Cancellation Watch: The Ratings for Extant and Haven Improve Slightly, but How Much Will It Help?


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 sci fi / fantasy shows airing Wednesday 9/17 and Thursday 9/18

extant-cbs-cancelledOn the Hot Seat: CBS’ Extant had its season finale on Wednesday and its numbers rose from last week’s lows as the show pulled a 1.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 5.4 million total viewers.  But while that was an improvement from last week’s 0.8 score, it’s still not at the level I believe it needs to be at for the show to get a renewal.  I would expect that we should receive word on the show’s fate pretty soon (I thought we might hear something today) and I’m guessing that will not include a return to the network’s schedule next Summer.  Whether Amazon makes an effort to keep the show going as one of its originals or seeks out a new partnership remains to be seen.  On Thursday, Syfy’s Haven saw a slight improvement from its poor Season 5 debut last week as it pulled a 0.3 rating with one million total viewers.  If it can edge up again and get to the 0.4 level, then it should be okay, but I’m thinking that a 0.3 (or 0.2 like last week) will not keep this show afloat.  I know that the network committed to a two-part, twenty six episode fifth season, but they could change their mind on that second half if the numbers remain low.  It’s too soon to say for sure, but I am going to keep the show at a Moderate Cancellation Alert level for now.  Haven fans shouldn’t panic too much, though, because I had it at that level most of last season and it got renewed.  But they should do what they can to get the word out and attract viewers back to the show.

Following are the full ratings results* 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 9/17 9 PM
Rating: 0.3 | Tot Viewers: 1.6 | StD Rating: 0.4 | Target: 1.0 | Cancellation Alert: Medium

This show is still low and it has not generated much buzz that I have heard.  Will TNT be patient with it, especially considering the fact that they have plenty of other original series in their development queue?

Extant CBS Wed 9/17 10 PM
Rating: 1.1 | Tot Viewers: 5.4 | StD Rating: 1.1 | Target: 1.4 | Cancellation Alert: Elevated

It improved for its finale, but it’s likely too little too late.  I don’t expect that CBS will keep us hanging, though, like Syfy is doing with Dominion and Defiance.

Haven Syfy Thu 9/18 8 PM
Rating: 0.3 | Tot Viewers: 1.0 | StD Rating: 0.3 | Target: 0.4 | Cancellation Alert: Moderate

I’ll say it again: Thursdays just aren’t working out for Syfy’s scripted programming.

*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.

Ratings Source: TV by the Numbers and ShowBuzzDaily

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

Author: admin

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