100 Most-Watched TV Series of 2021-22: This Season’s Winners and Losers

variety.com:

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeDon’t call it a comeback. But thanks to sports, ever-expanding drama franchises and a handful of new hits, the Big 4 broadcast networks managed to avoid another year-to-year collapse during the now-concluded TV season.Football once again ruled primetime, led by NBC’s “Sunday Night Football,” while “Thursday Night Football” showed up twice on Nielsen’s top-rated series’ chart due to a quirk of some games airing only on NFL Network, and others simulcast on both Fox and NFL. (This won’t be an issue next year, as “Thursday Night Football” moves to Amazon Prime Video — and off this chart.)But beyond that, network TV’s embrace of procedural dramas is giving broadcasters a fighting chance at survival.

Dick Wolf is keeping the lights on at NBC and CBS, as the hitmaker’s “Law & Order,” “One Chicago” and “FBI” trilogies all make up a good chunk of the year’s most-watched TV show ranker.

But ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” and Fox’s “9-1-1” universe also remain potent. Proving that networks can still launch new hits, freshman shows like CBS’ “Ghosts,” Fox’s “Next Level Chef,” NBC’s “La Brea” and ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” all made the grade this year.

As a result, CBS ended the recently concluded 2021-2022 TV season flat, with 6.2 million viewers, followed by NBC (helped by the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics), up 14% vs.