Syfy’s freshman space opera series Vagrant Queen continues to see its ratings slip and that has it dropping further in the rankings this week to the Number 31 slot. But fans are still fighting for the show and it is currently in second place in our season end poll. FX’s What We Do in the Shadows saw its numbers drop notably last week and that his it slipping four slots in the rankings to Number 15. That one could rebound next week, though, and I do not believe it is in trouble at this point. 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 May 10th:
| 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 | 0.25 | 144.4% | Renewed |
| 3 (3) | The Flash (O) | CW | 0.44 | 0.26 | 68.8% | Renewed |
| 4 (4) | Primal | ADSW | 0.29 | 0.25 | 16.4% | 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 | 0.27 | 0.26 | 1.9% | Renewed |
| 8 (8) | Legacies (O) | CW | 0.24 | 0.26 | -7.4% | Renewed |
| 9 (9) | MacGyver (O) (F) | CBS | 0.67 | 0.74 | -9.1% | Renewed |
| 10 (10) | Supergirl (O) | CW | 0.23 | 0.26 | -11.4% | Renewed |
| 11 (12) | Riverdale (O) | CW | 0.22 | 0.26 | -16.1% | Renewed |
| 12 (13) | Watchmen (O) | HBO | 0.25 | 0.30 | -17.0% | Renewal Possible |
| 13 (15) | Black Lightning (O) | CW | 0.21 | 0.26 | -19.3% | Renewed |
| 14 (14) | Outlander (O) | Starz | 0.12 | 0.15 | -20.0% | Renewed |
| 15 (11) | What We Do in the Shadows | FX | 0.20 | 0.25 | -20.0% | Renewal Possible |
| 16 (16) | The Magicians (O) | Syfy | 0.12 | 0.15 | -21.1% | Cancelled |
| 17 (17) | Manifest (O) | NBC | 0.69 | 0.90 | -23.1% | Renewal Likely |
| 18 (18) | Westworld (O) | HBO | 0.22 | 0.30 | -25.4% | Renewed |
| 19 (19) | Evil (O) | CBS | 0.52 | 0.74 | -29.0% | Renewed |
| 20 (20) | Charmed (O) (F) | CW | 0.18 | 0.26 | -30.1% | Renewed |
| 21 (21) | Project Blue Book (O) | History | 0.21 | 0.31 | -32.3% | Cancelled |
| 22 (22) | Emergence (O) | ABC | 0.48 | 0.72 | -32.4% | On the Bubble |
| 23 (23) | The Good Place (O) | NBC | 0.61 | 0.90 | -32.5% | Final Season |
| 24 (24) | Siren (O) | Freeform | 0.11 | 0.18 | -38.0% | On the Bubble |
| 25 (25) | Motherland Fort Salem (O) | Freeform | 0.10 | 0.18 | -43.1% | On the Bubble |
| 26 (26) | Van Helsing (F) | Syfy | 0.08 | 0.15 | -45.1% | Renewed |
| 27 (27) | Nancy Drew (O) | CW | 0.14 | 0.26 | -47.3% | Renewed |
| 28 (28) | Roswell New Mexico (O) (F) | CW | 0.14 | 0.26 | -47.8% | Renewed |
| 29 (29) | Mr Robot (O) | USA | 0.12 | 0.25 | -53.8% | Final Season |
| 30 (31) | Avenue 5 | HBO | 0.11 | 0.30 | -63.3% | Renewed |
| 31 (30) | Vagrant Queen (F) | Syfy | 0.05 | 0.15 | -64.4% | Cancellation Likely |
| 32 (32) | His Dark Materials | HBO | 0.10 | 0.30 | -67.5% | Renewed |
| 33 (33) | Dispatches from Elsewhere (O) | AMC | 0.08 | 0.30 | -73.3% | Cancellation Likely |
| 34 (34) | Star Wars Resistance (O) | Disney | 0.02 | 0.10 | -76.5% | Final Season |
| 35 (35) | Penny Dreadful City of Angels | Showtime | 0.04 | 0.20 | -80.0% | 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
I wouldn’t go as far as saying that I like Vagrant Queen but I kind of enjoy watching it. That being said I wouldn’t care if it was cancelled and I would completely understand Syfy’s decision. It’s time for them to make better decision though.
I’ll be honest – it was shocking to see this piece of trash get so many save-your-show votes on this site. Clearly there’s alot to be understood about polls and sample bias.