Meloni Returns
Coming off of two of its weakest seasons, in the Thursday 10/9c hour following struggling comedies, Law and Order: SVU was already showing some improvement in a fall 2020 move back to the 9/8c hour. But NBC was looking to give the franchise another shot in the arm with SVU original Christopher Meloni's return to the universe in a new spin-off Law and Order: Organized Crime. On premiere night, that effort was a smashing success. SVU exploded to a 1.69 demo, rather easily the highest Plus (262) in series history, and the Organized Crime premiere held almost all of that with a 1.56 at 10/9c. They took a huge drop the next week (0.90/0.82) and ultimately settled another 15% or so below that, but that still left SVU decidedly stronger than it had been even in the fall, while Organized Crime's 123 Plus for the season made it one of the strongest 10/9c dramas on TV.
Gradually Worsening Retention
In the next couple seasons, while they couldn't recapture the megahit magic from premiere night, SVU's resurgence continued into hit levels (with an added assist in spring 2022 from the return of the L&O mothership to create an all-L&O night). Organized Crime, a regular 90%ish retainer of SVU in season one, became more like an 80% retainer, but it was still a nice occupant.
Delayed till February in the writers' strike-hampered 2023-24 season, Organized Crime returned to its usual league average-ish ratings in February but took a noticeable dive when the spring came. On several occasions it dropped by a third or more from SVU, including just a 0.22 with 56% retention in May. Organized Crime had a long wait for its fifth season renewal, and it's moving to Peacock, bringing an end to 2+ seasons of the all-L&O Thursday.
Adults 18-49 info by season:
| Seas | Year | Slot | Avg | y2y | Lo | Hi | Results | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spring 2021 | Thursday 10:00 | 0.79 | 0.6 | 1.6 | detail | B+ | |
| 2 | 2021-22 | 0.54 | -32% | 0.4 | 0.7 | detail | B- | |
| 3 | 2022-23 | 0.44 | -17% | 0.3 | 0.6 | detail | B- | |
| 4 | 2024 | 0.34 | -24% | 0.2 | 0.5 | detail | C- |
Historical-adjusted ratings by season:
| Seas | Year | A18-49+ | Label | Now24 | y2y | Lo | Hi | Premiere | Finale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spring 2021 | 123 | solid | 0.47 | 93 | 242 | 242 | 98 | |
| 2 | 2021-22 | 105 | solid | 0.40 | -15% | 86 | 131 | 118 | 100 |
| 3 | 2022-23 | 104 | solid | 0.39 | -1% | 73 | 145 | 145 | 96 |
| 4 | 2024 | 89 | marginal | 0.34 | -15% | 58 | 121 | 121 | 87 |
| AVERAGE: | 105 | solid | |||||||
| CAREER: | 421 | utility | |||||||
The War of 18-49 chronicles the ratings history of veteran primetime series. For more, see the Index.
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