Cancellation Watch Scorecard: The InBetween, Fear the Walking Dead Enter the Rankings in the Top 10

Three Summer shows enter the Scorecard this week with two starting off in the Top 10. NBC’s paranormal procedural The InBetween starts out in the Number 9 slot after that show had a decent debut for a Summer broadcast network series. AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead returned down for its fifth season, but it is still doing well enough to place at the Number 7 slot in the rankings. AMC’s other Summer series NOS4A2 had lower debut numbers and it starts out at the Number 28 slot, but it may still be okay if it does not slip too much. CBS series Blood & Treasure slipped six slots from last week to Number 14 as predicted, and I expect NBC’s The InBetween to see a similar drop after its second week on the air. 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 June 2nd:

Rank (PW) Series Net Std Avg Net Bench % Var Status
1 (1) Game of Thrones (O) HBO 5.17 0.50 933.7% Final Season
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 0.62 0.31 102.6% Renewed
5 (5) The Purge (O) USA 0.41 0.30 36.0% Renewed
6 (6) Supernatural (O) CW 0.40 0.31 30.9% Renewed
7 (n/a) Fear the Walking Dead (O) AMC 0.63 0.50 25.2% Renewed
8 (7) Manifest (O) NBC 1.25 1.04 20.3% Renewed
9 (n/a) The InBetween (O) NBC 0.60 0.50 20.0% Renewal Possible
10 (9) Supergirl (O) CW 0.35 0.31 16.0% Renewed
11 (10) Riverdale (O) CW 0.35 0.31 14.5% Renewed
12 (11) Arrow (O) CW 0.34 0.31 11.6% Renewed
13 (12) The Magicians (O) Syfy 0.19 0.17 10.9% Renewed
14 (8) Blood and Treasure (O) CBS 0.55 0.50 10.0% Renewal Possible
15 (13) Black Lightning (O) CW 0.30 0.31 -1.8% Renewed
16 (14) Legacies (O) CW 0.30 0.31 -1.8% Renewed
17 (15) The Passage (O) FOX 0.92 0.94 -2.6% Cancelled
18 (16) Legends of Tomorrow (O) CW 0.29 0.31 -3.9% Renewed
19 (17) God Friended Me (O) CBS 0.89 0.93 -5.3% Renewed
20 (19) Roswell New Mexico (O) CW 0.27 0.31 -11.9% Renewed
21 (20) Deadly Class (O) Syfy 0.15 0.17 -12.9% Cancelled
22 (21) Siren (O) Freeform 0.17 0.20 -13.1% Renewed
23 (22) Project Blue Book (O) History 0.31 0.36 -13.6% Renewed
24 (18) The 100 (O) CW 0.26 0.31 -14.9% Renewed
25 (23) Outlander (O) Starz 0.17 0.20 -15.0% Renewed
26 (25) Agents of SHIELD (O) (F) ABC 0.43 0.50 -15.0% Renewed
27 (24) Charmed (O) CW 0.26 0.31 -15.2% Renewed
28 (n/a) NOS4A2 (O) AMC 0.29 0.35 -17.1% Upcoming
29 (26) The Good Place (O) NBC 0.83 1.04 -20.6% Renewed
30 (27) The Orville (O) FOX 0.74 0.94 -21.8% Renewed
31 (28) Star Wars Resistance (O) Disney 0.08 0.10 -22.0% Renewed
32 (29) Z Nation (F) Syfy 0.13 0.17 -23.5% Cancelled
33 (30) MacGyver (O) (F) CBS 0.70 0.93 -25.6% Renewed
34 (31) Gotham (O) FOX 0.63 0.94 -33.6% Final Season
35 (32) iZombie (O) CW 0.20 0.31 -34.5% Final Season
36 (33) The Gifted (O) FOX 0.61 0.94 -35.6% Cancelled
37 (34) Nightflyers Syfy 0.11 0.17 -36.9% Cancelled
38 (36) Cloak and Dagger (O) Freeform 0.12 0.20 -40.0% On the Bubble
39 (35) What We Do in the Shadows (O) FX 0.18 0.30 -40.0% Renewed
40 (37) Van Helsing (F) Syfy 0.09 0.17 -45.7% Renewed
41 (38) Happy (O) Syfy 0.09 0.17 -45.9% Cancelled
42 (39) Stan Against Evil IFC 0.04 0.08 -46.9% Cancelled
43 (40) American Gods (O) Starz 0.10 0.20 -50.6% Renewed
44 (41) Channel Zero (O) Syfy 0.07 0.17 -57.8% Cancelled
45 (42) Midnight Texas (O) (F) NBC 0.41 1.04 -60.4% Cancelled
46 (43) Into the Badlands (O) AMC 0.19 0.50 -61.8% Cancelled
47 (44) Mars NGC 0.06 0.16 -65.6% On the Bubble
48 (45) 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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