Cancellation Watch Scorecard: What We Do in the Shadows Continues to Drop in the Rankings

Even though FX’s comedy mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows improved some in the ratings this past week, its overall average slipped causing it to drop four more slots in the rankings from Number 28 to Number 32.  That one is not On the Bubble yet, but could be there soon if its numbers do not improve.  A few other shows dropped by one slot such as The Orville, Roswell New Mexico, and Into the Badlands as their ratings have remained on the lower side. 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 21st:

Rank (PW) Series Net Std Avg Net Bench % Var Status
1 (1) Game of Thrones (O) HBO 4.73 0.50 845.0% Renewed
2 (2) The Walking Dead (O) AMC 1.88 0.50 276.1% Renewed
3 (3) American Horror Story (O) FX 0.96 0.30 219.7% Renewed
4 (4) The Flash (O) CW 0.64 0.32 101.0% Renewed
5 (5) The Purge (O) USA 0.41 0.30 36.0% Renewed
6 (6) Supernatural (O) CW 0.41 0.32 28.2% Renewed
7 (7) Arrow (O) CW 0.37 0.32 17.8% Renewed
8 (8) Riverdale (O) CW 0.37 0.32 17.8% Renewed
9 (9) Supergirl (O) CW 0.37 0.32 16.0% Renewed
10 (10) Manifest (O) NBC 1.25 1.09 15.0% Renewal Possible
11 (11) The Magicians (O) Syfy 0.19 0.17 10.9% Renewed
12 (12) Legends of Tomorrow (O) CW 0.30 0.32 -5.1% Renewed
12 (13) Black Lightning (O) CW 0.30 0.32 -5.1% Renewed
14 (14) Legacies (O) CW 0.30 0.32 -5.1% Renewed
16 (15) God Friended Me (O) CBS 0.89 0.95 -7.2% Renewed
15 (16) The Passage (O) FOX 0.92 0.98 -6.7% On the Bubble
17 (17) Deadly Class (O) Syfy 0.15 0.17 -12.9% Renewal Possible
18 (18) Siren (O) Freeform 0.17 0.20 -13.1% Renewal Possible
20 (19) Charmed (O) CW 0.27 0.32 -13.9% Renewed
19 (20) Project Blue Book (O) History 0.31 0.36 -13.6% Renewed
22 (21) Roswell New Mexico (O) CW 0.27 0.32 -15.6% Renewal Possible
21 (22) 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 (24) Z Nation (F) Syfy 0.13 0.17 -23.5% Cancelled
26 (25) The Orville (O) FOX 0.74 0.98 -24.8% Renewal Possible
25 (26) The Good Place (O) NBC 0.83 1.09 -24.1% Renewed
27 (27) MacGyver (O) (F) CBS 0.71 0.95 -25.5% Renewal Possible
32 (28) What We Do in the Shadows (O) FX 0.19 0.30 -38.3% Renewal Possible
28 (29) Cloak and Dagger (O) Freeform 0.14 0.20 -31.7% Renewal Possible
29 (30) Gotham (O) FOX 0.64 0.98 -35.2% Final Season
30 (31) Nightflyers Syfy 0.11 0.17 -36.9% Cancelled
31 (32) The Gifted (O) FOX 0.61 0.98 -38.3% Cancelled
33 (33) 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 (36) American Gods (O) Starz 0.10 0.20 -47.9% Renewed
38 (37) Into the Badlands (O) AMC 0.20 0.50 -60.0% Cancelled
37 (38) Channel Zero (O) Syfy 0.07 0.17 -57.8% Cancelled
39 (39) Midnight Texas (O) (F) NBC 0.41 1.09 -62.2% Cancelled
40 (40) Mars NGC 0.06 0.16 -65.6% Renewal Possible
41 (41) 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

Author: johnnyjay

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