Comedy has been a mixed bag for TV of late, with Hollywood embracing varying strategies as they rethink their approach to the genre.
One big win so far this year is Bill Lawrence’s “Rooster,” which wrapped its freshman season on May 10 as HBO’s most-watched comedy debut in 15 years. The Steve Carell-led show, which is averaging 6.5 million viewers in the U.S., soared ahead of Tim Robinson’s “The Chair Company” and Rachel Sennott’s “I Love LA,” which closed out their first seasons with 4.1 million viewers and 3.2 million viewers per episode, respectively.
The success of “Rooster” shows the appeal of Lawrence’s style of comedy with broader audiences, as previously seen with his shows “Shrinking” and “Ted Lasso” — both Apple TV hits produced by Warner Bros. Television. By tapping the prolific creator for its latest comedy, HBO is seeing the benefits of appealing to a wider range of viewers, rather than the more niche audiences lured by the creator-driven series it typically prioritizes like “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “The Rehearsal.” Whether that signals a strategy shift at the premium content network remains to be seen.
But it’s those broader appeal series with heart that seem to be hitting with viewers more than prestige offerings like HBO Max’s “Hacks,” which will end its Emmy-winning run next week, and breezy watches like Netflix’s “Running Point,” which didn’t see momentum from its first season carry on to Season 2. As audiences increasingly find their laughs through social media and YouTube, Hollywood’s approach to the comedy genre appears to be in a rebuilding period — or taking a backseat altogether.
Broader appeal comedies have worked at Apple TV, which also leans on prestige content with comedies like “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” and dramas like “Pluribus.” “Shrinking” scored its second-ever Nielsen top 10 appearance when it dropped its Season 3 finale in early April, tallying up 369 million minutes as the No. 10 original series for the week.
It’s a bandwagon Prime Video is hoping to get in on, having just granted a series order for the male escort romcom “Escorted” from “Ted Lasso” star Brett Goldstein, who co-created “Shrinking.”
The order fills out a comedy gap for the streamer, which previously focused on prestige comedies like “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Transparent” or more experimental series like “Jury Duty,” which also drew awards acclaim. “Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat” didn’t make much of a ratings splash this year, however, as it did not appear in Nielsen’s top 10 streaming list for any of the three weeks the show rolled out. That said, Prime Video still renewed “Jury Duty” for Season 3, meaning positive critical reception might be enough to keep that train going.
Netflix is sticking with its strategy of breezy comedies that are quick to turn around, with upfronts seeing the streamer renew the Kate Hudson-led “Running Point” and Dan Levy’s “Big Mistakes,” which fit right in with “Nobody Wants This” and “A Man on the Inside.” But neither comedy scored viewership magic this year, with “Big Mistakes” netting 2.7 million views in its debut week and staying in the streamer’s top 10 list for two weeks, while “Running Point” Season 2 debuted to 5.3 million views — dropping off from its Season 1 debut viewership of 9.3 million views last year — and stayed in the top 10 for three weeks, half of Season 1’s run. Is that enough to keep subscribers engaged?
Notably, the streamer did score big with “The Roast of Kevin Hart,” which meshed its live events strategy with comedy to score the top slot in the viewership list with 13.5 million views last week. With the figure also including live viewing, the event likely won’t see any notable growth.
Hulu, on the other hand, hasn’t had too much in their comedy toolbox this year, but will welcome Mindy Kaling’s “Not Suitable for Work” to its lineup alongside “Deli Boys” this summer and soon another season of “Only Murders in the Building” soon enough. Meanwhile, Peacock is leaning heavily into NBC-like comedies like “The Paper” and “The ‘Burbs,” which had a strong debut premiering on Super Bowl day and landed a Season 2 renewal.
As for the network side of things, the attention remains largely on dramas, though Fox continues to champion its adult animation block and renewed “Best Medicine,” an hourlong comedy which paves the way for a new format. The network might be cooling down on half-hour live action comedies after canceling “Going Dutch,” keeping only the Joel McHale-led “Animal Control” in its lineup.
NBC and CBS trimmed their schedule by cutting “Stumble” — which ranked as the network’s least-watched show — and “DMV,” respectively, as it makes room for new comedies, while breakout hit “The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins” was renewed for a second season.
And ABC doubled down by renewing all of its slate, including the “Scrubs” revival from Lawrence, which debuted as the highest-rated comedy telecast on any network this season among adults 18-49 and scored over 11 million viewers across platforms in its first 35 days.
MMA hits for Netflix
Speaking of Netflix’s live events, the fight between Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano delivered a strong audience for the streamer. The triple-main card scored an estimated average minute audience of 12.4 million live-plus-one-day viewers globally, per figures from VideoAmp, G&G Closed Circuit Events and Netflix, with viewership peaking with nearly 17 million viewers during the Rousey vs. Carano fight.
In the U.S. alone, the triple-main card averaged 9.3 million viewers and peaked at 11.6 million viewers, also during Rousey vs. Carano. The fight also generated 1 billion impressions across Netflix’s global social channels.
“The Rookie” ends on a high note
The ABC drama series wrapped up its eighth season with 9.25 million viewers tuning in to its finale, growing for the third week in a row and soaring 4% over its Season 7 finale last year. Additionally, the episode earned an all-time streaming high for the series, per viewership data over seven days on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+. It’s no wonder a spinoff, “The Rookie: North,” was just ordered.
“The Perfect Line” scores in syndication
Deborah Norville-hosted “The Perfect Line” moved into the top 10 first-run syndicated series, surpassing “The Kelly Clarkson Show” for the No. 10 spot. The series, which is this season’s No. 1 freshman syndicated show, scored the largest in-season growth among all syndicated shows, with a 20% uptock in total viewers in from Q1 2026 over Q4 2025.
ICYMI:
- “Swapped” claimed the highest viewership for any Netflix animated movie in its first two weeks with 80.6 million views
- NBC’s Sunday Night Football wrapped up as the top primetime’s show of the season for the 15th consecutive year
- “This Week With George Stephanopoulos” hit a 15-week ratings winning streak, TheWrap revealed exclusively
