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 of Interest: It was a pretty slow weekend with many shows on their Winter breaks or having wrapped up for the Fall, but there are still some numbers to report. On Friday, MacGyver remained at a 1.0 rating for CBS based on the overnights for the 18-49 demographic with 7.7 million total viewers. Of course, a lot of people (who don’t follow the Sci Fi TV Listings) may think the show is on hiatus because of the poor scheduling we typically see from CBS this time of year. That show was preempted for two weeks then returned for two weeks right about the time most people believe most the broadcast network shows are on hiatus. We will have to see where its numbers come in once it resumes in January (the Mid-Season schedule is available at this link), to get a better gauge of its status. But if it stays at this level, I might be moving it to Bubble status. Over on FOX, The Exorcist remained low at a 0.6 rating with 1.1 million total viewers for its season finale, and it definitely appears that will be its series finale as well. FOX’s decision to schedule this well-regarded series on Fridays looks to have been a bad move because it was never able to build much of an audience on that night. Over on Syfy, Z Nation improved to a 0.25 rating with 870k total viewers for its Season 3 finale. That show has been renewed for a fourth year as expected. On Sunday, TNT’s The Librarians improved to a 0.48 rating with 1.9 million total viewers which is decent considering that viewership is typically low this time of year. I continue to like that show’s chances of returning for a fourth season and beyond. I previously covered the Monday and Thursday ratings at this link.
Note that I have raised the Cancellation Alert levels of USA’s Falling Water and The CW’s Frequency to Elevated which I discuss in more detail at this link.
Ratings results for the sci fi / fantasy shows airing Monday December 12th thru Sunday December 18th (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 | Benchmark | Cancel Alert |
| Supergirl | CW, Mon 8 PM | On Hiatus | n/a | n/a | 0.9 | 0.6 | Low |
| Gotham | FOX, Mon 8 PM | On Hiatus | n/a | n/a | 1.1 | 1.1 | Low |
| Lucifer | FOX, Mon 9 PM | On Hiatus | n/a | n/a | 1.1 | 1.1 | Low |
| Mars | NBC, Mon 9 PM | 0.2 | -11.1% | 0.7 | 0.0 | 1.6 | Mini-Series |
| People of Earth | TNT, Mon 9 PM | 0.3 | -11.1% | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.5 | Renewed |
| Timeless | NBC, Mon 10 PM | 1.0 | -16.7% | 4.8 | 1.3 | 1.6 | Moderate |
| The Flash | CW, Tue 8 PM | On Hiatus | n/a | n/a | 1.2 | 0.6 | Low |
| Scream Queens | FOX, Tue 9 PM | 0.5 | 0.0% | 1.1 | 0.6 | 1.1 | Elevated |
| Teen Wolf | MTV, Tue 9 PM | 0.3 | +16.7% | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.3 | Final Season |
| Agents of SHIELD | ABC, Tue 10 PM | On Hiatus | n/a | n/a | 0.8 | 1.3 | Elevated |
| Aftermath | Syfy, Tue 10 PM | 0.1 | +8.3% | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.2 | Low |
| Arrow | CW, Wed 8 PM | On Hiatus | n/a | n/a | 0.7 | 0.6 | Low |
| Frequency | CW, Wed 9 PM | On Hiatus | n/a | n/a | 0.3 | 0.6 | Elevated |
| Salem | WGN, Wed 9 PM | 0.1 | -22.2% | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.2 | Cancelled |
| Incorporated | WGN, Wed 10 PM | 0.2 | -5.6% | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.2 | Low |
| Legends of Tomorrow | CW, Thu 8 PM | On Hiatus | n/a | n/a | 0.7 | 0.6 | Low |
| The Good Place | NBC, Thu 8:30 PM | On Hiatus | n/a | n/a | 1.3 | 1.6 | Low |
| Supernatural | CW, Thu 9 PM | On Hiatus | n/a | n/a | 0.7 | 0.6 | Low |
| Falling Water | USA, Thu 10 PM | 0.1 | 0.0% | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.3 | Elevated |
| MacGyver | CBS, Fri 8 PM | 1.0 | 0.0% | 7.7 | 1.1 | 1.4 | Low |
| Vampire Diaries | CW, Fri 8 PM | On Hiatus | n/a | n/a | 0.4 | 0.6 | Final Season |
| The Exorcist | FOX, Fri 9 PM | 0.6 | 0.0% | 1.7 | 0.7 | 1.1 | Elevated |
| Z Nation | Syfy, Fri 9 PM | 0.3 | +38.9% | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.2 | Renewed |
| Van Helsing | Syfy, Fri 10 PM | Season Ended | n/a | n/a | 0.2 | 0.2 | Renewed |
| Star Wars Rebels | DXD, Sat 8:30 PM | On Hiatus | n/a | n/a | 0.1 | 0.1 | Low |
| Dirk Gentlys Holistic Detective Agency | DXD, Sat 9 PM | Season Ended | n/a | n/a | 0.1 | 0.1 | Renewed |
| Once Upon A Time | ABC, Sun 8 PM | On Hiatus | n/a | n/a | 1.1 | 1.3 | Low |
| The Librarians | TNT, Sun 8 PM | 0.5 | +9.1% | 1.9 | 0.5 | 0.5 | Low |
| Ash vs Evil Dead | Starz, Sun 8 PM | Season Ended | n/a | n/a | 0.2 | 0.2 | Renewed |
| Son of Zorn | FOX, Sun 8:30 PM | On Hiatus | n/a | n/a | 1.4 | 1.1 | Low |
| The Walking Dead | AMC, Sun 9 PM | On Hiatus | n/a | n/a | 5.7 | 0.6 | Renewed |
| The Last Man on Earth | FOX, Sun 9:30 PM | On Hiatus | n/a | n/a | 1.0 | 1.1 | Low |
Chart Activity: With The Walking Dead wrapped up for Fall, there were no genre shows in the Weekly Social Net Rating Top 10 last week. MacGyver improved to Number 18 (up from Number 22) in 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 |
| MacGyver | Broadcast Net Top 25 (Total Viewers) | 18 | 22 |
Be sure keep an eye out for the latest numbers and any breaking news throughout the week at the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site and Facebook Page. You can see the status of all the currently airing sci fi / fantasy shows at the Cancellation Watch page and also the latest Cancellation Watch Hit List 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 Bench (Network Benchmark): For the broadcast networks, this is the net’s season to date average rating based on the overnights for the 18-49 demographic for non-sports, non-special, non-repeat broadcasts. For the cable channels, this is the lowest level at which a show is typically renewed by that network if there are enough genre entries on that channel to provide a decent sample.
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
