ABC’s High Potential officially cracks 2026’s most-watched list

If you spent all of last year muttering about the demise of broadcast TV, you’re not alone—but the numbers say otherwise. Nielsen’s just released the final multiplatform rankings for the 2025-26 season (yes, up to May 24), and the story’s a bit more complicated than the current streaming-ate-linear narrative would have you believe. They’re factoring in 35 days of streaming for each show now—a real leveller for anyone arguing TV is ‘dead’.

'The new series began on 5 December and already runs to 19 episodes.'

CBS Dominates, Except for One ABC Surprise

At the top end, there’s no shocking plot twist—Stranger Things still rules with 32.9 million viewers for its supposed last batch. If you filter out sport (because let’s be honest, live football is in its own universe) and look only at shows made for US broadcast, then CBS really throws its weight about. Marshals takes the crown on network with 19.3 million watching across all those platforms, followed closely by Tracker, the Matlock reboot, and Sheriff Country. It’s essentially a CBS monoculture, broken only by one outlier: ABC’s High Potential.

High Potential isn’t subtle about being built around star Kaitlin Olson, who plays Morgan—a single mum who also happens to have a 160 IQ and a wardrobe full of animal print. It landed in third place for network dramas, notching up 16 million viewers over the same 35-day swathe, and here’s the curveball: half of that is streaming on Hulu and Disney+, not from its Tuesday night ABC slot. For a show that’s never been a traditional ratings smash, it keeps landing in over-performing company.

Strong Ratings, Stronger Demographics

Ignore the modest first-glance numbers—High Potential is absolutely cleaning up where it counts. It topped every other ABC scripted show in the 18-49 demo (which still sets ad rates, old hat as that feels) and did all this from the 10PM slot, historically no man’s land for young viewers. For anyone keeping receipts, the second series now holds a 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating (sure, it’s only six reviews, but that’s still a perfect score), just edging out last year’s 96%.

The difference this year? The writing’s doubled down on the lead herself. Season 2 was much less about anonymous murder puzzles and much more about taking Morgan to some fairly dark places. (That’s clearly what people came to see.)

Next Steps: Delay, Fewer Episodes, and a Missing Showrunner

Plot twist incoming: ABC renewed High Potential for a third series in March—before the very mixed reaction to the finale—but then pulled it from the autumn schedule entirely. Instead, they’re going for one big, uninterrupted run in midseason 2027, chopping down the episode count to boot. The original showrunner, Todd Harthan, has left, and as of now, there’s no replacement named. Not ideal, is it?

This means there’ll be an almost 11-month gap between seasons for a show that’s survived by building buzz week by week—and that’s a genuine test. We're about to find out whether people were tuning in for Kaitlin Olson’s offbeat lead, or just watching whatever ABC decided to lob into the 10PM slot.

Quick Character Recap

• Morgan (Kaitlin Olson): Single mum of three, super-genius, fond of animal print, moonlighting as a cleaner when she stumbles into her first murder case.
• The Detective: Buttoned-up, by-the-numbers copper, ends up paired with Morgan to form TV’s unlikeliest (but weirdly effective) procedural duo.