For the first time since I have been doing the Scorecard, another show has moved ahead of The Walking Dead in the rankings. HBO’s Game of Thrones returned for its eighth and final season on Sunday and posted a massive 5.0 rating based on same day viewing for the 18-49 demographic. That’s much better than the 1.9 rating TWD averaged this past season as the Walking Dexit continues for that show. Expect Game of Thrones to remain at the top of the Scorecard as it airs out its final season.
Moving down this week was CBS’ God Friended Me (from Number 11 to Number 15) which saw a notable ratings drop this past week. Also, FX’s What We Do in the Shadows dropped (from Number 22 to Number 28) after experiencing a major ratings slide last week. And Starz’s American Gods dropped (from Number 33 to Number 36) as that show’s numbers continue to sink. 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 April 14th:
| Rank (PW) | Series | Net | Std Avg | Net Bench | % Var | Status |
| 1 (n/a) | Game of Thrones (O) | HBO | 5.03 | 0.50 | 906.0% | Renewed |
| 2 (1) | The Walking Dead (O) | AMC | 1.88 | 0.50 | 276.1% | Renewed |
| 3 (2) | American Horror Story (O) | FX | 0.96 | 0.30 | 219.7% | Renewed |
| 4 (3) | The Flash (O) | CW | 0.64 | 0.32 | 101.7% | Renewed |
| 5 (4) | The Purge (O) | USA | 0.41 | 0.30 | 36.0% | Renewed |
| 6 (5) | Supernatural (O) | CW | 0.41 | 0.32 | 28.8% | Renewed |
| 7 (6) | Arrow (O) | CW | 0.38 | 0.32 | 19.8% | Renewed |
| 8 (7) | Riverdale (O) | CW | 0.38 | 0.32 | 19.8% | Renewed |
| 9 (8) | Supergirl (O) | CW | 0.37 | 0.32 | 16.1% | Renewed |
| 10 (9) | Manifest (O) | NBC | 1.25 | 1.10 | 13.5% | Renewal Possible |
| 11 (10) | The Magicians (O) | Syfy | 0.19 | 0.17 | 9.8% | Renewed |
| 12 (12) | Legends of Tomorrow (O) | CW | 0.30 | 0.32 | -6.0% | Renewed |
| 12 (13) | Black Lightning (O) | CW | 0.30 | 0.32 | -6.0% | Renewed |
| 14 (14) | Legacies (O) | CW | 0.30 | 0.32 | -6.0% | Renewed |
| 15 (11) | God Friended Me (O) | CBS | 0.89 | 0.95 | -7.2% | Renewed |
| 16 (15) | The Passage (O) | FOX | 0.92 | 0.99 | -7.6% | On the Bubble |
| 17 (16) | Deadly Class (O) | Syfy | 0.15 | 0.17 | -12.9% | Renewal Possible |
| 18 (17) | Siren (O) | Freeform | 0.17 | 0.20 | -13.1% | Renewal Possible |
| 19 (20) | Charmed (O) | CW | 0.28 | 0.32 | -13.4% | Renewed |
| 20 (19) | Project Blue Book (O) | History | 0.31 | 0.36 | -13.6% | Renewed |
| 21 (18) | Roswell New Mexico (O) | CW | 0.27 | 0.32 | -14.5% | Renewal Possible |
| 22 (21) | Outlander (O) | Starz | 0.17 | 0.20 | -15.0% | Renewed |
| 23 (23) | Star Wars Resistance (O) | Disney | 0.08 | 0.10 | -22.0% | Renewed |
| 24 (25) | Z Nation (F) | Syfy | 0.13 | 0.17 | -23.5% | Cancelled |
| 25 (24) | The Orville (O) | FOX | 0.75 | 0.99 | -24.4% | Renewal Possible |
| 26 (27) | The Good Place (O) | NBC | 0.83 | 1.10 | -25.1% | Renewed |
| 27 (26) | MacGyver (O) (F) | CBS | 0.71 | 0.95 | -25.5% | Renewal Possible |
| 28 (22) | What We Do in the Shadows (O) | FX | 0.20 | 0.30 | -34.4% | Renewal Possible |
| 29 (28) | Cloak and Dagger (O) | Freeform | 0.13 | 0.20 | -35.0% | Renewal Possible |
| 30 (29) | Gotham (O) | FOX | 0.64 | 0.99 | -35.5% | Final Season |
| 31 (30) | Nightflyers | Syfy | 0.11 | 0.17 | -36.9% | Cancelled |
| 32 (31) | The Gifted (O) | FOX | 0.61 | 0.99 | -38.9% | Cancellation Likely |
| 33 (32) | Happy (O) | Syfy | 0.10 | 0.17 | -41.2% | On the Bubble |
| 34 (34) | Van Helsing (F) | Syfy | 0.09 | 0.17 | -45.7% | Renewed |
| 35 (35) | Stan Against Evil | IFC | 0.04 | 0.08 | -46.9% | Cancelled |
| 36 (33) | American Gods (O) | Starz | 0.11 | 0.20 | -47.5% | Renewed |
| 37 (36) | Into the Badlands (O) | AMC | 0.23 | 0.50 | -55.0% | Cancelled |
| 38 (37) | Channel Zero (O) | Syfy | 0.07 | 0.17 | -57.8% | Cancelled |
| 39 (38) | Midnight Texas (O) (F) | NBC | 0.41 | 1.10 | -62.7% | Cancelled |
| 40 (39) | Mars | NGC | 0.06 | 0.16 | -65.6% | Renewal Possible |
| 41 (40) | 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
