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.
Renewal Announcement: The Happy Net strikes again as The CW announced yesterday that low rated The 100 will be coming back for a fifth season. That show had its Season 4 debut last month and it has been performing below the network’s average, but it still got the renewal nod. Likely that is because The CW wants to get it to the seventy-plus episode range as the TV Grim Reaper suggests which makes it more attractive to the syndication mark (though it does fall short of the typical 88 episode threshold). A fifth season of The 100 of thirteen to sixteen episodes (its typical order) gets it to 71-74 total. Consider it a good chance that could be the show’s final season, but that will have allowed it a decent run and the chance to wrap up its storylines if the creative staff knows in advance next year will be its last. I had the show as On the Bubble but conditioned by the fact that it is a CW entry and that network’s decisions are not driven as heavily by the overnight ratings.
Renewal Possible: ABC’s Once Upon A Time returned from its Winter hiatus last Sunday matching its series low in ratings which prompted me to move it to Bubble status. But according to Deadline Hollywood, the show still has a shot at a seventh season. The storyline that will wrap up at the end of its sixth season will act as a good stopping point for the show according to its creators, and I was thinking ABC might decide to part ways with it at that point seeing as the audience has dropped off notably. But Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis are considering a reboot of sorts that would focus on four of the main characters: Jennifer Morrison (Emma), Lana Parrilla (Regina), Robert Carlyle (Mr. Gold) as well as Colin O’Donoghue (Hook). A lot of it would hinge upon contract renegotiations, and there is not much information on what direction the reboot would take the series. But apparently Disney and ABC are still considering keeping this show going for at least another year. I’m not going to move Once Upon A Time from the Bubble status I have currently assigned to it because I believe it is a toss-up still on whether it will come back. But fans of the show should know that there still may be another year of so left in it.
Ratings Results of Interest: This past Wednesday, Syfy’s The Expanse slipped to near a series low rating of a 0.15 score based on the overnights for the 18-49 demographic with 450k total viewers. That’s a disappointing drop after two weeks of trending up and keeps the show on iffy ground since it is expensive to produce. Fans should definitely show their support on the social networks and by watching it online to help assure that it gets a third season (more on that at this link). Also on that night, Syfy’s The Magicians dropped to its lowest Season 2 numbers, posting a 0.24 rating with 630k total viewers. But that one is still the network’s top-rated show and it is pretty much a lock for a third season. Over on FX, Legion edged up just a bit to a 0.38 rating with 795k total viewers and it still looks like it has a decent chance for a second season renewal. On Thursday, NBC’s Powerless remained at a 0.7 rating with 2.4 million total viewers after a week off and with only a repeat of Superstore as its lead-in. Expect that show to be gone by season end. Over on USA, Colony improved slightly to a 0.28 rating with 775k total viewers and continues to look like a decent prospect for a third season renewal.
The Charts: The Walking Dead remained at Number 1 in the cable Top 25 based on the overnights for the 18-49 demo and slipped to Number 2 in the chart based on total viewers (it was beat out by the presidential address). MacGyver was a repeat last week and did not make the broadcast net chart. The Nielsen Social Network Top 10 was not updated last week, but I imagine TWD would have remained on it.
| Series | Chart | Curr Wk Rank | Prior Wk Rank |
| MacGyver | Broadcast Net Top 25 (Total Viewers) | n/a | 20 |
| The Walking Dead | Nielsen Social Net Ratings Top 10 | n/a | 4 |
| The Walking Dead | Cable Top 25 (18-49 Demo) | 1 | 1 |
| The Walking Dead | Cable Top 25 (Total Viewers) | 2 | 1 |
Be sure keep an eye out for the latest numbers and any breaking news throughout the week at the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site and Facebook Page. You can see the status of all the currently airing sci fi / fantasy shows at the Cancellation Watch page. 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.
