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 Monday June 1st thru Sunday June 7th (metric definitions below):
NBC’s Hannibal had its third season debut last Thursday and posted a series low of a 0.7 rating in the 18-49 demographic based on the overnights with 2.6 million total viewers. That would seem like a death knell for the perennially low-rated show, but the fact is that it had strong competition from the NBA Finals and it’s only two ticks down from its Season 2 average. Plus, its airing in the Summer whereas last year it ran during the Spring. Its numbers will probably trend down a bit more over the coming weeks, because that’s the typical pattern, but then it may not lose too much because it has a dedicated core following and could even improve if the basketball game drew away a lot of viewers. But honestly, I believe this is one of those rare cases on the broadcast networks where the ratings are not as important to a show’s survival. Hannibal has international financing backing it that may make it profitable to the network before it has even aired (similar to the deal CBS has for Summer entries Under the Dome and Extant). And since Hannibal continues to receive rave reviews, NBC gets to bask in the critical praise while possibly banking a nice profit from the show. What this means is that it’s hard to gauge the threat level to the show because I don’t know at what point the ratings are low enough that the network would rather just run repeats (or plug in another reality show) as opposed to keeping Hannibal on the air (and I’m guessing there are other suitors willing to step in in case NBC decided to cut ties with the show). As with last season, I’m passing on predicting the fate of this show (as well as this week’s returning Beauty and the Beast), because there are too many intangibles that I can’t factor in to get a good assessment of where the show stands. But my gut feel is that it should be on target for a fourth season renewal.
Last week, FOX’s new animated series Golan the Insatiable bowed to pretty tepid numbers (a 0.6 rating in the 18-49 demo with 1.6 million total viewers), and this past Sunday it slipped even further. The show could only muster a 0.4 score with 1.2 million total viewers which seems to suggest that its days are surely numbered. That rating was only half of the repeat of The Simpsons at 8:30 and a drop of over 40% from the Family Guy repeat that acted as its lead-in. Which begs the question: why would FOX keep this show on the air if repeats are drawing higher ratings? I don’t know if the network has just done a poor job of promoting the show and people don’t realize that a new series is airing amidst all the animated repeats on Sunday night, but this one needs to turn its numbers around fast. At the current levels, FOX may decide that it makes more sense to yank Golan from Sundays in place of another Simpsons repeat and air out the remaining episodes on FXX as a part of Animation Domination HD. It certainly seems like a possibility if the ratings don’t improve.
(Updated for Top 25 chart activity for cable and broadcast net shows)
The Whispers ABC Mon 6/1 10 PM
Rating: 1.5 | % Chng PW: n/a | Tot Viewers (MM): 5.7 | StD Rating: 1.5 | Cancellation Alert: Moderate
A good debut for this show and its Live+3 rating improved it to a 2.3 score. More on this one at this link.
Chart Activity: As expected, this show debuted in the Top 10 (in the Number 10 slot) based on the ratings in the 18-49 demo and also made it to Number 24 based on total viewers. It will almost certainly drop out of the Top 25 based on ratings next week, though, considering its big drop for its second episode (more on that at this link).
iZombie CW Tue 6/2 9 PM
Rating: 0.6 | % Chng PW: 0.0% | Tot Viewers (MM): 1.8 | StD Rating: 0.7 | Cancellation Alert: Moderate
It continues to hold at decent numbers for the late Spring / early Summer timeframe and it is already set to return in Fall.
Stitchers ABCF Tue 6/2 9 PM
Rating: 0.5 | % Chng PW: n/a | Tot Viewers (MM): 1.3 | StD Rating: 0.0 | Cancellation Alert: Moderate
For its debut, this show lost a fair amount of its lead-in from ABC Family’s hit series Pretty Little Liars. But it is right around the numbers that Chasing Life had in the same timeslot last year, so maybe this is good enough. Show Buzz Daily did note that Stitchers slipped notably from Liars in the 12-34 demo which is what ABC Family targets, so not sure how much that will factor in. If it drops much in the coming weeks, that could put it in trouble.
Wayward Pines FOX Thu 6/4 9 PM
Rating: 1.1 | % Chng PW: -8.3% | Tot Viewers (MM): 4.2 | StD Rating: 1.1 | Cancellation Alert: Moderate
It dropped a bit from the prior week, but still looks okay at this point. If it has much more slippage, though, it could be in trouble.
Chart Activity: This show dropped out of the Top 25 based on the ratings in the 18-49 demo because there was more competition during the week, especially from the NBC playoffs. If it holds steady next week, it might return to the lower rungs of that chart.
Hannibal NBC Thu 6/4 10 PM
Rating: 0.7 | % Chng PW: n/a | Tot Viewers (MM): 2.6 | StD Rating: 0.0 | Cancellation Alert: Moderate
Not a spectacular debut, but the ratings don’t seem to be driving this one’s renewal as much as other shows. More on that above.
Lost Girl Syfy Thu 6/4 10 PM
Rating: 0.2 | % Chng PW: 0.0% | Tot Viewers (MM): 0.7 | StD Rating: 0.2 | Cancellation Alert: Final Season
This show held steady as it wrapped up the first half of its fifth season. Its final eight episodes will debut in Canada in September and then will appear on Syfy a few months later.
Olympus Syfy Thu 6/4 11 PM
Rating: 0.1 | % Chng PW: 0.0% | Tot Viewers (MM): 4.7 | StD Rating: 0.2 | Cancellation Alert: Moderate
This one is still flying low and its chances are looking grimmer if it is relying on its Syfy ratings.
The Messengers CW Fri 6/5 9 PM
Rating: 0.2 | % Chng PW: 0.0% | Tot Viewers (MM): 0.9 | StD Rating: 0.2 | Cancellation Alert: Cancelled
This show continues to fly low as it burns off its episodes before heading to the TV Wasteland.
Bitten Syfy Fri 6/5 11 PM
Rating: 0.2 | % Chng PW: +100.0% | Tot Viewers (MM): 0.5 | StD Rating: 0.2 | Cancellation Alert: Renewed
It improved slightly with its season finale and will be returning at some point next year for its third season.
Orphan Black BBCA Sat 6/6 9 PM
Rating: 0.2 | % Chng PW: +100.0% | Tot Viewers (MM): 0.5 | StD Rating: 0.0 | Cancellation Alert: Renewed
It improved from last week and has already been renewed for a fourth season.
Game of Thrones HBO Sun 6/7 9 PM
Rating: 3.7 | % Chng PW: +5.7% | Tot Viewers (MM): 7.1 | StD Rating: 3.5 | Cancellation Alert: Renewed
More controversy over this past Sunday’s episode, but that’s not hurting the show’s ratings as it improved yet again and beat all non-sports programming on television for the night.
Chart Activity: This on slipped one notch in the Nielsen Twitter Ratings for the week to Number 3. In the cable charts based on total viewers, it returned to the Number 1 slot, up from Number 3 last week.
Golan the Insatiable FOX Sun 6/7 9:30 PM
Rating: 0.4 | % Chng PW: -33.3% | Tot Viewers (MM): 1.2 | StD Rating: 0.5 | Cancellation Alert: Renewed
Not good numbers for a broadcast network show, even in Summer. More on this one above.
Penny Dreadful SHOW Sun 6/7 10 PM
Rating: 0.2 | % Chng PW: -33.3% | Tot Viewers (MM): 0.6 | StD Rating: 0.2 | Cancellation Alert: Moderate
It slipped from the prior week, but since the overnight ratings aren’t as important to the pay channels I still think it has a decent chance for a third season.
Salem WGN Sun 6/7 10 PM
Rating: 0.1 | % Chng PW: 0.0% | Tot Viewers (MM): 0.3 | StD Rating: 0.1 | Cancellation Alert: Moderate
This one continues to fly low and I still believe its chances for renewal are tied to whatever international financing deals are backing it.
Be sure keep an eye out for the latest numbers and any breaking news throughout the week at the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site. You can see the status of all the currently airing sci fi / fantasy shows at the Cancellation Watch page and also the latest Sci Fi TV Power Rankings post. And for more information on where I get these numbers and how I make my Cancellation Alert assessments, check out the Cancelled Sci Fi FAQ.
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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
% Chng PW: The percentage change +/- for this week’s rating vs. last week’s rating.
Tot Viewers: Estimated total viewers (age 2+) to tune in to the episode for same day viewing.
StD Rating: Season to date average for the rating metric tracked above.
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
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2014 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
