-in, it rebounded a good bit from last year when it aired after So Help Me Todd, which isn't too surprising. I would still consider it weaker than season one, which posted the same 77 while airing after Tough As Nails, and apparently CBS agreed as it got the axe. CBS will try dipping back into the newbie pool with this always tricky hour as Watson premieres here this fall. 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 Sunday: 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23

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