The 2018-19 season is now in the books (though we are still awaiting word on the fate of some shows), so now is the time to finalize the Scorecard for the year. There are still a few holdover shows that will be airing new episodes for the next few weeks, but those ratings numbers should not affect their standing too much. The CW shows might change by a slot or two, Fear the Walking Dead might rebound a bit from its ratings slump this past weekend, and The Terror really can’t drop much further. So I will count these as the final standings for the year showing how the broadcast network and cable shows performed compared to their network benchmarks (see below for definitions).
You will see that the shows in the top third of the rankings were renewed if they were not in their final season with the exception of FOX’s The Passage. And that show just found itself as odd man out after the Disney buyout of FOX Entertainment. In the middle third, you will find some renewals, some cancellations, and some shows On the Bubble. And in the lower third, you will found more cancellations as well as shows airing out their final seasons and some still On the Bubble. So the Scorecard continues to be a decent tool for gauging the status of the shows that still live and die by the Nielsen ratings. How much longer that remains the case in this ever-changing television environment I can’t say at this point. But I will continue to use the same methodology for now.
With the 2018-19 season wrapping up, the Scorecard will go on break for about a month and a half. I need to start compiling the ratings numbers for the current season to create the benchmarks, and I will want at least of couple of full weeks with ratings data before producing the first Scorecard of the season. Keep an eye out for for that around the middle of October.
In the meantime, be sure to check out our Fall Preview of sci fi and fantasy shows at this link, and also take a look at the Fall schedule at this link.
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 September 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 (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) | Final Space (O) | ADSW | 0.30 | 0.28 | 6.4% | Renewal Possible |
| 13 (14) | Black Lightning (O) | CW | 0.30 | 0.31 | -1.8% | Renewed |
| 14 (15) | Legacies (O) | CW | 0.30 | 0.31 | -1.8% | Renewed |
| 15 (13) | Fear the Walking Dead (O) | AMC | 0.49 | 0.50 | -2.4% | 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 (20) | Deadly Class (O) | Syfy | 0.15 | 0.17 | -12.9% | Cancelled |
| 21 (21) | Project Blue Book (O) | History | 0.31 | 0.36 | -13.6% | Renewed |
| 22 (22) | Outlander (O) | Starz | 0.17 | 0.20 | -15.0% | Renewed |
| 23 (23) | Charmed (O) | CW | 0.26 | 0.31 | -15.2% | Renewed |
| 24 (24) | The InBetween (O) | NBC | 0.41 | 0.50 | -18.0% | On the Bubble |
| 25 (25) | Agents of SHIELD (O) (F) | ABC | 0.41 | 0.50 | -18.3% | Renewed |
| 26 (26) | Blood and Treasure (O) | CBS | 0.40 | 0.50 | -20.0% | Renewed |
| 27 (27) | The Good Place (O) | NBC | 0.83 | 1.04 | -20.6% | Renewed |
| 28 (28) | The Orville (O) | FOX | 0.74 | 0.94 | -21.8% | Renewed |
| 29 (29) | Siren (O) | Freeform | 0.16 | 0.20 | -22.0% | Renewed |
| 29 (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 (32) | Scream | MTV | 0.23 | 0.30 | -24.4% | On the Bubble |
| 33 (33) | MacGyver (O) (F) | CBS | 0.70 | 0.93 | -25.6% | Renewed |
| 34 (34) | The 100 (O) | CW | 0.22 | 0.31 | -27.0% | 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 (37) | The Gifted (O) | FOX | 0.61 | 0.94 | -35.6% | Cancelled |
| 38 (38) | Nightflyers | Syfy | 0.11 | 0.17 | -36.9% | Cancelled |
| 39 (39) | Krypton | Syfy | 0.11 | 0.17 | -38.2% | Cancelled |
| 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 (43) | NOS4A2 (O) | AMC | 0.20 | 0.35 | -42.5% | Renewed |
| 43 (42) | Pandora | CW | 0.11 | 0.20 | -42.9% | Renewal Possible |
| 44 (44) | The Outpost | CW | 0.11 | 0.20 | -43.8% | Renewal Possible |
| 45 (45) | Van Helsing (F) | Syfy | 0.09 | 0.17 | -45.7% | Renewed |
| 46 (46) | Happy (O) | Syfy | 0.09 | 0.17 | -45.9% | Cancelled |
| 47 (47) | Stan Against Evil | IFC | 0.04 | 0.08 | -46.9% | Cancelled |
| 48 (48) | Two Sentence Horror Stories | NBC | 0.10 | 0.20 | -50.0% | Renewal Possible |
| 49 (49) | American Gods (O) | Starz | 0.10 | 0.20 | -50.6% | Renewed |
| 50 (50) | Channel Zero (O) | Syfy | 0.07 | 0.17 | -57.8% | Cancelled |
| 51 (51) | Legion (O) | FX | 0.12 | 0.30 | -60.4% | Final Season |
| 52 (52) | Midnight Texas (O) (F) | NBC | 0.41 | 1.04 | -60.4% | Cancelled |
| 53 (53) | Into the Badlands (O) | AMC | 0.19 | 0.50 | -61.8% | Cancelled |
| 54 (54) | Killjoys (O) | Syfy | 0.06 | 0.17 | -63.9% | Final Season |
| 55 (55) | Mars | NGC | 0.06 | 0.16 | -65.6% | On the Bubble |
| 56 (56) | Preacher (O) | AMC | 0.13 | 0.50 | -74.8% | Final Season |
| 57 (58) | Counterpart | Starz | 0.05 | 0.20 | -75.5% | Cancelled |
| 58 (57) | The Terror (O) | AMC | 0.11 | 0.50 | -78.7% | Renewal Possible |
| 59 (59) | The Rook (O) | Starz | 0.04 | 0.20 | -79.4% | 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
