Unfortunately, Parenthood has never been a hit TV show in the ratings. Fortunately, the numbers have been good enough to keep it from being cancelled each year. Will the Braverman family’s luck hold out? Time will tell.

An ensemble family drama, the cast includes Bonnie Bedelia, Craig T. Nelson, Dax Shepard, Erika Christensen, Joy Bryant, Lauren Graham, Mae Whitman, Max Burkholder, Miles Heizer, Monica Potter, Peter Krause, Sam Jaeger, Sarah Ramos, Savannah Paige Rae, and Tyree Brown.

Season four of Parenthood typically airs on Tuesdays nights at 10pm on the NBC network. They’ve ordered 15 episodes.

These are the TV show’s ratings for the 2012-13 season, the best way to tell if Parenthood is going to be cancelled or renewed for season five.

The figures will be updated as the weeks progress so be sure to bookmark and return to this page:

UPDATE: NBC has renewed this show for 2013-14 and has ordered 22 episodes.

Final season averages: 1.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 4.98 million total viewers.

Episode 04-15: Tuesday, 01/22/13 (season finale)
1.8 in the demo (-5% change) with 4.87 million (-2% change).
Season averages: 1.84 in the demo with 4.98 million.

Episode 04-14: Tuesday, 01/15/13
1.9 in the demo (0% change) with 4.96 million (-6% change).
Season averages: 1.84 in the demo with 4.99 million.

Episode 04-13: Tuesday, 01/08/13
1.9 in the demo (+6% change) with 5.30 million (-1% change).
Season averages: 1.84 in the demo with 4.99 million.

Episode 04-12: Tuesday, 01/01/13
1.8 in the demo (-10% change) with 5.37 million (-6% change).
Season averages: 1.83 in the demo with 4.96 million.

Episode 04-11: Tuesday, 12/11/12
2.0 in the demo (+11% change) with 5.73 million (+15% change).
Season averages: 1.84 in the demo with 4.93 million.

Episode 04-10: Tuesday, 12/04/12
1.8 in the demo (0% change) with 4.98 million (+11% change).
Season averages: 1.82 in the demo with 4.85 million.

Episode 04-09: Tuesday, 11/27/12
1.8 in the demo (+6% change) with 4.49 million (-3% change).
Season averages: 1.82 in the demo with 4.83 million.

Episode 04-08: Tuesday, 11/20/12
1.7 in the demo (-11% change) with 4.62 million (-4% change).
Season averages: 1.83 in the demo with 4.88 million.

Episode 04-07: Tuesday, 11/13/12
1.9 in the demo (0% change) with 4.82 million (-1% change).
Season averages: 1.84 in the demo with 4.91 million.

Episode 04-06: Tuesday, 10/23/12
1.9 in the demo (-5% change) with 4.85 million (-2% change).
Season averages: 1.83 in the demo with 4.93 million.

Episode 04-05: Tuesday, 10/09/12
2.0 in the demo (+25% change) with 4.95 million (+11% change).
Season averages: 1.82 in the demo with 4.94 million.

Episode 04-04: Tuesday, 10/02/12
1.6 in the demo (-11% change) with 4.45 million (-8% change).
Season averages: 1.77 in the demo with 4.94 million.

Episode 04-03: Tuesday, 09/25/12
1.8 in the demo (0% change) with 4.85 million (-3% change).
Season averages: 1.83 in the demo with 5.10 million.

Episode 04-02: Tuesday, 9/18/12
1.8 in the demo (-5% change) with 4.98 million (-9% change).
Season averages: 1.85 in the demo with 5.23 million.

Episode 04-01: Tuesday, 9/11/12
1.9 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 5.48 million total viewers.
Season averages: 1.90 in the demo with 5.48 million.

It wasn’t a great start of the season. Though Parenthood won its timeslot (opposite reruns), it was down year-to-year by 14% in the coveted demo (vs a 2.2 rating) and down by 13% in total viewers (vs 6.29 million). This isn’t a big surprise however since each season opener has been lower than the one before it.

Reference point: The 2011-12 season of Parenthood averaged a 1.9 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 5.13 million viewers.

Note: These ratings are collected by the Nielsen company and are the final national numbers. These are different from the fast affiliate numbers which are just estimates of the actual ratings and are reported by most other outlets. The final nationals are typically released within 24 hours of the programming or, in the case of weekends and holidays, a couple days later.

What do you think? Do you like the Parenthood TV series? Do you think it should be cancelled or renewed for a fifth season?