Justin Hartley's (This is Us) new show Tracker dominated the Nielsen rankings for the 2023-2024 television season, claiming the crown as the year's most-watched TV series (only trailing primetime NFL broadcasts in total viewers). Tracker's success is one of many crowning achievements for CBS after the network saw great success in the shortened TV season.
Tracker follows Hartley's Colter Shaw, a survivalist who assists search and rescue operations in hopes of claiming reward money for his efforts. Tracker got a boost in views after debuting following the highly anticipated Super Bowl LVIII between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs on February 11. How big was the boost? Per Variety, CBS notes that Tracker was the most-watched new series since Desperate Housewives in 2004. Not surprisingly, Tracker season 2 is already in the works.
Despite a very strange year for television after the Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild strikes led to truncated seasons for many returning shows, CBS was able to rise above and claim some of the top spots on Nielsen's list.
Young Sheldon season 7, the final season of the popular Big Bang Theory spinoff, claimed the top spot on the most-watched comedy list. The Eye network quickly ordered another spinoff, Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage, to follow in Young Sheldon's footsteps in the upcoming 2024-2025 TV season.
CBS' domination was rounded out by NCIS season 22, FBI season 6, Blue Bloods season 14 and 60 Minutes, which also landed in the top 10, and were followed closely by Ghosts season 3 season in the No. 11 spot. In fact, CBS owns 13 spots in the list's top 20.
Another strong performer for CBS was the freshman series Elsbeth, the Carrie Preston-fronted spinoff of The Good Wife. After 45 seasons, Survivor season 46 proved that fans love the survival-based reality competition. The series notched the No. 27 spot on the list.
With many of these shows returning for the 2024-2025 TV season, we'll be interested to see whether CBS can repeat its dominance again next year. With new shows like Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage and Kathy Bates' Matlock, we imagine the Eye network is likely to see more success in the fall.
You can watch the complete first season of Tracker, the final season of Young Sheldon and all of the other CBS titles mentioned above on Paramount Plus.
