Cancellation Watch: It Looks Like Countdown Time for Extant and Legends, Haven Tanks on Thursday Night

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.

On the Hot Seat: Both CBS’ Extant and TNT’s Legends have been delivering tepid numbers since their debuts this Summer and each show sunk to new lows this week increasing the likelihood that they will not make it to a second season. Extant slipped to a series low of a 0.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 4.6 million total viewers, a level that is certainly unacceptable to CBS. It’s still possible that Amazon could work out a deal to keep the show alive seeing as they have a stake in it, but I can’t see CBS placing this one on the schedule again next Summer with these ratings. I am moving this one to an Elevated Cancellation Alert status, at least concerning its chances of returning to CBS. It’s hard to judge at this point what Amazon’s move will be if the network cancels it.

Over on TNT, Legends also slipped to series low with a 0.3 rating and 1.4 million total viewers. That had the show out of the cable Top 100 for the evening, and it’s lead-out series Franklin & Bash bested it for the first time since its debut. The season to date ratings for Legends have now slipped to a 0.4 score. Compare that to TNT’s The Last Ship which averaged a 1.1 rating this Summer (a number which I consider okay, but not a major hit) and you have to wonder if another one of Sean Bean’s characters could be facing a dismal fate. The cable networks aren’t always as quick to ax a show as the broadcast nets, so maybe they will give this one a chance. But I don’t see that it has generated much buzz on the social networks (it hasn’t made it to the Nielsen Twitter Ratings or the General Sentiment Top 25, more on those at this link), nor does it appear to have built much of a fanbase. I am moving this one to a Medium Cancellation Alert now, and I would say that the show’s prospects look grim.

On Thursday, Syfy’s returning Haven also experienced a series low with only a 0.2 rating and one million total viewers for its Season 5 debut. That series averaged a tepid 0.4 rating last season, but that was good enough to get it a twenty six episode fifth season order. But that 0.2 score just won’t cut it. Perhaps, though, Syfy takes note that Thursdays just are not working for their original programming because neither Defiance or Dominion did well on that night in the Summer. They could end up shifting Haven to another night and perhaps even pairing it with their other Fall scripted series Z Nation (that one bows tonight and we will see its numbers on Monday). But a 0.2 rating may make Syfy reconsider that fifth season episode count (they plan on airing it in two separate thirteen ep runs) or calling it quits once it has wrapped up the show’s current order. I am putting this one at a Moderate Cancellation Alert level for now, and I’m waiting to see if Syfy reacts with a schedule change. If not, the Alert level will be rising.

Following are the full ratings results* for the sci fi / fantasy shows airing Wednesday 9/10 and Thursday 9/11 with my comments. And keep an eye on the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for the latest numbers and any breaking news.

Legends TNT Wed 9/10 9 PM
Rating: 0.3 | Tot Viewers: 1.4 | StD Rating: 0.4 | Target: 1.0 | Cancellation Alert: Medium

Maybe this show would have done better on Sunday nights. It’s definitely somewhat of a miss-match with Franklin & Bash.

Extant CBS Wed 9/10 10 PM
Rating: 0.8 | Tot Viewers: 4.6 | StD Rating: 1.1 | Target: 1.4 | Cancellation Alert: Elevated

The sad thing is that this is actually a pretty decent science fiction show. Why no love for this one from genre fans? Or are they streaming it on Amazon (like I am)? Unfortunately, those numbers are not published (but they should be).

Haven Syfy Thu 9/11 8 PM
Rating: 0.2 | Tot Viewers: 1.0 | StD Rating: 0.2 | Target: 0.4 | Cancellation Alert: Moderate

Hey Syfy: Thursdays aren’t working out. Time to rethink your scheduling.

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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

Tot Viewers: Estimated total viewers to tune in to the episode for same day viewing

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

Target: The estimated average rating that the show needs to sustain to get renewed.

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.

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Ratings Source: TV by the Numbers and ShowBuzzDaily