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.
Ratings Results for the Friday through Monday sci fi / fantasy shows:
Ratings News of Note: With the third airing of ABC’s mid-season series Resurrection, that show has seen yet another drop in its numbers. This last Sunday’s episode slipped to a 2.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 9.5 million total viewers and has fallen quite a ways from that 3.8 rating that it debuted with. That fact is, though, that Resurrection‘s number are still relatively good and it was the highest rated scripted show on the broadcast networks for Sunday evening (plus it is also still in the Top 10). But will it finally level out with next week’s episode or does this decline turn into a death spiral? If the show drops much further than where it is right now, I believe that the ABC execs will have to think long and hard about whether to bring it back for another season. Sure, it is currently outperforming Once Upon A Time and Agents of SHIELD, but the former series is a season away from achieving the episode count attractive to the syndication market and the latter is part of a major multi-media franchise. For now, Resurrection is still safe based on its current numbers, but if it drops much lower then the fans of this show will have reason to be concerned.
On the Hot Seat: The other recent genre addition to the Prime Time schedule–NBC’s Believe–has even more reason for concern at this point. That show also slipped with its latest episode, pulling only a 1.2 rating in the 18-49 demo with 5.1 million total viewers. This series was already in questionable territory with its drop to a 1.5 rating last week, and it may have slipped past the point of no return with its latest decline. If the series can edge back up in the next week or two, it may still have a chance because of the pedigree attached to it (J.J. Abrams and Alfonso Cuarón), but otherwise this one looks like a goner and I am raising its Cancellation Alert to Elevated.
As for the other struggling Friday through Monday genre shows, The CW’s Tomorrow People slipped to yet another series low as that one could only muster a 0.3 rating with about 800 thousand total viewers on Monday. My assumption that this one’s shift to Mondays acts as its burn-off run seems to be accurate at this point, and it seems sure to get the ax by season end. Also on its way out is lead-in series Star-Crossed which only pulled a 0.3 rating with about 900 thousand total viewers Monday. CBS Series Intelligence saw no improvement either as it pulled another 1.1 rating with five million total viewers. That show seems certain to fade away after its short, one-season run. On Friday, ABC’s The Neighbors continues to languish as it pulled another 0.9 rating with 3.7 million total viewers. Its chances of renewal remain very slim at this point. And NBC’s Hannibal did no better in the 10 PM EST hour with a 0.9 rating and 2.7 million total viewers, though it could still hang on because its international production makes it cheaper for NBC. Syfy’s Helix slipped to a 0.4 rating with 1.2 million total viewers for its penultimate Season 1 episode and its renewal prospects continue to look murky.
Other Ratings News: The Walking Dead improved its numbers for a second week in a row as it rose to a 6.7 rating in the 18-49 demo with 13.5 million total viewers and outpaced everything on the cable and broadcast nets for the week. Its Season 4 finale is this coming Sunday, and its numbers should boost up even further with that episode. On Friday, Grimm slipped a tick to a 1.5 rating with 5.7 million total viewers, but not worries for that one as it received its expected renewal notice last week. On Sunday, Once Upon A Time slipped to a 2.1 rating with 6.9 million total viewers as it is now falling back in line with the numbers we saw at the end of Fall. It’s still doing well enough that a fourth season renewal is expected, though. On Monday, the Season 3 finale of Teen Wolf improved that show’s ratings slightly to a 0.9 rating with 2.3 million total viewers. That one’s fourth season is already set to kick off in just a few months in June. On Syfy, Being Human slipped a tick to a 0.4 rating with right at one million total viewers. There are two episodes left to air for that show. And for those interested, FOX’s Cosmos revival pulled a 1.7 rating with 4.3 million total viewers on Sunday.
One show that I realized I have failed to make mention of in this column is From Dusk to Dawn: The Series which premiered on the new El Rey network on March 11th. But part of the reason I have not reported anything is because I’ve found no numbers to report yet. The show has not made it into the cable Top 100 with its first two episodes and I can’t find any numbers out there for it so far. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as El Rey is a very new network (launched by Grindhouse‘s Robert Rodriguez) and is still trying to establish itself. The reviews I have seen for the From Dusk to Dawn series have been generally favorable so far and the show has been picked up by Netflix for international streaming. Whether it has a chance of returning for a second season is difficult to estimate at this point, but I don’t think the lack of ratings noise will count too much against it as that was surely expected from this fledgling network.
On a final note, an interesting study was just released relating to Twitter activity around TV shows that suggests people who see tweets about a series are likely to check it out. The study also says that if they see tweet’s from a show’s “brand partner” they are “more likely to view that brand as appealing and pay more attention to that brand’s on-air ads”. This could start to give more weight to the Twitter activity surrounding television shows and that could potentially influence the cancellation and renewal decisions by network executives. This could be yet another sign of the changing times (and the diminishing importance of the Nielsens), but whether the study results will provide immediate help to struggling shows like Revolution that have low ratings but notable social network activity remains to be seen.
We’ve heard quite a number of renewal announcements over the last few weeks, but no cancellations other than Being Human. More could come at any time, though so keep an eye on this site and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking announcements as well as the latest ratings numbers. You can see the current status for all this season’s genre shows at this link, and for more information on the ratings numbers and how I determine the Cancellation Alert status of a show, see the Cancelled Sci Fi FAQ.
Ratings Source: TV by the Numbers and The Futon Critic
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2014 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
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Now on DVD: Continuum Season 2
Kiera Cameron (Rachel Nichols), a cop from the year 2077, finds herself trapped in the present day desperately trying to stop a terrorist group from the future before they can change the course of history forever. In Season 2, Kiera continues her uneasy alliance with Vancouver Police Detective Carlos Fonnegra (Victor Webster) and grapples with the big question: why was she sent here? Meanwhile tech genius Alec (Erik Knudsen) struggles to understand the mysterious message sent from his future self and the terrorists, Liber8, becomes more strategic—and even more lethal. From its stunning first minutes to its explosive season finale, don’t miss the thrilling next chapter in Continuum: Season Two. Available on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon.com
Once again “they” have ruined a good storyline. “They” did it with “Flash Forward”, “Under the Dome”, and that NBC show where there was supposed to be no electricity (cue in actor with a maniacal laugh), but there really was… The writers of “Resurrection” has taken this idea down a one way path off the air. Hopefully, they have enough sense to jump out of the way before the boulder hits them…again. What’s wrong with the series, you are asking me? Hmmm, first you altered a good storyline for a messed up Mott’s idea. The writers had everything right in front of them, but they selected to “gild the lily”. They are not making your audience smile enough (or really giving them any hope for Arcadia). You are taking them into a low place and making it lower. They are creating too many new characters where they do not need more than there already have is another problem. They are making this show into a dragged out series that will continue to loose viewers as you make it more complicated. It is a very Longgggggg hour show each week. The concept of KISS seems to have been lost for the start. They are not allowing the viewers any knowledge that “it” is happening outside of Arcadia too. If you continue to follow this path of scripting this worthy book as you have, your service for this series will be over.
As far as Resurrection as a series, the cards are showing limited viewing audience in short order, loss of purpose, recreating the story for no means of an end, making the poor sound effects people keep placing the mysterious thunder in the distance without mention or reason for both the actors and the viewing audience, having the ranglers ala graphics use their best bird and bug additions again for no mention or reason to both sides of the camera.
So, there you have it. Too bad, you didn’t stay of track of the storyline. “The Returned” by Jason Mott really had a locked in idea. Very nice writing and worth reading the book again. Cudos to Mr. Mott.
This series has been recreated into a personal idea for someone who didn’t take the long view of possibilities. The thought of not having a final draft of “How would I end this idea if I had to” must not be even a considered idea. Wait… maybe no one read the book! Nope, that can’t be it at all. The idea of “why” this happening has not been approached after all this time. Are these people mindless? Or, have the writers just made these characters limited to any real person in this situation? Ask yourself… if this happened to you, wouldn’t you have already started to ask “why”? To draw “us” in, you have to allow us to step into what we are seeing on screen. The writers have not done this at all. It seems the writers have been allowed to take this series to a proverbial train wreck. They have it speeding towards a washed out bridge. This will be another series that will fade into television “quicksand” because it was only a means to an end.
The writers could have placed trust in the viewer. The writers only interest has been to making the audience bash into a wall or question each week. Your finale flopped.
Hey, maybe the writers with their free time can attempt to take “Flash Forward” and make it a movie. Now that would be a “must see”. Or, have the writers read “Replay” by Ken Grimwood. Would it make a good series? Yes. Would it make an even better movie? Beyond YES!
The thing is, all these numbers do not mean anything! Do they include people watching in the UK and other countries? Or those people who watch online or record the show to watch later?