'Blindspot' Pulled From NBC for May Sweeps

NBC's Blindspot is going dark for May sweeps.


The network has pulled the fourth-year drama from its schedule for the next four weeks. The series will be off the air for four weeks starting April 26 (the first of those having been previously announced), before returning to close out its season on May 24 and 31.


The season finale will air about three weeks after NBC announces its 2019-20 schedule. Blindspot is currently on the bubble following a season of declining ratings on Fridays, and NBCUniversal doesn't wholly own it (the series is a co-production between Warner Bros. TV and Universal TV). Of the 12 scripted series NBC has renewed so far, only two — Blindspot's Friday companion The Blacklist and first-year thriller Manifest — are not wholly produced by Universal.


Possibly working in its favor: The series, which will have 89 episodes under its belt by season's end, is getting close to syndication territory (it currently streams on Hulu). The show comes from uber-producer Greg Berlanti's company, and NBC may want to stay in business with him.


Created by Martin Gero, Blindspot is currently averaging a 0.9 rating among adults 18-49 and 4.36 million viewers, including a week of delayed viewing. That's down from 1.2 in the demo (a decline of 25 percent) and 5.31 million viewers (-18 percent) in 2017-18.


NBC had previously scheduled two episodes of The Blacklist to air at 8 and 9 p.m. Friday. The series will stay put at 8 p.m. for its remaining three episodes, concluding its sixth season on May 17. Dateline will expand to two hours from 9-11 p.m. beginning May 3.


Blindspot will then return at 8 p.m. May 24 — the start of Memorial Day weekend — and will have a two-hour finale on May 31.