Cancellation Watch: The 100 is Still Hanging On, Agents of SHIELD is Looking Stronger Now

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 Tuesday through Thursday sci fi / fantasy shows:

On the Hot Seat: The CW’s late-season entry The 100 saw a slight improvement to its ratings on Wednesday as it edged up to a 0.6 score in the 18-49 demo with 2 million total viewers.  That’s definitely no ratings surge, but I’m sure the show will take anything it can get at this point.  And with its network currently in a ratings slump (after having done so well in the Fall), the relative numbers for The 100 actually don’t look too bad.  It beat out The Originals in total viewers and its ratings in the demo are only a little bit off from what The CW’s renewed shows are currently pulling.  I know I pegged this one as sure to get cancelled in the latest Power Rankings, but I also noted that if its numbers improved in the coming weeks that it could still have a chance.  I’m thinking it needs to stay at a the 0.6 level or higher, and I’m also thinking that the best it can hope for is a mid-season return next year.  But there’s a chance this show may have some life left in it.

Other Ratings News: Agents of SHIELD is now officially off of bubble status and it seems all but locked for a return next year.  It’s latest episode improved its numbers to a 1.9 rating with six million total viewers which may not seem great compared to its early season numbers, but that’s decent compared to the overall numbers across the broadcast nets this spring.  It has also returned to the weekly Top 25 and it made the Top 20 list of “entertainment” shows based on their season to date averages in the 18-49 demo in live plus seven viewing (Once Upon A Time and Resurrection also made that list).  I already suggested that Disney would send down the edict that SHIELD come back, and the current numbers seem to back that up.  I do believe that they will retool the show to an extent, but you would be betting good money on it returning for a second season.

Over at The CW, the news has not been as good as all of their shows have dropped notably in the Nielsens the last few weeks.  Tuesday night entry The Originals sunk to a new series low of a 0.6 rating with 1.5 million total viewers, while its lead-out Supernatural did a little better with a 0.9 score and 2.1 million total viewers.  On Wednesday, Arrow could manage only a 0.7 rating with 2.2 million total viewers.  On Thursday, Vampire Diaries also pulled only a 0.7 rating with 1.8 million total viewers (based on the preliminaries).  That network has been hurt by the overall slumping ratings across the broadcast networks as well as the fact that it has been running a lot of repeats the last couple of months.  Seems like they need to come up with a better late-season strategy next year so as not to suffer that ratings slide as the season closes out.

Person of Interest was a repeat this week and Revolution was preempted (once again for a repeat of Law & Order: SVU) but both return with new episodes next week.  Cancellation announcement could be coming at any time with Fridays being when the networks prefer to release that news.  Keep an eye on this site and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for any breaking news.  And 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.

Here are the season to date (StD) numbers and standings through April 24th for all the shows that have bowed so far (sorted by most likely to get cancelled):

Ratings Source: TV by the Numbers and The Futon Critic

Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2014 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.