The CW’s fantasy-tinged reboot of Kung Fu has gotten off to a good start ratings-wise and that finds the show entering the Scorecard at the Number 5 slot. That freshman series has not received a renewal yet but appears to be on track for a second season nod. Syfy’s Van Helsing returned for its fifth and final season with its ratings down which finds the series starting off low in the rankings at the Number 28 slot. The CW’s Batwoman pulled the highest ratings for its second season this past week which has it improving two slots to Number 13. The rest of the movement in the Scorecard was mostly incidental and you can see the full ratings results from the week 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 April 18th:
| Rank (PW) | Series | Net | Std Avg | Net Bench | % Var | Status |
| 1 (1) | The Walking Dead (O) | AMC | 0.67 | 0.30 | 124.8% | Final Season |
| 2 (2) | Supernatural (O) | CW | 0.30 | 0.15 | 99.3% | Final Season |
| 3 (3) | Superman & Lois (O) | CW | 0.28 | 0.15 | 87.3% | Renewal Possible |
| 4 (4) | The Flash (O) | CW | 0.26 | 0.15 | 69.8% | Renewed |
| 5 (n/a) | Kung Fu (O) | CW | 0.21 | 0.15 | 39.5% | Renewal Possible |
| 6 (5) | Resident Alien (O) | Syfy | 0.19 | 0.15 | 28.7% | Renewal Possible |
| 7 (6) | Fear the Walking Dead (O) | AMC | 0.33 | 0.30 | 9.6% | Renewed |
| 8 (7) | Supergirl (O) | CW | 0.15 | 0.15 | -2.6% | Final Season |
| 9 (8) | Manifest (O) | NBC | 0.55 | 0.58 | -5.9% | Renewal Possible |
| 10 (9) | Riverdale (O) | CW | 0.14 | 0.15 | -7.7% | Renewed |
| 11 (10) | Legacies (O) | CW | 0.14 | 0.15 | -10.3% | Renewed |
| 12 (11) | MacGyver (O) (F) | CBS | 0.51 | 0.57 | -10.6% | Cancelled |
| 13 (15) | Batwoman (O) | CW | 0.13 | 0.15 | -15.5% | Renewed |
| 14 (13) | The Walking Dead World Beyond (O) | AMC | 0.25 | 0.30 | -16.7% | Renewed |
| 15 (14) | Snowpiercer | TNT | 0.25 | 0.30 | -17.4% | Renewed |
| 16 (12) | Black Lightning (O) | CW | 0.12 | 0.15 | -17.4% | Final Season |
| 17 (16) | Swamp Thing (O) | CW | 0.12 | 0.15 | -20.3% | Cancelled |
| 18 (17) | Primal | ADSW | 0.19 | 0.25 | -24.0% | Renewed |
| 19 (18) | Debris (O) | NBC | 0.41 | 0.58 | -28.7% | On the Bubble |
| 20 (19) | Nancy Drew (O) | CW | 0.09 | 0.15 | -39.7% | Renewed |
| 21 (20) | Two Sentence Horror Stories | CW | 0.09 | 0.15 | -41.3% | Renewed |
| 22 (22) | Charmed (O) | CW | 0.09 | 0.15 | -43.5% | Renewed |
| 23 (24) | The Nevers (O) | HBO | 0.11 | 0.20 | -45.0% | Renewal Possible |
| 24 (21) | The Outpost | CW | 0.08 | 0.15 | -45.3% | Renewal Possible |
| 25 (23) | Trickster | CW | 0.08 | 0.15 | -50.2% | Cancelled |
| 26 (25) | Pandora | CW | 0.07 | 0.15 | -53.5% | On the Bubble |
| 27 (26) | Wynonna Earp | Syfy | 0.06 | 0.15 | -58.9% | Cancelled |
| 28 (n/a) | Van Helsing | Syfy | 0.06 | 0.15 | -60.0% | Final Season |
| 29 (27) | NeXt | FOX | 0.25 | 0.64 | -61.4% | Cancelled |
| 30 (28) | Star Trek Discovery (O) | CBS | 0.21 | 0.57 | -62.9% | Renewed |
| 31 (29) | His Dark Materials | HBO | 0.05 | 0.20 | -73.6% | Renewed |
| 32 (30) | American Gods (O) | Starz | 0.04 | 0.15 | -76.7% | Cancelled |
| 33 (31) | The Watch | BBCA | 0.03 | 0.25 | -86.3% | Renewal Possible |
| 34 (32) | Moonbase 8 | Show | 0.01 | 0.20 | -95.6% | 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
