NBC is making a scheduling change, taking new drama Grosse Pointe Garden Society out of its Sunday 10 PM slot and putting it at 8 PM Fridays, beginning April 4. The decision comes three episodes into Grosse Pointe‘s run.
The swiftness of NBC’s action is understandable as Grosse Pointe has been drawing very low linear ratings, with the series sitting at the bottom of all of the network’s series in both total audience and adults 18-49, averaging just over a million Live+Same Day viewers in Live+ Same Day the last two weeks.
While a move to the low-trafficked Friday night for a new broadcast series would’ve meant a certain death back in the day, the rules are different in the streaming age.
With its serialized mystery-themed storytelling, Grosse Pointe, from the Good Girls duo of Jenna Bans and Bill Krebs, was always considered better suited for streaming. As Deadline reported last year, when NBC piloted both Grosse Pointe and Suits: LA, there was a possibility for one of the two, likely Suits: LA, to be for NBC and the other, likely Grosse Pointe, to end up as a Peacock original.
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Both pilots were picked up as new series for NBC alongside straight-to-series drama The Hunting Party — all three debuting this midseason.
Proving that even in the streaming age linear lead-ins matter, The Hunting Party, which follows Tne Voice on Mondays, has been doing the best of the three newcomers so far.
It was a risk for NBC to slot two newcomers, Suits: LA and Grosse Pointe, back-to-back on Sundays. With the former’s ratings performance softer than many anticipated given its recognizable title, it has provided an underwhelming 9 PM lead-in to Grosse Pointe, which has struggled in its 10 PM time period from the start.
While Friday 8 PM is not an ideal time slot, broadcast networks actually get sizable lead-in from the game shows and news magazines that air in the 7 PM hour, so there should be eyeballs available at 8 PM as Happy’s Place can attest. The new comedy has thrived in the 8 PM-8:30 Pm time slot, earning an early Season 2 renewal. (By April 4, Happy’s Place will have wrapped its freshman series. Reruns of the Reba McEntire comedy had been slated to run in the hour, which will now house Grosse Pointe.)
Of course, a multi-cam sitcom is very different than a dense murder mystery drama, which casual viewers coming across it in its new time slot would probably find harder to join in. That makes Peacock, where Grosse Pointe is available next day, key to the show’s prospects.
In a promising sign, Grosse Pointe‘s pilot episode is up to 6.6 million total viewers, more than 3x its live + same day debut performance. In 18-49, the series opener is up to a 1.21 rating, more than 7x its live + same day debut performance.
While the scheduling move to Fridays could bring in a few more people to sample the show, viewers seeking it out and binging the existing episodes on Peacock in large numbers would save it from cancellation. If that happens, Grosse Pointe would likely make the transition to streaming as a low linear start is extremely difficult to overcome.
Grosse Pointe will air Sundays at 10 PM for two more weeks. After that, it will be replaced in the hour by newsmagazine Dateline.
As the title suggests, Grosse Pointe Garden Society, follows four members of a suburban garden club who find their lives intertwined by scandal, mischief and a shared secret – a murder no one wants to talk about. As dark truths begin to rot their lives under the surface, they struggle to remain as perfect as the flowers blooming in their garden above.
The cast includes Melissa Fumero, Aja Naomi King, Ben Rappaport, AnnaSophia Robb, Matthew Davis, Alexander Hodge, Nancy Travis, and Felix Wolfe.
In the April 4 episode, Alice faces unexpected challenges at work. Brett feels pressure launching his car restoration business. Birdie grows more involved in a tempting affair. In flash forwards, Catherine’s marriage faces new hurdles when law enforcement seeks answers.
Grosse Pointe Garden Society is written and created by Jenna Bans and Bill Krebs. They serve as co-showrunners and executive producers alongside Casey Kyber. The show is produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.