CBS Is Moving A Fan-Favorite Show To Streaming In The Middle Of The Season
The Real Love Boat is leaving CBS and being moved exclusively to Paramount+.
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Fans of the CBS reality series The Real Love Boat will have to get a Paramount+ account if they want to keep watching, as the show will switch over to streaming from now on. The series was originally airing on CBS on Wednesdays, but the show will now only air new episodes on the streaming platform. ComicBook.com (via Variety) reported that the change will begin with the upcoming fifth episode, which will hit Paramount+ on November 2.
The Real Love Boat is a reality show inspired by the 1970s scripted series The Love Boat. The reality series follows singles on a cruise that are looking for love through various challenges and dates set up on their journey. The captain and crew director are involved in the matchmaking aspect, with Rebecca Romijn and Jerry O’Connell.
The winners of The Real Love Boat will win a cash prize and will get to go on another cruise together after the series is over. If you’re wanting to check out the series, the first four episodes are also now available to stream. This way you can be caught up before the newest episode hits Paramount+.
The Real Love Boat got kicked to Paramount+ due to some fairly weak ratings, becoming the least-watched CBS primetime series this fall. The series only managed to draw in 1.9 million same-day viewers with the on-demand and DVR viewings bringing the show up to around 2.59 million viewers. Apparently, these numbers just weren’t enough to keep the show afloat and convince CBS to keep airing it in a primetime slot.
While millions of viewers may seem like a lot, it’s not great for a primetime slot. Especially a primetime slot that airs immediately after the hit reality series Survivor. It doesn’t seem that people wanted to keep the TV on to watch The Real Love Boat after new episodes of Survivor.
To give you an idea of how significant the viewer loss is, Survivor brought in around 4.8 million viewers. The new concept of The Real Love Boat managed to keep the attention of around 2.4 million viewers when it premiered, but the drop to under 2 million was enough to convince CBS to pull the show. At least those who watch the reality series on Paramount+ can also watch the series that inspired it, as The Love Boat is also available on the platform.
To fill in the missing slot The Real Love Boat is leaving behind, CBS is moving up The Amazing Race to fill in the 10 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET/PT gap. The Amazing Race has also seen some drops in their ratings, so it might be a good move for CBS to put the series right behind Survivor and strength its reality primetime block. To fill the time left by The Amazing Race, CBS will be airing repeats of drama series.
We’ll have to wait and see if The Real Love Boat is able to find some more interest on streaming. If not, it wouldn’t be surprising if CBS decides to ax it altogether. Make sure to tune in to Paramount+ this Wednesday if you want to see the next episode.
