Cancellation Watch Scorecard: Legion and Kypton Slip in the Rankings

FX’s Legion is in its final season which is a good thing because its numbers are down and it keeps slipping in the rankings. It dropped two more slots this week from Number 48 to Number 50 but will at least get the chance to wrap up its storylines because the final season was planned in advance. Syfy’s Krypton may not be so lucky as it continues to slide as well. It dropped two slots this week from Number 37 to Number 39 and its fate remains very much in doubt at the moment. The CW’s Pandora entered the rankings this week pretty low at the Number 46 slot, but that may not matter too much because this show is an acquisition by The CW to fill up space on its Summer schedule. 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 and the status of all the currently airing shows 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 July 21st:

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 (9) Riverdale (O) CW 0.35 0.31 14.5% Renewed
10 (10) Arrow (O) CW 0.34 0.31 11.6% Renewed
11 (11) The Magicians (O) Syfy 0.19 0.17 10.9% Renewed
12 (12) Fear the Walking Dead (O) AMC 0.53 0.50 5.5% Renewal Possible
13 (13) Final Space (O) ADSW 0.28 0.28 0.9% Renewal Possible
14 (14) Black Lightning (O) CW 0.30 0.31 -1.8% Renewed
15 (15) Legacies (O) CW 0.30 0.31 -1.8% Renewed
16 (16) The Passage (O) FOX 0.92 0.94 -2.6% Cancelled
17 (17) Legends of Tomorrow (O) CW 0.29 0.31 -3.9% Renewed
18 (18) God Friended Me (O) CBS 0.89 0.93 -5.3% Renewed
19 (19) Roswell New Mexico (O) CW 0.27 0.31 -11.9% Renewed
20 (22) Deadly Class (O) Syfy 0.15 0.17 -12.9% Cancelled
21 (20) The InBetween (O) NBC 0.43 0.50 -13.3% On the Bubble
22 (21) Blood and Treasure (O) CBS 0.43 0.50 -13.3% Renewed
23 (23) Project Blue Book (O) History 0.31 0.36 -13.6% Renewed
24 (24) Outlander (O) Starz 0.17 0.20 -15.0% Renewed
25 (25) Charmed (O) CW 0.26 0.31 -15.2% Renewed
26 (27) Agents of SHIELD (O) (F) ABC 0.41 0.50 -18.0% Renewed
27 (28) The Good Place (O) NBC 0.83 1.04 -20.6% Renewed
28 (26) Siren (O) Freeform 0.16 0.20 -21.2% Renewed
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 (31) Z Nation (F) Syfy 0.13 0.17 -23.5% Cancelled
32 (33) Scream MTV 0.23 0.30 -24.4% On the Bubble
33 (32) The 100 (O) CW 0.23 0.31 -24.7% Renewed
34 (34) MacGyver (O) (F) CBS 0.70 0.93 -25.6% Renewed
35 (35) Gotham (O) FOX 0.63 0.94 -33.6% Final Season
36 (36) iZombie (O) CW 0.20 0.31 -34.5% Final Season
37 (38) The Gifted (O) FOX 0.61 0.94 -35.6% Cancelled
38 (39) Nightflyers Syfy 0.11 0.17 -36.9% Cancelled
39 (37) Krypton Syfy 0.11 0.17 -37.3% On the Bubble
40 (40) Cloak and Dagger (O) Freeform 0.12 0.20 -40.0% On the Bubble
41 (41) What We Do in the Shadows (O) FX 0.18 0.30 -40.0% Renewed
42 (42) NOS4A2 (O) AMC 0.21 0.35 -41.1% Renewed
43 (43) Van Helsing (F) Syfy 0.09 0.17 -45.7% Renewed
44 (44) Happy (O) Syfy 0.09 0.17 -45.9% Cancelled
45 (45) Stan Against Evil IFC 0.04 0.08 -46.9% Cancelled
46 (46) The Outpost CW 0.10 0.20 -50.0% Renewal Possible
46 (n/a) Pandora CW 0.10 0.20 -50.0% Renewal Possible
48 (47) American Gods (O) Starz 0.10 0.20 -50.6% Renewed
49 (49) Channel Zero (O) Syfy 0.07 0.17 -57.8% Cancelled
50 (48) Legion (O) FX 0.12 0.30 -59.2% Final Season
51 (50) Midnight Texas (O) (F) NBC 0.41 1.04 -60.4% Cancelled
52 (51) Into the Badlands (O) AMC 0.19 0.50 -61.8% Cancelled
53 (52) Mars NGC 0.06 0.16 -65.6% On the Bubble
54 (53) Counterpart Starz 0.05 0.20 -75.5% Cancelled
55 (54) The Rook (O) Starz 0.04 0.20 -78.3% On the Bubble

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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