Last Man Standing is pretty used to being the king of the Friday night ratings—at least in the coveted 18-49 advertising demo—but last week it was knocked off of its perch. The good news for fans of the Tim Allen laugher? Last Man Standing returned strong this weekend and was once again on top of the ratings.
This Friday, Last Man Standing beat every other primetime network show that aired on Friday night, at least in the 18-49 demo. Nabbing a .9 rating, a couple of other CBS shows were close in the demo, with both Hawaii Five-0 and Blue Bloods pulling .8 ratings this week.
It should be noted that CBS generally tops the night in total viewers, so when we say Last Man Standing is dominant, we definitely mean dominant with advertisers. For example, this week Last Man Standing did 5 million total viewers in Live + Same Day ratings. Friday night is a tough timeslot in general for TV, so that’s not half bad.
However, Hawaii Five-0 actually did 6.7 million total viewers and Blue Bloods did a whopping 8.2 million, per TV By The Numbers. So, those shows did pull a higher number of viewers, they just were mainly in an older demographic than is preferred for primetime TV.
Last week, however, it wasn’t a CBS original scripted series that kicked Last Man Standing out of its coveted slot.
However, it was CBS programming that won the night.
On March 8th, CBS News: Gayle King Interview with R. Kelly actually won the night in the 18-49 demographic, pulling a 1.2 rating. That week, Last Man Standing did a 1.0 rating. Hawaii Five-0 and Blue Bloods both did .9 ratings.
Weirdly, Last Man Standing won’t be in its (mostly) lucky Friday night slot forever. Instead, Fox recently announced the series would actually be moving nights for Season 8. Instead, the network will be trying out WWE programming during its Friday night block. Technically, Last Man Standing has not been renewed for its second season on Fox; however, it’s done well for the network and a cancellation would be a shock.
This should be an interesting ratings move all around. First of all, it’ll be fascinating to see how WWE numbers do on Fridays. Secondly, it will be interesting to see how Last Man Standing fares on a more popular TV night. Is it popular because it airs on Fridays and there's not a lot else out there? Or, given competition among more popular shows, will it end up being more in the middle of the pack?
I have no idea, but if you like the Friday night timeslot for the series, enjoy it while it lasts. Last Man Standing currently airs on Friday nights at 8 p.m. ET, only on Fox. In addition, see what's still set to come at midseason with our full TV premiere schedule.
