There was no Scorecard for last week because of the ratings delays, and this week brings the (mostly) final edition for the 2016-17 season. A few Summer shows will be wrapping up this week and Fear the Walking Dead and The Last Ship will carry over a little bit further into the Fall season. But the results are pretty much baked in at this point and I don’t expect to see much if any movement beyond where it currently stands. I will keep an eye on Fear the Walking Dead to see if it slips any further due to its ratings declines (it dropped from Number 5 to Number 6 in these rankings), and will probably do a final-final run in a couple of weeks.
As for the 2017-18 Season scorecard, I expect to have that ready about the first or second weekend of October. We need to get enough shows started to have something rankable and I need to collect network ratings averages for a few weeks to establish benchmarks. So keep an eye out for that and you can see the current rankings below.
The scorecard ranks all of the sci fi and fantasy shows’ ratings performance vs. their network’s ratings benchmark (see definition below). Shows at or above their benchmark should be okay, whereas those slipping notably below are getting into iffy territory.
Scorecard based on the ratings through September 17th (metric definitions below):
| Rank (PW) | Series | Net | Std Avg | Net Bench | % Var | Live+7 Avg Rtg | Status |
| 1 (1) | The Walking Dead (O) | AMC | 5.39 | 0.60 | 798.2% | 7.95 | Renewed |
| 2 (2) | Game of Thrones (O) | HBO | 4.76 | 0.60 | 693.6% | 6.30 | Renewed |
| 3 (3) | American Horror Story (O) | FX | 1.58 | 0.60 | 162.5% | 3.16 | Renewed |
| 4 (4) | The Flash (O) | CW | 1.06 | 0.50 | 112.2% | 1.88 | Renewed |
| 5 (6) | The Magicians | Syfy | 0.31 | 0.20 | 54.6% | 0.71 | Renewed |
| 6 (5) | Fear the Walking Dead (O) | AMC | 0.92 | 0.60 | 53.8% | 1.83 | Renewed |
| 7 (7) | Supergirl (O) | CW | 0.72 | 0.50 | 45.2% | 1.28 | Renewed |
| 8 (8) | Star Wars Rebels (O) | DXD | 0.14 | 0.10 | 44.7% | 0.34 | Renewed |
| 9 (9) | American Gods | STARZ | 0.28 | 0.20 | 38.1% | 0.55 | Renewed |
| 10 (10) | Westworld | HBO | 0.80 | 0.60 | 33.8% | 1.50 | Renewed |
| 11 (11) | Into the Badlands | AMC | 0.79 | 0.60 | 31.5% | 1.30 | Renewed |
| 12 (12) | Son of Zorn (O) | FOX | 1.28 | 0.98 | 30.2% | n/a | Cancelled |
| 13 (13) | Legends of Tomorrow (O) | CW | 0.64 | 0.50 | 28.8% | 1.13 | Renewed |
| 14 (14) | Arrow (O) | CW | 0.63 | 0.50 | 25.7% | 1.12 | Renewed |
| 15 (15) | Z Nation | Syfy | 0.25 | 0.20 | 24.3% | 0.42 | Renewed |
| 16 (16) | Supernatural (O) | CW | 0.60 | 0.50 | 19.6% | 1.07 | Renewed |
| 17 (17) | Gotham | FOX | 1.09 | 0.98 | 10.7% | 1.80 | Renewed |
| 18 (18) | Lucifer | FOX | 1.03 | 0.98 | 4.8% | 1.77 | Renewed |
| 19 (19) | Shadowhunters | Free | 0.26 | 0.25 | 2.0% | 0.42 | Renewed |
| 20 (20) | Stan Against Evil | IFC | 0.08 | 0.08 | -4.7% | n/a | Renewed |
| 21 (21) | The Librarians | TNT | 0.47 | 0.50 | -5.2% | 0.88 | Renewed |
| 22 (22) | Channel Zero | Syfy | 0.19 | 0.20 | -5.8% | 0.38 | Renewed |
| 23 (23) | The Last Man on Earth (O) | FOX | 0.91 | 0.98 | -7.0% | 1.48 | Renewed |
| 24 (24) | The Good Place (O) | NBC | 1.25 | 1.35 | -7.4% | 1.91 | Renewed |
| 25 (25) | Colony | USA | 0.26 | 0.30 | -12.6% | 0.60 | Renewed |
| 26 (26) | MacGyver (O) (F) | CBS | 1.08 | 1.26 | -14.9% | 1.67 | Renewed |
| 27 (27) | The Expanse | Syfy | 0.17 | 0.20 | -15.0% | 0.39 | Renewed |
| 28 (28) | Killjoys | Syfy | 0.17 | 0.20 | -16.0% | 0.30 | Renewal Possible |
| 29 (29) | Timeless | NBC | 1.11 | 1.35 | -17.6% | 2.07 | Renewed |
| 30 (30) | Incorporated | Syfy | 0.16 | 0.20 | -20.0% | 0.34 | Cancelled |
| 31 (31) | Aftermath | Syfy | 0.16 | 0.20 | -20.8% | 0.33 | Cancelled |
| 32 (32) | Van Helsing | Syfy | 0.16 | 0.20 | -21.3% | 0.30 | Renewed |
| 33 (33) | Ash vs Evil Dead | STARZ | 0.16 | 0.20 | -21.5% | 0.34 | Renewed |
| 34 (36) | Once Upon A Time (O) | ABC | 0.93 | 1.21 | -23.1% | 1.53 | Renewed |
| 35 (35) | People of Earth | TBS | 0.31 | 0.40 | -23.8% | 0.60 | Renewal Possible |
| 36 (38) | Guardians of the Galaxy | DXD | 0.08 | 0.10 | -24.0% | n/a | Renewed |
| 37 (37) | Salvation | CBS | 0.53 | 0.70 | -24.3% | 0.75 | On the Bubble |
| 38 (39) | Vampire Diaries (O) (F) | CW | 0.38 | 0.50 | -24.7% | 0.75 | Ended |
| 39 (34) | Midnight Texas | ABC | 0.75 | 1.00 | -25.0% | 1.30 | Renewal Possible |
| 40 (40) | Legion (O) | FX | 0.45 | 0.60 | -25.0% | 1.17 | Renewed |
| 41 (41) | Teen Wolf | MTV | 0.22 | 0.30 | -25.4% | 0.44 | Final Season |
| 42 (42) | Dark Matter | Syfy | 0.15 | 0.20 | -25.8% | 0.34 | Cancelled |
| 43 (43) | The 100 (O) | CW | 0.34 | 0.46 | -25.9% | 0.64 | Renewed |
| 44 (44) | Making History (O) | NBC | 0.67 | 0.90 | -26.2% | n/a | Cancelled |
| 45 (45) | Zoo (O) | CBS | 0.51 | 0.70 | -27.4% | 0.82 | Cancellation Likely |
| 46 (46) | The Mist | Spike | 0.14 | 0.20 | -30.5% | 0.36 | On the Bubble |
| 47 (47) | The Originals (O) (F) | CW | 0.32 | 0.46 | -30.9% | 0.63 | Final Season |
| 48 (48) | The Exorcist (O) (F) | FOX | 0.67 | 0.98 | -31.7% | 1.09 | Renewed |
| 49 (49) | Blood Drive | Syfy | 0.13 | 0.20 | -33.1% | n/a | On the Bubble |
| 50 (50) | Preacher | AMC | 0.40 | 0.60 | -34.1% | 0.85 | Renewal Possible |
| 51 (51) | iZombie (O) | CW | 0.30 | 0.46 | -34.3% | 0.63 | Renewed |
| 52 (52) | Scream Queens (O) | FOX | 0.61 | 0.98 | -37.8% | 0.96 | Cancelled |
| 53 (53) | The Strain | FX | 0.37 | 0.60 | -38.7% | 0.81 | Final Season |
| 54 (54) | Agents of SHIELD (O) | ABC | 0.74 | 1.21 | -39.3% | 1.58 | Renewed |
| 55 (55) | Wynonna Earp | Syfy | 0.12 | 0.20 | -39.6% | 0.30 | Renewed |
| 56 (56) | Grimm (O) (F) | NBC | 0.80 | 1.35 | -40.7% | 1.43 | Ended |
| 57 (57) | The Leftovers | HBO | 0.35 | 0.60 | -42.1% | n/a | Final Season |
| 58 (58) | Powerless (O) | NBC | 0.70 | 1.22 | -42.6% | n/a | Cancelled |
| 59 (59) | Beyond | Free | 0.14 | 0.25 | -42.7% | n/a | Renewed |
| 60 (60) | Emerald City (O) (F) | NBC | 0.69 | 1.22 | -43.5% | 1.23 | Cancelled |
| 61 (61) | Sleepy Hollow (O) (F) | FOX | 0.51 | 0.90 | -43.8% | 0.94 | Cancelled |
| 62 (62) | Frequency (O) | CW | 0.28 | 0.50 | -44.4% | 0.51 | Cancelled |
| 63 (63) | Salem | WGN | 0.08 | 0.15 | -48.0% | n/a | Cancelled |
| 64 (64) | Falling Water | USA | 0.15 | 0.30 | -51.0% | 0.30 | Renewed |
| 65 (65) | 12 Monkeys | Syfy | 0.09 | 0.20 | -53.3% | n/a | Renewed |
| 66 (66) | Time After Time | ABC | 0.53 | 1.19 | -55.9% | 0.70 | Cancelled |
| 67 (67) | Somewhere Between | ABC | 0.38 | 0.90 | -58.3% | 0.48 | Cancellation Likely |
| 68 (68) | Twin Peaks | Show | 0.10 | 0.25 | -61.3% | n/a | Final Season |
| 69 (69) | Dirk Gentlys Holistic Detective Agency | BBCA | 0.09 | 0.40 | -77.5% | n/a | Renewed |
| 70 (70) | Orphan Black | BBCA | 0.08 | 0.40 | -80.0% | 0.30 | 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/produced by the network and/or a sister studio. (F) indicates the show airs on Friday when ratings expectations are lower. These typically just apply to the broadcast networks where they are more of a factor.
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 FOX, Empire is also excluded because it counts as an outlier). 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 shows 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.
Live+7 Avg Rtg: The show’s season to date ratings average based on delayed viewing up to three days past the live broadcast. This data is not available for all shows.
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
