Summer TV Winners & Losers (2017)
Shakespeare
LOSER: William Shakespeare
For never were there ratings stories of more woe than that of ABC's shuttled-to-Saturday Still Star-Crossed and TNT's moved-to-11 pm Will.
World of Dance - Season 1
WINNER: World of Dance
Broadcast-TV's No. 2 summer series — trailing only lead-in America's Got Talent, which is enjoying its most-watched season ever — earned a Season 2 pickup after just five outings.
The Carmichael Show - Season 3
WINNER: The Carmichael Show
Its third season was ultimately its last, but this #PeakTV Treasure went out on top with unforgettable episodes that tackled rape culture, euthanasia, mass shootings and the N-word.
The Sinner - Season 1
WINNER: The Sinner
USA Network's Jessica Biel-starrer has quietly emerged as cable's top-rated and most-watched new summer series, while placing fourth overall in the coveted 18-49 demo (behind Game of Thrones, of course, Ballers and Power).
game-of-thrones-recap-season-7-episode-6
WINNER: Game of Thrones
Leaks? What leaks? HBO's epic fantasy shrugged off the hackers and made a triumphant return after a year-plus hiatus, delivering its biggest action set pieces yet and setting new series highs for viewership.
Insecure
WINNER: Insecure
Despite getting royally snubbed by Emmy, Issa Rae's acclaimed comedy roared into Season 2 with record ratings, deafening social media buzz (it occasionally trends higher than Game of Thrones on Twitter) and an early Season 3 pickup.
bachelor-in-paradise-season-4-premiere
LOSER: Bachelor Nation
First, Bachelor in Paradise — typically the franchise's most fun, low-stakes series — was mired in controversy when allegations of sexual misconduct forced production to shut down. (ABC later promoted the scandal with a tone-deaf trailer, spinning a potential assault as must-see TV.) Weeks later, Rachel Lindsay's historic season of The Bachelorette went out with a whimper, after she dumped fan favorite Peter Kraus in favor of the widely disliked Bryan Abasolo.
Twin Peaks
LOSER: Twin Peaks: The Return
Showtime touts subscribers gained via the revival's arrival; we see sometimes barely 200,000 making it a priority to watch in real time. Some see deep-dive homages to auteur David Lynch's lifelong oeuvre; we also see a lot of self-indulgent water-treading (including wayyyy too much Dougie). Some hail the potential for eventual payoff; we prefer to see the inarguable entertainment value in any given episode.
kingdom recap series finale
LOSER: Kingdom
Though its farewell run was a showcase for a number of stellar performances, the underrated MMA drama's legacy may be the fact that — SPOILER ALERT — its final episode basically killed a gay character just for coming out.
snl-tina-fey-paul-ryan-quote
WINNER: Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Summer Edition
The special series of summertime, Thursday-night specials have been rivaled in the ratings only by the venerable Big Brother, while reminding us that Tina Fey is a national treasure (and surely spiking sheet cake sales).
blood-drive-grace-karma
WINNERS: Blood Drive and Wynonna Earp
The freshman splatter-fest and sophomore gun-slinger prove that when Syfy steers away from interchangeable grey spaceships, snark-tastically fun things can happen.
BATTLE OF THE NETWORK STARS
LOSER: ABC Revivalzzzzz
Whereas the launch of last summer's vibrant Match Game/$100,000 Pyramid twofer was declared a Winner, the trifecta of a boring Boy Band, a thread-bare Battle of the Network Stars and an inert Gong Show has generated near-zero buzz plus anemic numbers.
megyn-kelly-ratings-delete
LOSER: Megyn Kelly
With a reported $18 million in her pocket, the Fox News vet's ballyhooed NBC debut — featuring a sitdown with POTUS pal Vladimir Putin — drew a smaller crowd than the 60 Minutes rerun airing opposite it; a subsequent outing got bested by an AFHV repeat. Critically, she drew fire for giving Sandy Hook denier Alex Jones a platform (a Q&A that 63 percent of TVLine respondents say never should have aired). Hopefully she proves to be a "morning person" with her Today gig...?
Last Ship
WINNER: Homer
On the heels of Prison Break doing a riff on the Greek poet's epic "Odyssey", The Last Ship is now doing same. "Nobody" is somebody again!
friends-from-college-netflix-review-comedy-season-1
LOSER: Friends From College
Renewal shmenewal. Netflix assembled a comedy dream team — Keegan-Michael Key! Cobie Smulders! Billy Eichner! — and then promptly squandered them on a sour, unpleasant sitcom that generated a flurry of bad reviews. We can only assume the (shocking) Season 2 order came with a signed-in-blood promise to do better.
curb-your-enthusiasm-season-9-larry-david
WINNER: HBO
Game of Thrones' action-packed penultimate season is regularly serving up ratings records, Insecure is a bonafide hit, Curb Your Enthusiasm's return is imminent, a Jon Stewart special is nigh, and there's actual movement on the Deadwood movie and a third season of True Detective. That said....
DB Weiss, David Benioff
LOSER: HBO
The announcement of its alt-history, "What if slavery never ended?" series from two (white, male) Game of Thrones producers could have been handled better. Also, the recent assorted hacks and leaks, while not detrimental to any linear viewership, has made the mighty cabler look vulnerable.
Power Season 4 2017
WINNER: Power
Solid buzz, alongside some seriously respectable viewership numbers, have cemented the drug-dealing drama's position as cable's third highest-rated scripted series (behind Game of Thrones and Ballers). Creatively, the Starz series' writers have really mined Ghost's hubris — not to mention that of Tommy, Angela and even Tasha — for the most watchable of cautionary tales.
Shonda Rhimes
WINNER: Netflix
Sure, Netflix is starting to cancel shows just like any human broadcaster. But on top of saving some face by giving Sense8 a wrap-up movie, the streamer went on to forge new alliances with Shonda Rhimes, David Letterman and the Coen Brothers. One can only imagine the ratings Netflix must be getting!
younger-recap
WINNER: Younger
Liza and Josh's relationship may be in a deep freeze, but Younger has never been hotter. Not only is the TV Land dramedy going to some exciting, unexpected places in its fourth season, but it continuously breaks its own ratings records with new highs.
defenders-trailer
WINNER: Marvel's The Defenders
Though not quite the "event" that Stranger Things was a year ago, this 8-episode Netflix binge was a perfect capper to the summer and restored some of the "cool factor" to the streamer's Marvel line-up, in the wake of mixed reviews for Luke and Danny's solo shots.
summer-tv-winner-glow
WINNER: GLOW
We came for Alison Brie, but stayed for Betty Gilpin, who stole the show as soap star-turned-housewife-turned-gorgeous lady wrestler Debbie "Liberty Belle" Eagan.