FX’s Legion returned for its third season last week with a notable drop in its ratings and it starts off in the Scorecard in the bottom 10 at the Number 47 slot. That show is in its final season. Starz’s The Rook barely registered with its debut on Sunday and it is in the second to last slot in the rankings at Number 51. That puts it just ahead of Counterpart which was already cancelled by the same network. Final Space returned for its second season–switching networks from TBS to Adult Swim–and saw an improvement to its ratings on its new network. I don’t have much historical data for Adult Swim, but those look like decent numbers for a cable show these days and it starts out in the Number 13 slot. The British import mini-series Years and Years debuted on HBO last week, but it will not be included in the rankings because it looks like a one-ff that that would depend on its viewership across the Atlantic if it were to be brought back for another run. 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 30th:
| 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 (7) | Manifest (O) | NBC | 1.25 | 1.04 | 20.3% | Renewed |
| 8 (8) | Supergirl (O) | CW | 0.35 | 0.31 | 16.0% | Renewed |
| 9 (10) | Riverdale (O) | CW | 0.35 | 0.31 | 14.5% | Renewed |
| 10 (9) | Fear the Walking Dead (O) | AMC | 0.57 | 0.50 | 13.1% | Renewed |
| 11 (11) | Arrow (O) | CW | 0.34 | 0.31 | 11.6% | Renewed |
| 12 (12) | The Magicians (O) | Syfy | 0.19 | 0.17 | 10.9% | Renewed |
| 13 (n/a) | Final Space (O) | ADSW | 0.31 | 0.30 | 3.3% | Renewal Possible |
| 14 (13) | The InBetween (O) | NBC | 0.50 | 0.50 | 0.0% | Renewal Possible |
| 15 (14) | Black Lightning (O) | CW | 0.30 | 0.31 | -1.8% | Renewed |
| 16 (15) | Legacies (O) | CW | 0.30 | 0.31 | -1.8% | Renewed |
| 17 (16) | The Passage (O) | FOX | 0.92 | 0.94 | -2.6% | Cancelled |
| 18 (17) | Legends of Tomorrow (O) | CW | 0.29 | 0.31 | -3.9% | Renewed |
| 19 (19) | God Friended Me (O) | CBS | 0.89 | 0.93 | -5.3% | Renewed |
| 20 (18) | Blood and Treasure (O) | CBS | 0.47 | 0.50 | -6.7% | Renewal Possible |
| 21 (20) | Roswell New Mexico (O) | CW | 0.27 | 0.31 | -11.9% | Renewed |
| 22 (21) | Deadly Class (O) | Syfy | 0.15 | 0.17 | -12.9% | Cancelled |
| 23 (22) | Project Blue Book (O) | History | 0.31 | 0.36 | -13.6% | Renewed |
| 24 (23) | Outlander (O) | Starz | 0.17 | 0.20 | -15.0% | Renewed |
| 25 (25) | Charmed (O) | CW | 0.26 | 0.31 | -15.2% | Renewed |
| 26 (26) | Agents of SHIELD (O) (F) | ABC | 0.41 | 0.50 | -17.1% | Renewed |
| 27 (24) | Siren (O) | Freeform | 0.17 | 0.20 | -17.3% | Renewed |
| 28 (28) | The Good Place (O) | NBC | 0.83 | 1.04 | -20.6% | Final Season |
| 29 (29) | The Orville (O) | FOX | 0.74 | 0.94 | -21.8% | Renewed |
| 30 (30) | Star Wars Resistance (O) | Disney | 0.08 | 0.10 | -22.0% | Renewed |
| 31 (27) | The 100 (O) | CW | 0.24 | 0.31 | -22.3% | Renewed |
| 32 (31) | Z Nation (F) | Syfy | 0.13 | 0.17 | -23.5% | Cancelled |
| 33 (32) | MacGyver (O) (F) | CBS | 0.70 | 0.93 | -25.6% | Renewed |
| 34 (34) | Gotham (O) | FOX | 0.63 | 0.94 | -33.6% | Final Season |
| 35 (33) | NOS4A2 (O) | AMC | 0.23 | 0.35 | -34.3% | Upcoming |
| 36 (35) | iZombie (O) | CW | 0.20 | 0.31 | -34.5% | Final Season |
| 37 (36) | Krypton | Syfy | 0.11 | 0.17 | -35.3% | On the Bubble |
| 38 (37) | The Gifted (O) | FOX | 0.61 | 0.94 | -35.6% | Cancelled |
| 39 (38) | Nightflyers | Syfy | 0.11 | 0.17 | -36.9% | Cancelled |
| 40 (39) | Cloak and Dagger (O) | Freeform | 0.12 | 0.20 | -40.0% | On the Bubble |
| 41 (40) | What We Do in the Shadows (O) | FX | 0.18 | 0.30 | -40.0% | Renewed |
| 42 (41) | Van Helsing (F) | Syfy | 0.09 | 0.17 | -45.7% | Renewed |
| 43 (42) | Happy (O) | Syfy | 0.09 | 0.17 | -45.9% | Cancelled |
| 44 (43) | Stan Against Evil | IFC | 0.04 | 0.08 | -46.9% | Cancelled |
| 45 (44) | American Gods (O) | Starz | 0.10 | 0.20 | -50.6% | Renewed |
| 46 (45) | Channel Zero (O) | Syfy | 0.07 | 0.17 | -57.8% | Cancelled |
| 47 (n/a) | Legion (O) | FX | 0.12 | 0.30 | -60.0% | Final Season |
| 48 (46) | Midnight Texas (O) (F) | NBC | 0.41 | 1.04 | -60.4% | Cancelled |
| 49 (47) | Into the Badlands (O) | AMC | 0.19 | 0.50 | -61.8% | Cancelled |
| 50 (48) | Mars | NGC | 0.06 | 0.16 | -65.6% | On the Bubble |
| 51 (n/a) | The Rook (O) | Starz | 0.05 | 0.20 | -75.0% | Upcoming |
| 52 (49) | 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:
