As expected, ABC News’ 20/20 is back for its 40th season. Will it be cancelled or renewed for season 41? While a renewal is nearly certain for the Alphabet Network’s Friday night staple, the ratings did drop substantially last season, and cancellations have surprised people before. Since only hindsight is truly 20/20, stay tuned. *Status update below.
Journalists Elizabeth Vargas and David Muir currently anchor 20/20 for ABC News. Created by Roone Arledge and first premiering in June of 1978, the primetime news magazine combines investigative news reports with human interest stories and other features. Correspondents include Juju Chang, John Quiñones, Deborah Roberts, Brian Ross, Diane Sawyer, and Jay Schadler.
The ratings are typically the best indication of a show’s likelihood of staying on the air. The higher the ratings (particularly in the 18-49 demo), the better the chances for survival. This chart will be updated as new ratings data becomes available — typically around 11:30am EST/8:30am PST. Refresh to see the latest.
5/26 update: You can see the rest of the latest night’s ratings.
Note: If you’re not seeing the updated charts, please try reloading the page. You can also see them here.
Last year comparison: The 39th season of 20/20 averaged a 0.83 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 4.16 million total viewers (live + same day ratings).
Note: These are the Live + Same Day Ratings which include “live” viewing plus delayed DVR viewing, up until 3am local time that same night. Ratings marked with an “*” are the fast affiliate ratings and will be updated with the Live+SD numbers when they are made available. Typically, networks get paid for C+3 ratings which includes DVR viewing within three days of the original airing when commercials are watched. Those numbers are rarely released to the press.
What do you think? Do you still like the 20/20 TV series? Should it be cancelled or renewed for a 41st season on ABC?
*5/15/18 update: ABC has renewed 20/20 for the 2018-19 season. Details here.