NBC’s “Grosse Pointe Garden Society” will move from its Sunday timeslot to kick off primetime on Fridays.
The drama series will shift from its current timeslot on Sundays 10 p.m. to air at on Fridays at 8 p.m. beginning Friday, April 4, the network announced Tuesday. “Dateline NBC” will take the 10 p.m. timeslot on Sunday.
“Grosse Pointe Garden Society” previously aired at the end of primetime on Sunday, following “The Americas,” which airs from 7-9 p.m. and airing directly after “Suits: LA” at 9 p.m. “Dateline NBC” will now follow “Suits: LA” at 10 p.m.
Now, “Grosse Pointe Garden Society” will kick off primetime on Fridays, filling up the spots left after “Lopez vs. Lopez” which ended its Season 3 run in February and “Happy’s Place” which finishes up its first installment later this week.
The premiere episode “Grosse Pointe Garden Society” has scored 6.6 million total viewers to date across platforms, growing triple from its initial live-plus-same-day viewership. The first episode also delivered a 1.21 rating in the key broadcast demo among adults 18-49, growing nearly seven times from its initial live-plus-same-day rating.
Airing “Grosse Pointe Garden Society” after “The Americas” and “Suits: LA” was part of an ambitious marketing push to lure viewers to NBC’s Sunday primetime lineup with three splashy new shows following the end of the NFL season. The strategy paid off as all three shows debuted to a combined 15 million viewers in delayed viewing.
“What we’re doing with these three shows is ‘eventizing,’ making people sit up and pay attention,” Beatrice Springborn, president of UCP and Universal International Studios, told TheWrap in an exclusive interview with the heads of the three units responsible for the effort. “What makes it an event is that it is unexpected.”
Since then viewership has trailed a bit, partly with the shows competing with the Oscars on their second week. Now “Grosse Pointe” will lead the charge on Fridays as it waits for a potential Season 2 renewal.
