Syfy’s new series Vagrant Queen saw its ratings drop notably with its second episode and that has the show slipping three slots in the rankings this week to Number 27. That one has been elevated to Bubble status and could go to Cancellation Likely soon. HBO’s Westworld also slipped this week (from Number 14 to Number 18), but mostly because of the razor-thin margins it is working with. The CW’s Roswell New Mexico dropped six slots to Number 24, but that is due to the fact that it is flying solo on Mondays now without a new episode of Supernatural as its lead-in. That one has already been renewed for a third season. Entering the charts this week is Freeform’s Siren which lands at the midway point in the Number 15 slot. The rest of the movement among shows was mostly 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 April 5th:
| Rank (PW) | Series | Net | Std Avg | Net Bench | % Var | Status |
| 1 (1) | The Walking Dead (O) | AMC | 1.13 | 0.30 | 277.6% | Renewed |
| 2 (2) | American Horror Story (O) | FX | 0.61 | 0.30 | 103.7% | Renewed |
| 3 (3) | The Flash (O) | CW | 0.45 | 0.26 | 72.1% | Renewed |
| 4 (4) | Primal | ADSW | 0.30 | 0.25 | 20.8% | Renewal Possible |
| 5 (5) | Arrow (O) | CW | 0.29 | 0.26 | 10.1% | Final Season |
| 6 (6) | Supernatural (O) | CW | 0.28 | 0.26 | 8.1% | Final Season |
| 7 (7) | Batwoman (O) | CW | 0.28 | 0.26 | 6.8% | Renewed |
| 8 (8) | Supergirl (O) | CW | 0.25 | 0.26 | -5.1% | Renewed |
| 9 (9) | Legacies (O) | CW | 0.24 | 0.26 | -7.4% | Renewed |
| 10 (10) | MacGyver (O) (F) | CBS | 0.68 | 0.74 | -8.4% | Renewal Likely |
| 11 (11) | Riverdale (O) | CW | 0.23 | 0.26 | -14.6% | Renewed |
| 12 (12) | Watchmen (O) | HBO | 0.25 | 0.30 | -17.0% | Renewal Possible |
| 13 (13) | Black Lightning (O) | CW | 0.21 | 0.26 | -19.3% | Renewed |
| 14 (15) | The Magicians (O) | Syfy | 0.12 | 0.15 | -21.1% | Cancelled |
| 15 (n/a) | Siren (O) | Freeform | 0.14 | 0.18 | -22.2% | Renewed |
| 16 (16) | Outlander (O) | Starz | 0.12 | 0.15 | -22.9% | Renewed |
| 17 (17) | Manifest (O) | NBC | 0.69 | 0.90 | -23.2% | Renewal Possible |
| 18 (14) | Westworld (O) | HBO | 0.23 | 0.30 | -23.3% | Renewal Possible |
| 19 (19) | Evil (O) | CBS | 0.52 | 0.74 | -29.0% | Renewed |
| 20 (20) | Charmed (O) (F) | CW | 0.18 | 0.26 | -31.2% | Renewed |
| 21 (22) | Emergence (O) | ABC | 0.48 | 0.72 | -32.4% | Cancellation Likely |
| 22 (23) | The Good Place (O) | NBC | 0.61 | 0.90 | -32.5% | Final Season |
| 23 (21) | Motherland Fort Salem (O) | Freeform | 0.12 | 0.18 | -33.3% | Renewal Possible |
| 24 (18) | Roswell New Mexico (O) (F) | CW | 0.17 | 0.26 | -36.7% | Renewed |
| 25 (25) | Van Helsing (F) | Syfy | 0.08 | 0.15 | -45.1% | Renewed |
| 26 (26) | Nancy Drew (O) | CW | 0.14 | 0.26 | -45.4% | Renewed |
| 27 (24) | Vagrant Queen (F) | Syfy | 0.08 | 0.15 | -46.7% | On the Bubble |
| 28 (27) | Mr Robot (O) | USA | 0.12 | 0.25 | -53.8% | Final Season |
| 29 (28) | Avenue 5 | HBO | 0.11 | 0.30 | -63.3% | Renewed |
| 30 (29) | His Dark Materials | HBO | 0.10 | 0.30 | -67.5% | Renewed |
| 31 (30) | Dispatches from Elsewhere (O) | AMC | 0.10 | 0.30 | -67.8% | On the Bubble |
| 32 (31) | Star Wars Resistance (O) | Disney | 0.02 | 0.10 | -76.5% | Final Season |
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
