CBS recently unveiled their newest Thursday night sitcom — The McCarthys. How is doing? Is it a comedy hit or a flop? Will it last or could it be cancelled soon?
The McCarthys revolves around sports-crazed Irish-American family from Boston. Athletically-challenged and gay son Ronny (Tyler Ritter) plans to finally move away to start his own life. Those plans are thrown into turmoil when his basketball coach dad (Jack McGee) offers him a job as assistant coach — much to the dismay of Ronny’s siblings. The sitcom also stars Laurie Metcalf, Jimmy Dunn, Joey McIntyre, and Kelen Coleman.
The series debuted on October 30th to a 1.7 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 8.08 million viewers. Last week’s dropped to a 1.5 in the demo and 6.67 million.
While those might be acceptable numbers for a sitcom on NBC, they are disappointing for one on CBS — particularly on Thursday nights. The show’s poor ratings are also likely hurting Elementary which airs at 10pm.
After two episodes, The McCarthys is averaging a 1.6 rating with 7.38 million viewers. For comparisons, The Crazy Ones was cancelled last season after averaging a 2.1 rating with 8.32 million.
Unless the ratings pick up fast, it’s certain that The McCarthys will be cancelled after a short season of 13 episodes. Today, the network ordered two additional scripts, a sign they aren’t giving up on the series yet.
If the ratings keep dropping, it seems likely that the network will pull the series and replace it with reruns for the immediate future — and eventually replace it with Mike & Molly or another sitcom.
What do you think? Do you like The McCarthys? Do you think it should be cancelled soon or given more time?
The question itself is such a sign of the times – CANCEL OR KEEP (after only three airings). Not “Give it time to grow?” or “It’s not for me, but those who do like it, enjoy.” It’s “CANCEL IT!! NOW!”. Clearly, just by this small sampling of opinions alone (also see Facebook and Twitter), there are as many (if not more) people who like the show as those who don’t like the show. It sucks that shows are no longer given a chance to grow. You know, like other shows that were initially panned then went on to be successful.… Read more »
shows are not given a chance to grow because they rarely if ever do. there is maybe two or three shows in the last 30 years that started off slow and built a following. how do i know, because like you , people only ever cite two, the same two. so if it was common and possible wouldn’t you be able to refer to more than the same two or three shows.
they tried a TBBT lead, thurs, monday timelsots, it never caught on. and was never going to catch on
sorry I was talking about the millers as an example as to why the McCarthy’s will suffer the same fate
You only hear about a couple, because those are probably the biggest success stories of them all. There are tons more… Friends was called “a Seinfeld wannabe” and “trying too hard”. Cheers debuted last in the ratings – dead last. Family Ties had a bad start. LA Times said, about the Big Bang Theory – “It’s just the same joke endlessly repeated – the everyday translated into geek-speak, and the obscure and difficult treated as if it were common knowledge”. Last Man standing barely broke 50th in the ratings during it’s first season – still here 4 years later. You… Read more »
Just shoot me! Only ranked in the 60s during its first season. Season 2 ratings jumped into the teens. How I met your mother-first season got 56% on Rotten Tomatoes – went 9 seasons, among the most downloaded shows in the world. Wings, ranked in the 40s in its first season, lasted 6 or 7 seasons. Third Rock From the Sun, review said “as good as Lithgow is, this show is one joke over and over again”. People enjoyed that joke for 6 seasons. Shows “rarely, if ever grow”?? These shows beg to differ…. And I could go on. More… Read more »
I saw one episode (I was stuck in a hotel room) and I didn’t care for it. Everyone is mean to each other but by the end, they learn it comes from a place of love. Ugh. Every sitcom features family members being mean or passive aggressive to each other so if you’re going to take on an unoriginal premise, try to give it a little more edge than just a gay character and Boston accents.
Words don’t do justice to just how terrible this series really is. It seems to be a political correctness tick box! It is the “ideal” nuclear family with a pointless twist! Modern family has a gay couple, arguably the funniest part of that series! I just don’t get why the straight guy has to be gay! (oh the irony!). Don’t have a problem with the guy being gay, DO have a problem with the show not being funny! I watched the first show (as it follows 2 1/2 and leads into elementary). I gave it a second chance (thought it… Read more »
please keep this show i love the cast and it is so fun watching Tyler. keep keep keep
It’s ironic, that just before The McCarthys, on Two And A Half Men this season, the two straight characters basically mock the issue of same sex marriage, as they get married to each other for no other reason than to try to dupe the system and be able to adopt a child. That, then leads into The McCarthys, in which a young man who recently came out to his family is trying to deal with all that comes with that, yet his family loves him and supports him, albeit in their unique way. A lot of people on this site… Read more »
I don’t find shows that fight, bicker and insult each other funny. If it were up to me, I’d cancel it. If this were to follow a show I liked, I’d turn the TV off. I’m not glued to the tube nor am I that lazy.
CANCEL IT! CANCEL IT! CANCEL IT! Replace it with Mike & Molly.
Cancel – it is terrible!!
Keep it! It is a good show. It’s better than The Millers.
Anything Is Better Then The Millers.
Millers just got cancelled. Should never have gotten a 2nd season in the 1st place.
Its a fun show. I saw the taping of 2 episodes and the cast has great chemistry. I think its more the time slot and the fact its going against Thursday night football hurts it. Is is ground breaking TV? No. But its a nice half hour that you can just relax to and enjoy some lovable characters.
I think its a great show and the fact that the lead character is gay with a supportive family gives a good example of what family life should be like
Is he gay in real life or just playing a part on The McCarthys?
I like it so far. One of the few new comedies that I wasn’t turned off by right way. If I like it I bet the “Key Demo” that drives the ratings won’t. Not raunchy enough for them. Why do people think lead ins make a difference in ratings these days with the all ways to record shows and watch them later on demand. Who sits there these days and watches a show based on what comes on before it or after it. I pick and choose what I watch based solely on the shows merit. If Elementary’s ratings are… Read more »
I think you’d be surprised snowdogmom, at how much a lead-in absolutely helps. Do you really believe MOM would be doing so well if it weren’t after Big Bang Theory? Chuck Lorre has so much power at CBS that he is able to insist that his shows run successively without any outside shows in “his block of shows”. I am also a fan of The McCarthys. I don’t think I am going out on a limb by saying, it would DEFINITELY be doing better if it swapped time slots with Mom. I am amazed it is doing this well having… Read more »
I’m surprised MOM was renewed. Yes, it’s probably being lifted by TBBT as lead in as was The Millers that just got cancelled after moving to Monday after Two Broke Girls. Having Two and Half Men a much raunchier show before the McCarthy’s doesn’t help it as I would guess the audience may not be the same. I guess the Nielsen families are too lazy to push the button on the remote to change the channel, turn off the TV or whatever after TBBT. Thursday for CBS is a mess as far as I’m concerned. Like TBBT and giving the… Read more »
I don’t think the lead in show is all that important. We channel surf alllll the time. And as far as 2 1/2 men, we stopped watching that awful show a long time ago. You can only see Alan in his tighty whitiest just so many times…. sickening that this show got so disgusting. As for Elementary… he needs to speak slower and much more clearly. We turn on the closed captioning for this one. Now.. for MOM….. LOVE IT!
I absolutely Love the show. The cast is superb and the writing is very witty.
It’s a horrible show and it’s a horrible lead in to Elementary. It’s definitely affecting Elementary’s ratings. They should put POI back with Elementary.
In my opinion, The McCarthys is actually one of the better sitcoms that has come out in WHILE. It is just not on the right night nor surrounded by the right other shows. It is about family and those relationships that come with it. Why a show that many American FAMILIES could relate to would air at 9:30 PM, makes no sense. Why it is in between Two And A Half Men and Elementary, makes NO sense. Historically, 9:30 is usually saved for more raunchy fare. The McCarthys, is almost “wholesome” compared to its competition. Put 2 Broke Girls together… Read more »
It’s in the “raunchy” time slot because of the gay character. We still live in a country full of prejudice and non acceptance. Many viewers would have an issue if it was on at an earlier “family” primetime slot.
You’re right cryonix. I live in California and sometimes forget that that is the awful truth. The sadder part is… Apparently CBS thinks the same way.