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.
Series Premiere: This past Sunday brought us another early Fall premiere as FOX’s He-Man-meets-Millennials animated / live action comedy Son of Zorn had its debut after the football game. It posted a 2.4 rating based on the overnights for the 18-49 demographic and 6.1 million viewers which would count it as a huge hit compared to the ratings-pocalypse numbers we saw from the broadcast networks last season. But this premiere has a huge asterisk next to it because the show had the boost from the first day of NFL football. When it moves to its regular 8:30 PM EST timeslot in two weeks, I expect the numbers to drop to the upper or mid 1’s. But that is still not bad these days and since this latest entry from executive producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller gets nestled between The Simpsons and Family Guy on Sunday nights, it has a decent chance of surviving.
Ratings Results of Interest: On Sunday, Braindead averaged a 0.4 rating based on the overnights for the 18-49 demographic with 2.2 million total viewers for its two hour season finale. That’s slightly up from the last few weeks, but likely too little to late to save it from cancellation. Over on AMC, Fear the Walking Dead was up from the prior week’s series low as its pulled a 1.5 rating with 3.4 million total viewers. That show has already been renewed for a third season. And FX’s The Strain also improved from a season low as it pulled a 0.47 rating with 1.1 million total viewers. That one has also been seeing decent Live+3 ratings gains (more important to the cable channels than the broadcast nets) and still has a chance at surviving into a fourth season. TNT’s The Last Ship held mostly steady at a 0.47 rating with 2.3 million total viewers for its season finale. That show learned last week that it has been renewed through a fifth season. On Friday, Syfy’s Dark Matter had a double-episode ahead of its season finale this week and the first hour pulled a 0.18 rating while the second fell to only a 0.11 score (and it averaged 640k total viewers across the two eps). I don’t know if Syfy didn’t make it clear that a second episode was following the first or if people just decided to watch that one on DVR, but it is not of too much concern because the show has already been renewed for a third season. Last Tuesday, Zoo held steady at a 0.7 rating with 4.2 million total viewers for its two-hour season finale. It returns next Summer for its third season, but I’m thinking CBS will want its numbers to improve by then. No ratings results are available for the From Dusk Till Dawn Season 3 premiere because the El Rey network is apparently not carried widely enough that its numbers make much of a dent. Whether that show continues into a fourth season will likely depend on if it continues to generate good buzz as well as the viability of its network. For those interested, and since the show does have some geek appeal, Cartoon Network has announced that their long-running Regular Show will be ending with its upcoming eighth season.
Ratings results for the sci fi / fantasy shows airing Monday September 5th thru Sunday September 11th (metric definitions below):
(Links are to the show pages on this site with season to date ratings results and status updates)
| Series | Airs | Rating | % Chng | Tot Viewers | STD Avg | Net Avg | Cancel Alert |
| Zoo | CBS, Tue 10 PM | 0.7 | 0.0% | 4.2 | 0.7 | 1.5 | Renewed |
| Mr Robot | USA, Wed 10 PM | 0.3 | +11.5% | 0.8 | 0.3 | n/a | Renewed |
| Beauty and the Beast | CW, Thu 9 PM | 0.2 | n/a | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.6 | Final Season |
| Killjoys | Syfy, Fri 9 PM | Season Ended | n/a | n/a | 0.2 | n/a | Moderate |
| Dark Matter | Syfy, Fri 10 PM | 0.1 | +3.6% | 0.6 | 0.2 | n/a | Moderate |
| Son of Zorn | FOX, Sun 7 PM | 2.4 | n/a | 6.1 | 2.4 | 1.5 | Renewed |
| Fear the Walking Dead | AMC, Sun 9 PM | 1.5 | +20.2% | 3.4 | 2.0 | n/a | Renewed |
| The Last Ship | TNT, Sun 9 PM | 0.5 | -2.1% | 2.3 | 0.5 | n/a | Renewed |
| Braindead | CBS, Sun 10 PM | 0.4 | +33.3% | 2.1 | 0.4 | 1.5 | Elevated |
| The Strain | FX, Sun 10 PM | 0.5 | +11.9% | 1.1 | 0.5 | n/a | Elevated |
Chart Activity: No genre shows made it to the Weekly Nielsen Twitter Rating Top 10 for the week, but I expect American Horror Story to show up there for this week with its Season 6 premiere which lands on Wednesday night. Fear the Walking Dead remained at Number 2 in the cable Top 25 based on the overnights for the 18-49 demographic and improved to Number 5 (up from Number 11) based on total viewers. FOX’s Son of Zorn bowed at Number 7 in the broadcast network Top 25 based on the 18-49 demo and at Number 18 based on total viewers. I don’t expect that show to stay on that chart when it moves to its regular 8:30 PM EST timeslot. Zoo dropped out of the broadcast net Top 25 based on total viewers for the week.
(Updated for the broadcast network and cable Top 25 chart activity)
| Series | Chart | Curr Wk Rank | Prior Wk Rank |
| Fear the Walking Dead | Cable Top 25 (18-49 Demo) | 2 | 2 |
| Fear the Walking Dead | Cable Top 25 (Total Viewers) | 5 | 11 |
| Son of Zorn | Broadcast Net Top 25 (18-49 Demo) | 7 | n/a |
| Son of Zorn | Broadcast Net Top 25 (Total Viewers) | 18 | n/a |
| Zoo | Broadcast Net Top 25 (Total Viewers) | n/a | 21 |
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:
Series: (R) indicates a repeat airing
Rating: Overnight rating in the 18-49 demographic for same day viewing based on the final numbers unless otherwise noted
% Chng: The percentage change +/- for this week’s rating vs. last week’s rating (if a new episode aired last week).
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.
Net Avg: The season to date average rating for the network for non-sports, non-special, non-repeat programming. This data is available for the broadcast networks only.
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.
Source: ShowBuzzDaily and TV by the Numbers
