Syfy’s hard-boiled fantasy Happy! returned for its second season last week with numbers down notably from its first year which results in the show starting off pretty low in the Scorecard. It opens at the Number 28 slot which is just above Nightflyers–already cancelled by Syfy–and I consider it a Call to Action show. FX’s comedy mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows starts off just one slot above that at Number 27 as that one pulled modest ratings for its debut. AMC’s Into the Badlands took a notable drop in the rankings as it slipped ten slots from Number 22 to Number 32. That was expected, though, after it moved to its regular Monday timeslot with no lead-in from The Walking Dead. Most of the rest of the movement for the week was just incidental and you can find the full ratings coverage from this past week in our latest Weekly Roundup post.
The scorecard ranks all of the sci fi and fantasy shows’ ratings performance vs. their network’s ratings benchmark (see metric definitions below). Shows at or above their benchmark should be okay, whereas those slipping notably below are getting into iffy territory.
Scorecard rankings based on the ratings through March 31st:
| Rank (PW) | Series | Net | Std Avg | Net Bench | % Var | Status |
| 1 (1) | The Walking Dead (O) | AMC | 1.88 | 0.50 | 276.1% | Renewed |
| 2 (3) | American Horror Story (O) | FX | 0.96 | 0.30 | 219.7% | Renewed |
| 3 (2) | The Flash (O) | CW | 0.64 | 0.33 | 96.9% | Renewed |
| 4 (4) | The Purge (O) | USA | 0.41 | 0.30 | 36.0% | Renewed |
| 5 (5) | Supernatural (O) | CW | 0.42 | 0.33 | 28.1% | Renewed |
| 6 (6) | Arrow (O) | CW | 0.38 | 0.33 | 17.0% | Renewed |
| 7 (7) | Riverdale (O) | CW | 0.38 | 0.33 | 17.0% | Renewed |
| 8 (8) | Supergirl (O) | CW | 0.37 | 0.33 | 13.4% | Renewed |
| 9 (10) | Manifest (O) | NBC | 1.25 | 1.13 | 10.7% | Renewal Possible |
| 10 (9) | The Magicians (O) | Syfy | 0.19 | 0.17 | 10.6% | Renewed |
| 11 (11) | Legends of Tomorrow (O) | CW | 0.31 | 0.33 | -4.4% | Renewed |
| 12 (12) | God Friended Me (O) | CBS | 0.90 | 0.96 | -6.5% | Renewed |
| 13 (13) | Black Lightning (O) | CW | 0.30 | 0.33 | -8.2% | Renewed |
| 14 (14) | Legacies (O) | CW | 0.30 | 0.33 | -8.2% | Renewed |
| 15 (15) | The Passage (O) | FOX | 0.92 | 1.00 | -8.7% | On the Bubble |
| 16 (17) | Deadly Class (O) | Syfy | 0.15 | 0.17 | -12.9% | Renewal Possible |
| 17 (18) | Siren (O) | Freeform | 0.17 | 0.20 | -13.1% | Renewal Possible |
| 18 (19) | Project Blue Book (O) | History | 0.31 | 0.36 | -13.6% | Renewed |
| 19 (16) | Roswell New Mexico (O) | CW | 0.28 | 0.33 | -14.3% | Renewal Possible |
| 20 (20) | Outlander (O) | Starz | 0.17 | 0.20 | -15.0% | Renewed |
| 21 (21) | Charmed (O) | CW | 0.28 | 0.33 | -15.4% | Renewed |
| 22 (23) | Star Wars Resistance (O) | Disney | 0.08 | 0.10 | -22.0% | Renewed |
| 23 (24) | Z Nation (F) | Syfy | 0.13 | 0.17 | -23.5% | Cancelled |
| 24 (25) | The Orville (O) | FOX | 0.76 | 1.00 | -24.0% | Renewal Possible |
| 25 (26) | MacGyver (O) (F) | CBS | 0.72 | 0.96 | -25.5% | Renewal Possible |
| 26 (27) | The Good Place (O) | NBC | 0.83 | 1.13 | -27.0% | Renewed |
| 27 (n/a) | What We Do in the Shadows (O) | FX | 0.21 | 0.30 | -30.0% | Renewal Possible |
| 28 (n/a) | Happy (O) | Syfy | 0.11 | 0.17 | -35.3% | On the Bubble |
| 29 (29) | Gotham (O) | FOX | 0.64 | 1.00 | -36.3% | Final Season |
| 30 (28) | Nightflyers | Syfy | 0.11 | 0.17 | -36.9% | Cancelled |
| 31 (31) | The Gifted (O) | FOX | 0.61 | 1.00 | -39.6% | Cancellation Likely |
| 32 (22) | Into the Badlands (O) | AMC | 0.30 | 0.50 | -41.0% | Cancelled |
| 33 (30) | American Gods (O) | Starz | 0.12 | 0.20 | -41.3% | Renewed |
| 34 (32) | Van Helsing (F) | Syfy | 0.09 | 0.17 | -45.7% | Renewed |
| 35 (33) | Stan Against Evil | IFC | 0.04 | 0.08 | -46.9% | Cancelled |
| 36 (34) | Channel Zero (O) | Syfy | 0.07 | 0.17 | -57.8% | Cancelled |
| 37 (35) | Midnight Texas (O) (F) | NBC | 0.41 | 1.13 | -63.6% | Cancelled |
| 38 (36) | Mars | NGC | 0.06 | 0.16 | -65.6% | Renewal Possible |
| 39 (37) | Counterpart | Starz | 0.05 | 0.20 | -75.5% | Cancelled |
Metric Definitions:
Rank (PW): Current rank based on the variance of a show’s season to date ratings average vs. its network’s benchmark (see definition below). The number in parenthesis is the prior week’s rank. Note that shows on the streaming services are not included because of insufficient viewership data and foreign imports like Doctor Who will not be included because they rely more heavily on their viewership in their home countries.
Series: (O) indicates the show is owned or co-owned by the network and/or a sister studio. (F) indicates the show airs on Friday when ratings expectations are lower on the broadcast networks.
StD Avg: The show’s season to date ratings average based on the overnights for the 18-49 demographic.
Net Bench: (Network Benchmark) For the broadcast networks, this is the net’s season to date average rating based on the overnights for the 18-49 demographic for non-sports, non-special, non-repeat broadcasts. For the cable channels, this is the lowest level at which a show is typically renewed by that network if there are enough genre entries on that channel to provide a decent sample. But note that with cable entries intangibles such as international and/or streaming partnerships can play an important factor in a show’s survival and that is not measured here.
% Var: The percent variance between a show’s season to date average and the network benchmark as defined above. The higher the variance, the better a show is performing vs. the benchmark.
Status: My assessment of the likelihood that a show will get renewed or cancelled. The statuses are Renewal Likely, Renewal Possible, On the Bubble, Cancellation Likely (plus Renewed and Cancelled/Ended)
Ratings Source: ShowBuzzDaily and TV by the Numbers
