Cancellation Watch: Z Nation Gets Renewed, But is Resurrection Headed for an Early Death? (Updated)


Unless otherwise noted, the ratings numbers below are based on the final overnights and may vary slightly from the preliminaries reported on the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site.

Updated for Monday Final Ratings

z-nation-cancelledRenewal Announcement:  I haven’s seen any of the major entertainment sites pick this up yet, but on Syfy’s Twitter site they announced yesterday the renewal of their freshman zombie-pocalypse series Z Nation.  That series has been no Walking Dead performer in its first year as its season to date average is a 0.5 rating in the 18-49 demo as opposed to the monster 8.2 score TWD is currently averaging.  But half a ratings point is good enough for Syfy these days and Z Nation is a pretty cheap entry, coming from low budget, cheese-king studios The Asylum (the ones that also gave us the Sharknado films).  And Z Nation may also fall well short of TWD quality-wise as well, but it’s pretty good at what it shoots for: a cheesy zombie series.  The second season should commence at some point in 2015.

On the Hot Seat:  ABC’s Resurrection could only muster a 1.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic with five million total viewers on Sunday, bringing it to a new series low.  That show debuted late last season to surprisingly good ratings, especially considering the fact that it had to compete with The Walking Dead in its Sunday night timeslot.  And while its numbers dropped after its premiere, they still remained relatively good for ABC and the show stayed in the Top 25 throughout its first season.  When it returned this season, it started with good numbers, but those have dropped each week to the point that the show now looks to be heading into the danger zone.  I’m raising the Cancellation Alert to Moderate, and it will go higher in the coming weeks if its numbers do not rebound.  And it joins two more ABC shows that are currently struggling: Agents of SHIELD and Forever.

Following are the full ratings results (metric definitions below) for the Friday thru Monday shows with my comments. And keep an eye on the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for the latest numbers and any breaking news.  For more information on where I get these numbers and how I make my Cancellation Alert assessments, check out the Cancelled Sci Fi FAQ.

Haven Syfy Thu 10/16 8 PM
Rating: 0.3 | Tot Viewers (MM): 1.0 | StD Rating: 0.2 | Target: 0.4 | Cancellation Alert: Medium

This show actually saw it numbers improve by one tick last week.  It’s not much, but at least its a bit of good news.

Z Nation Syfy Fri 10/17 10 PM
Rating: 0.5 | Tot Viewers (MM): 1.6 | StD Rating: 0.5 | Target: 0.4 | Cancellation Alert: Renewed

The renewal announcement for this one came as no surprise, but why has the rest of the entertainment media ignored the news?

Once Upon A Time ABC Sun 10/19 8 PM
Rating: 2.7 | Tot Viewers (MM): 7.9 | StD Rating: 3.1 | Target: 1.8 | Cancellation Alert: Low

It’s down from its season opening highs, but still doing quite well.  The only one of four ABC genre shows that can say that at the moment.

Resurrection ABC Sun 10/19 9 PM
Rating: 1.4 | Tot Viewers (MM): 5.0 | StD Rating: 1.9 | Target: 2.0 | Cancellation Alert: Moderate

The big drop for this show did come the same week that The Walking Dead returned for its fifth season.  But it did quite well against that show last year, so is that really a factor?

The Walking Dead AMC Sun 10/19 9 PM
Rating: 7.7 | Tot Viewers (MM): 15.1 | StD Rating: 8.2 | Target: 2.0 | Cancellation Alert: Renewed

It drop a WHOLE RATINGS POINT with its second Season 5 episode!!!  Should I raise cancellation alert?  Not when it is THREE FULL RATINGS POINTS above its nearest scripted competition (The Big Bang Theory from last week with a 4.6 score).

The Originals CW Mon 10/20 8 PM
Rating: 0.6 | Tot Viewers (MM): 1.3 | StD Rating: 0.7 | Target: 0.7 | Cancellation Alert: Low

This one slipped one tick on Monday, but it is still doing well enough for The CW on that night.

Gotham FOX Mon 10/20 8 PM
Rating: 2.3 | Tot Viewers (MM): 6.1 | StD Rating: 2.7 | Target: 2.0 | Cancellation Alert: Low

This series slipped to a series low of a 2.3 rating in the 18-49 demo, but to be fair “hit” shows Scorpion (CBS) and The Black List (NBC) only had a 2.4 rating.  So Gotham is right behind them.

Sleepy Hollow FOX Mon 10/20 9 PM
Rating: 1.8 | Tot Viewers (MM): 5.0 | StD Rating: 1.8 | Target: 2.0 | Cancellation Alert: Low

Could this one be picking up steam?  It still looks good in the relative numbers for FOX, so consider it safe for now.

Metric Definitions:

Rating: Overnight rating in the 18-49 demographic for same day viewing based on the final numbers unless otherwise noted

Tot Viewers: Estimated total viewers to tune in to the episode for same day viewing

StD Rating: Season to date average for the rating metric tracked above.

Target: The estimated average rating that the show needs to sustain to get renewed.

Cancellation Alert: My prediction of the likelihood that a show will get cancelled. From least to most likely the statuses are Low, Moderate, Medium, Elevated, and High.

Ratings Source: TV by the Numbers and ShowBuzzDaily

Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2014 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.

Author: admin

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