The Cleaning Lady wraps its intense first season on March 14, and the Season 1 finale airs on Fox without any news one way or the other about whether the show will return for Season 2. The series that brought Daredevil’s Élodie Yung to network television premiered with a unique premise, a number of positive reviews, and some respectable ratings, but few things are ever guaranteed on television. So, with The Cleaning Lady either ending for good or heading into a hiatus, let’s look at the odds for a renewal vs. cancellation.
The Ratings
Although The Cleaning Lady hasn’t quite climbed to the ratings heights of 9-1-1 or 9-1-1: Lone Star on Fox, the freshman series got off to a strong start and kept some reasonably high numbers throughout its ten-episode first season. The Futon Critic reported back in January that the series premiere marked Fox’s highest-rated new drama debut in two years, with a rating of 0.5 and audience total of 3.6 million in Live+Same day totals.
It was the highest debut for any Fox show since 9-1-1: Lone Star back in 2020, which got a boost both from its status as a spinoff of an existing hit show and a time slot following an NFL game. The Cleaning Lady ratings have dipped off and on since the premiere, although a couple of episodes have actually beaten that first episode in the ratings, which is a fairly big deal considering that premieres and finales generally attract bigger audiences than normal episodes.
Plus, The Cleaning Lady tends to experience nice boosts in ratings and audience size when delayed viewing can be accounted for. Take a look at the averages (via SpoilerTV) for the Live+Same day totals from the initial broadcast, Live+3 after three days of delayed numbers, and Live+7 after seven days:
- Live+Same: 0.5
- Live+3: 0.7 (rise of 40%)
- Live+7: 0.8 (rise of 60%)
Again, The Cleaning Lady isn’t sweeping the ratings board with those delayed totals, but those are respectable bumps that make it a pretty solid performer for Fox. The audience size totals tell a similar story:
- Live+Same: 3.35 million
- Live+3: 4.99 million (rise of 49%)
- Live+7: 5.45 million (rise of 62%)
We can’t say for certain whether these numbers are enough to make a renewal a sure thing, but I would say that if The Cleaning Lady is cancelled, it won’t be because Fox has reason to be disappointed in the ratings. All in all, the ratings and viewership make me pretty optimistic about a Season 2.
Fox's Schedule
While March is a little bit early in the season for any network to announce final renewal vs. cancellation decisions across the board, Fox has already cancelled The Big Leap, which was one of the network’s most hyped freshman series in the 2021-2022 TV season. Fellow freshman series Our Kind of People, which showcased Chicago Med’s Yaya DaCosta after her departure from the NBC medical drama and The Resident's Morris Chestnut, has yet to be renewed or cancelled.
The Cleaning Lady has easily been more of a ratings hit than The Big Leap was, and has a clear edge over Our Kind of People as well. The cancellation of The Big Leap could also mean that Fox won’t be overly anxious to end another series after just one season and roll the dice on something new for the 2022-2023 TV season. Fox’s schedule seems to have the room for a show with The Cleaning Lady’s numbers and unique premise.
The Story
At the time of writing, the finale hasn’t yet aired to reveal exactly how The Cleaning Lady wraps the Season 1 story of Élodie Yung’s Thony De La Rosa, her sick son, and all the people she has become involved with in her determined efforts to get five-year-old Luca the treatment he needs. Still, it's likely that there is plenty of potential story left for the show to explore in a second season.
All things considered, the odds of The Cleaning Lady being renewed for Season 2 seem good for fans of the Fox series. Our Kind of People has been waiting on a renewal since all the way back in late January, so it’s possible that Fox won’t announce the decision about Élodie Yung’s series for some time, but hopefully the wait won’t be too long.
The Season 1 finale of The Cleaning Lady airs on Monday, March 14 at 9 p.m. ET on Fox after 9-1-1: Lone Star. If you want to revisit the full first season, you can find it streaming with a Hulu subscription, and our 2022 TV schedule has some viewing options following the finale.
