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.
Westworld Week 2: HBO’s Westworld slipped a bit with its second episode to a 0.67 rating based on the overnights for the 18-49 demographic and 1.5 million total viewers. The competition was stiff on the night with NFL Football and the Presidential Debates, and HBO knew that so they released the episode early on their streaming services. Based on that and including encore viewings on Sunday, the second episode of the series had a total of 2.7 million total viewers, down just a bit from the 3.3 million it had last week. And word is that they are already planning out the show’s second season, though there has not been an official renewal announcement yet.
Ratings Results of Interest: On Sunday, Starz’s Ash vs. Evil Dead slipped just a bit to a 0.18 rating with 330k total viewers. That show just learned that it will be coming back for a third season. On FX, The Strain held mostly steady at a 0.36 rating with 820k tot viewers. It has been renewed for a fourth and final season. On ABC, Once Upon A Time improved to a 1.2 rating with 4.1 million total viewers despite stiff competition. FOX’s Son of Zorn was a repeat on Sunday and The Last Man on Earth was preempted for the debates. On Friday, CBS’s MacGyver slipped to a 1.1 rating with 8.1 million total viewers, but no need to panic on that one just yet. It experienced preemptions dues to coverage of the hurricane and it wasn’t too far off from that network’s other shows on the night. Next week’s numbers should tell us if that was just a blip. FOX’s The Exorcist improved slightly to a 0.7 rating with two million total viewers, but those are still not survivable levels. The Cancellation Alert Level on this show goes higher next week if FOX has not made a scheduling move to help it, and the Network Executioner already has the show on his Short List. Over on Syfy, Z Nation held steady at a 0.25 rating with 840k total viewers and should be considered a lock for a fourth season renewal. Van Helsing continues to slip as it pulled a 0.15 rating with 620k total viewers. Those are still survivable levels for a Syfy show, but if it slips any further it will find itself On the Bubble. On Thursday, The Good Place improved to a 1.4 rating with five million total viewers and it remains in a good place ratings-wise for its network. I covered the ratings results for the Monday through Wednesday shows, including the premieres of The Flash, Arrow, and Frequency, at this link.
Renewals: There were several renewals announced last week which I have covered in separate posts. Those include American Horror Story, Stitchers, Ash vs. Evil Dead, and Black Mirror.
Ratings results for the sci fi / fantasy shows airing Monday October 3rd thru Sunday October 9th (metric definitions below):
(Links are to the show pages on this site with season to date ratings results and status updates)
| Series | Airs | Rating | % Chng | Tot Viewers | STD Avg | Benchmark | Cancel Alert |
| Gotham | FOX, Mon 8 PM | 1.0 | -16.7% | 3.1 | 1.2 | 1.2 | Low |
| Lucifer | FOX, Mon 9 PM | 1.1 | n/a | 3.7 | 1.2 | 1.2 | Low |
| Timeless | NBC, Mon 10 PM | 1.9 | n/a | 7.7 | 1.9 | 2.0 | Low |
| The Flash | CW, Tue 8 PM | 1.3 | n/a | 3.2 | 1.3 | 0.6 | Moderate |
| Scream Queens | FOX, Tue 9 PM | Preempted | n/a | n/a | 0.9 | 1.2 | Moderate |
| Agents of SHIELD | ABC, Tue 10 PM | Preempted | n/a | n/a | 1.0 | 1.4 | Moderate |
| Aftermath | Syfy, Tue 10 PM | 0.2 | +18.8% | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.2 | Low |
| Arrow | CW, Wed 8 PM | 0.7 | n/a | 1.9 | 0.7 | 0.6 | Low |
| Frequency | CW, Wed 9 PM | 0.4 | n/a | 1.4 | 0.4 | 0.6 | Low |
| American Horror Story | FX, Wed 10 PM | 1.4 | -15.4% | 2.8 | 1.9 | 0.6 | Renewed |
| The Good Place | NBC, Thu 8:30 PM | 1.4 | 0.0% | 5.0 | 1.5 | 2.0 | Low |
| MacGyver | CBS, Fri 8 PM | 1.1 | -15.4% | 8.1 | 1.4 | 1.8 | Low |
| The Exorcist | FOX, Fri 9 PM | 0.7 | +16.7% | 2.0 | 0.8 | 1.2 | Moderate |
| Z Nation | Syfy, Fri 9 PM | 0.3 | 0.0% | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.2 | Low |
| Van Helsing | Syfy, Fri 10 PM | 0.2 | -11.8% | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.2 | Low |
| Star Wars Rebels | DXD, Sat 8:30 PM | 0.2 | +21.4% | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.1 | Low |
| Once Upon A Time | ABC, Sun 8 PM | 1.2 | +9.1% | 4.1 | 1.2 | 1.4 | Low |
| Ash vs Evil Dead | Starz, Sun 8 PM | 0.2 | -14.3% | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | Renewed |
| Son of Zorn (R) | FOX, Sun 8:30 PM | 0.9 | n/a | 2.1 | 1.7 | 1.2 | Low |
| Westworld | HBO, Sun 9 PM | 0.7 | -13.0% | 1.5 | 0.7 | 0.6 | Low |
| The Last Man on Earth | FOX, Sun 9:30 PM | Preempted | n/a | n/a | 1.0 | 1.2 | Moderate |
| The Strain | FX, Sun 10 PM | 0.4 | +2.9% | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.6 | Renewed |
Chart Activity: FX’s American Horror Story slipped to Number 9 (down from Number 6) in the Weekly Nielsen Social Net Rating Top 10 (Facebook trending has now been added). That show dropped to Number 8 in the cable Top 25 based on the overnights for the 18-49 demo (down from Number 7) and dropped completely out based on total viewers. NBC’s Timeless debuted in the broadcast net Top 25 at Number 17 in chart based on the demo and at Number 21 based on total viewers. It will almost certainly drop out when this week’s numbers are tallied, though, considering the ratings decline it saw on Monday. MacGyver actually managed to improve to Number 19 in the broadcast net Top 25 based on total viewers (up from Number 21) despite its drop last Friday.
(Updated for the broadcast network and cable Top 25 chart activity)
| Series | Chart | Curr Wk Rank | Prior Wk Rank |
| American Horror Story | Nielsen Twitter Ratings Top 10 | 9 | 6 |
| American Horror Story | Cable Top 25 (18-49 Demo) | 8 | 7 |
| American Horror Story | Cable Top 25 (Total Viewers) | n/a | 20 |
| MacGyver | Broadcast Net Top 25 (Total Viewers) | 19 | 21 |
| Timeless | Broadcast Net Top 25 (18-49 Demo) | 17 | n/a |
| Timeless | Broadcast Net Top 25 (Total Viewers) | 21 | n/a |
Be sure keep an eye out for the latest numbers and any breaking news throughout the week at the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site and Facebook Page. You can see the status of all the currently airing sci fi / fantasy shows at the Cancellation Watch page and also the latest Cancellation Watch Hit List post. And for more information on where I get these numbers and how I make my Cancellation Alert assessments, check out the Cancelled Sci Fi FAQ.
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Metric Definitions:
Series: (R) indicates a repeat airing
Rating: Overnight rating in the 18-49 demographic for same day viewing based on the final numbers unless otherwise noted
% Chng: The percentage change +/- for this week’s rating vs. last week’s rating (if a new episode aired last week).
Tot Viewers: Estimated total viewers (age 2+) to tune in to the episode for same day viewing.
StD Rating: Season to date average for the rating metric tracked above.
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.
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.
Source: ShowBuzzDaily and TV by the Numbers
