Blue Bloods Getting Canceled Was Bad For CBS’ Friday Night Ratings. Turns Out The Network Found A Solid Substitute

It was always a little weird before Blue Bloods was officially canceled. The show was a ratings behemoth on Friday nights, and we were told it wasn’t just budget stuff that was pushing it off the air. So far, Friday nights on the 2025 TV schedule had been a little down without our favorite mustachioed Reagan family member, and I wasn’t really surprised about it. But it turns out CBS may have known what it was doing, as its newcomer has proven to be a solid substitute.

One of the reasons we were given for Blue Bloods making the list of all the recently canceled TV shows had to do with the fact the Eye Network simply had a glut of content at its disposal. In fact, some of its NCIS content was shipped off to Paramount Plus rather than making its way onto the network schedule. This unfortunately meant fans had to say goodbye to its long-running NY family cop show (which they were not happy about). In its stead, U.S. audiences have now gotten the second season of NCIS: Sydney on the airwaves, too.

As it turns out, that’s great news.

How NCIS: Sydney Has Led To A Resurgence In Friday Night’s Ratings

No hate for Fire Country and S.W.A.T., but apparently both shows suffered when they didn’t have an anchor series as a lead-in. Per a report at TV Line, NCIS: Sydney premiere to 4.15 million total viewers. That also meant good things for Fire Country, which was up 15% from the week prior and S.W.A.T, which was up 12% from the week prior.

To note, things are still not as gravy as they were when Blue Bloods was on the air. That series averaged 5.07 million total viewers during the fall TV season. Its finale stunned even more, bringing in 6.7 million viewers, so it went out on a high note. Granted, numbers are typically really high the first few weeks in the fall as fans get back into the groove of things and a finale is a finale, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t note the Blue Bloods numbers were better, which is in line with what Tom Selleck was saying all along.

In addition, Sydney was down from its freshman season, but that aired on Tuesday nights at the network and didn't air at all here in the fall. While midseason premieres are not unusually for network shows, it's still easy to see why some viewers may have lost the plot. It’s been some time since the show was on the air and hopefully a return on Friday nights will ultimately be good news for the action drama.

Best case scenario? The Sydney numbers keep improving until they align with what the Reagan family drama got.

Otherwise saying goodbye to Blue Bloods may have not been the wisest course of action. All I gotta say about that is: I sincerely hope the network is gonna put its money where its mouth is and get started on work on a spinoff soon.