Cancellation Watch: The X-Files Has a Huge Debut After Football, Will FOX Order More Eps? Plus the Weekly Ratings Roundup

Unless otherwise noted, the ratings numbers below are based on the final overnights and may vary slightly from the preliminaries reported on the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site.

FOX’s X-Files revival debuted to huge numbers on Sunday, pulling a staggering 6.1 rating based on the overnights for the 18-49 demographic with 16.2 million total viewers (I believe those are the final finals, as that’s the third set of numbers I have seen). Those are the best ratings we have seen in years for a scripted show on the broadcast networks not named Empire and definitely indicate a strong start for the revival series. Of course, it had the NFL Championship game as its lead-in which always inflates the numbers (thus the reason the networks air something in the post-game hour every year). The ratings for Monday night’s airing of the second X-Files episode (in its regular Monday 10 PM EST timeslot) will not be available until later this morning and will be more telling as to where the show stands. I expect the numbers to drop by half or even more, but if it still pulls north of a 2.5 score that counts as a huge hit for FOX this season. And if that is the case, the next question is will we get more episodes after this season’s six part “limited run”? It’s hard to say for sure, but I can tell you that FOX will definitely want the show to continue if the ratings remain high. They could try to do a similar limited run event each year in order to work in with the schedules of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, or I had also heard that this series might be setting up an X-Files: The Next Generation scenario. I haven’t seen anything to indicate that from the first two episodes, but it’s always a option. If they did that, perhaps Duchovny and Anderson could have recurring roles alongside the new cast. It’s still a bit early to make any sure bets, but if the Monday overnights look good (and FOX WILL be looking those despite what they want you to believe), then expect some wheeling and dealing to get more of this show on the air.

Word broke last week that FOX had kicked their new series Second Chance to Fridays, more on that at this link. And I covered the ratings results of the Monday thru Thursday shows plus the broadcast network and cable scorecards at this link.

Ratings results for the sci fi / fantasy shows airing Monday January 18th thru Sunday January 24th (metric definitions below):

(Updated for the broadcast network and cable Top 25 chart activity)

On hiatus, returns February 29th.

It slipped a bit from its last new episode but is still doing well enough. If it holds at around this level then a second season looks like a good bet.

Chart Activity: This show was at Number 13 in the broadcast network Top 25 based on the overnights for the 18-49 demographic and at Number 16 based on total viewers (it was preempted the prior week, so no chart activity then).

A good mid-season return for this show as it continues to race forward to a third season renewal.

Chart Activity: This show landed at Number 10 in the Weekly Nielsen Twitter Ratings Top 10 with its mid-season return which is just another feather in the cap of what is probably the most all-around popular superhero show on television now.

Not a good debut for this show’s second season at all. It likely still has the Disney brass pulling for it, but it will be hard to keep a scripted show going on one of the Big Four broadcast networks averaging under a 1.0 score. I will be looking further at the possible fates of this show and Agents of SHIELD in an upcoming post.

On hiatus, returns March 8th.

Preempted. Returns with new episodes February 9th.

It slipped by almost half from its first episode, but it is still doing okay for a cable show these days. If it holds at these levels then it still has a chance at a second season.

It held steady with the prior week and this one has already been renewed for a sixth season.

Its numbers dropped and CBS is killing this one with their scheduling. And guess what? It’s a repeat again tonight which will do nothing to help its numbers.

This show slipped again which is not good considering that it is an expensive series to produce. If it has international financing backing it, though, it may still have a chance of surviving into a second season.

It slipped some from the prior week but it has already been renewed for a second season.

This show returned from hiatus strong (for a CW entry) and remains on target for a fifth season.

Chart Activity: It landed at Number 8 in the Weekly Nielsen Twitter Ratings Top 10 with its mid-season return indicating that it is still stirring up plenty of buzz on the social networks.

This show returned even with the numbers it posted at the end of Fall and is essentially guaranteed a twelfth season, because even if that is its last they will want to wrap up all the storylines.

After a poor debut, this show slipped further with its second episode and as I have been predicting it got kicked to Friday nights starting next week. Next stop is the Network Executioner.

This show returned from hiatus with slightly higher numbers and has already been renewed for a third season.

Season ended. Returns in Fall 2016 with its sixth season.

A good debut for this show and if it holds around a 1.0 rating or higher then a second season is likely. Though I have heard that The CW may go a different direction with the team-up concept next year because LoT is such an expensive series to produce.

It held low for its season finale and now it gets tacked on to the end of the Heroes syndication package, giving the original series a resolution to its fourth season cliffhanger.

This show debuted with the best numbers its has seen since its first season. Did all the positive buzz it has been receiving finally attract some new viewers? If it holds close to these levels, it is sure to get renewed. If it slips back to the 0.5 range, then it goes back on the bubble.

It improved from the prior week even though it is still the lowest rated entry from the CBS two hour comedy block. But if it can hold here or even improve a bit then it still has a chance.

Chart Activity: This show fell out of the broadcast network Top 25 based on total viewers (it was at Number 25 last week), though its seven million viewers likely had it around the 26th or 27th slot.

It held mostly steady with the prior week and still has a chance of making it to a second season if it can maintain these levels.

On hiatus, returns January 29th (when it shifts to Fridays).

On hiatus, returns February 5th (when it shifts to Fridays).

On hiatus, returns January 29th (when it shifts to Fridays).

On hiatus, returns January 29th.

The ratings for this show’s debut were pretty low, but not surprising as the Esquire channel probably does not have high viewership. Beowulf‘s fate is likely more closely tied to its performance over in Britain anyway.

Unfortunately the big loser on Sunday night was this fun little show that nobody pays attention to. With numbers like these, it sure seems unlikely that it can beat the odds and avoid the Network Executioner a second time.

On hiatus, returns March 6th.

On hiatus, returns February 14th.

On hiatus, no scheduled return yet.

A huge debut for this show, but that was expected from the anticipation and NFL Championship lead-in. More on this one above.

Chart Activity: This show debuted at Number 2 in the Weekly Nielsen Twitter Ratings Top 10 (behind The Bachelor). It was also at Number 3 in the broadcast network Top 25 based on the overnights for the 18-49 demographic (behind only football) and at Number 4 based in total viewers (behind football and NCIS)

Be sure keep an eye out for the latest numbers and any breaking news throughout the week at the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site. You can see the status of all the currently airing sci fi / fantasy shows at the Cancellation Watch page and also the latest Sci Fi TV Power Rankings post. And for more information on where I get these numbers and how I make my Cancellation Alert assessments, check out the Cancelled Sci Fi FAQ.

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Metric Definitions:

Rating: Overnight rating in the 18-49 demographic for same day viewing based on the final numbers unless otherwise noted

% Chng PW: The percentage change +/- for this week’s rating vs. last week’s rating.

Tot Viewers: Estimated total viewers (age 2+) to tune in to the episode for same day viewing.

StD Rating: Season to date average for the rating metric tracked above.

Net Avg: The season to date average rating for the network for non-sports programming and non-repeats. This data is available for the broadcast networks only.

Cancellation Alert: My prediction of the likelihood that a show will get cancelled. From least to most likely the statuses are Low, Moderate, Medium, Elevated, and High.