The fall months brought a change to the NBC lineup, as Tuesdays became all about basketball. However, before the games started up, Tuesdays had a run with reality TV, and one of the new shows was On Brand with Jimmy Fallon.
In this competition series, 10 everyday people put their marketing skills to the test. They had to create campaigns for real brands, including the likes of Sonic and Southwest Airlines. Now that the series has come to an end, eyes are on whether it will be renewed or not. Sure, it’s been a month since the finale, but it remains on the bubble. What are the chances of it being renewed?
On Brand with Jimmy Fallon had an odd schedule
The linear ratings weren’t strong for the series, but in its defense, it had an odd schedule. Episodes aired on Tuesdays at 10/9c and then on Fridays at 8/7c. No, the Friday night episode wasn’t a rerun. It was a new episode, and people aren’t used to seeing two episodes of shows in a week.
Okay, The Voice fans are, but they’re used to that schedule already. It’s also marketed heavily, and there’s been a strong consistency to it. For the Jimmy Fallon series, it didn’t quite work out as well. The show was on two nights either side of the week and at completely different times.
Then once the basketball started, the show moved only to Fridays. And that was only for the final episodes! So, with that in mind, it’s not surprising that the linear ratings weren’t that strong.
On Brand with Jimmy Fallon likely isn’t going to be renewed
Reality shows are on the cheaper side to make compared to scripted, so they do get away with being slightly lower in terms of linear ratings. However, On Brand with Jimmy Fallon was arguably too low looking at the numbers from TV Series Finale. On average, it pulled in a 0.16 demo rating and 1.668 million viewers. That was way behind its Tuesday night lead-in, The Voice, which pulled in a 0.383 average demo rating and 4.873 million viewers.
It’s going to depend on shows during the midseason once the schedule is a little back to normal. It could be that the reality show will just work best in the midseason or during the summer. This could help to save it, but I have a feeling we’ll see NBC move on with other shows quietly, in the way it seems to have done with Songland.
On Brand with Jimmy Fallon is available to stream on Peacock. Get ready for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to return to normal on Monday, Dec. 1.