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.
Premieres: On Wednesday, Syfy’s space drama The Expanse returned for its second season and pulled a 0.25 rating based on the overnights for the 18-49 demographic with 700K total viewers. Those are decent numbers for that network these days and slightly above the show’s first season average rating, quite an accomplishment when most shows are seeing double-digit year over year losses. This one will also likely see a good lift from delayed viewing (more important to the cable channels than the broadcast nets), and its first two episodes are available for streaming on the Syfy website, so it should have good digital viewing numbers. At this point a third season renewal looks like a good bet, but we will have to see how it tracks over the coming weeks.
Over on The CW, The 100 returned for its fourth season but could only muster a 0.4 rating with 1.2 million total viewers. Those are the lowest numbers that show has seen for a season debut and they are also below its 0.5 average from last year. But as a CW entry, it’s always hard to determine a show’s fate even if it seems to be under-performing for that network. The 100‘s debut numbers will have the show below the Network Benchmark I am tracking with the Scorecard, but this show has lived On the Bubble since its first season. It will be going back to that status this year, and it will have to rely on The CW deciding if it wants to be the Happy Network again to survive into a fifth season.
On Thursday, NBC’s Powerless had its series debut, but that did not pack much of a punch. The show bowed with a 1.1 rating and 3.1 million total viewers, which are acceptable numbers but which don’t give it much leeway for slippage. That score is even with what the recently renewed The Good Place was seeing in the same timeslot this year after it returned from its Winter Hiatus. It is also on par with the other NBC shows that air on Thursday nights. But shows typically drop after their season premiere and Powerless is already close to the lower end that I believe the network execs will consider acceptable. If this show slips below the 1.0 mark in the coming weeks, I will be moving it to Bubble status.
Ratings Results of Interest: On Monday, NBC’s Timeless remained low at a 0.9 rating with 3.5 million total viewers. It only has three more episodes in its current season which is not much time for a season-saving ratings surge. Over on FOX, Gotham pulled a 1.1 rating with 3.5 million total viewers and Lucifer had a 1.2 score with 4.2 million total viewers. Those are acceptable levels for that network, but both of those shows now go on a second hiatus for three months which will do nothing to help their viewership. On Tuesday, Agents of SHIELD remained low at a 0.6 rating with 2.2 million total viewers and it continues to look unlikely that one will survive into a fifth season.
On Wednesday, Syfy’s The Magicians slipped to a 0.37 rating with 940k total viewers for its second Season 2 episode, but those are still stellar numbers for that network and I am expecting to hear a renewal announcement for that show at any time. Over on USA, Colony improved slightly to a 0.27 rating with 820k total viewers and I still believe that one has a decent chance of receiving a third season nod.
Charts: Gotham managed to sneak into the broadcast net Top 25 based on the overnights for the 18-49 demo last week at the Number 25 slot, apparently because competition was light. Lucifer was just a couple of slots behind it at Number 27, thought out of the Top 25.
| Series | Chart | Curr Wk Rank | Prior Wk Rank |
| Gotham | Broadcast Net Top 25 (18-49 Demo) | 25 | n/a |
| Son of Zorn | Broadcast Net Top 25 (18-49 Demo) | n/a | 23 |
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 for more information on where I get these numbers and how I make my Cancellation Alert assessments, check out the Cancelled Sci Fi FAQ.
I don’t think it is surprising that The 100 rat are falling at all. The story has become so bad and they should not have killed Lexa, simple as that. If it got cancelled tomorrow it might actually be putting it out of its misery.
The 100 may be down in numbers for the premier but the quality of the show was as good as ever. It’s amazing to me how many of these series, how ever good, maintain an audience when there is an eight to nine month break between the end of one season and the beginning of the next. I always wonder how many people without timers set the previous year on DVR miss the season premier or first episodes and decide to wait for Netflix.
Be sure to get active on the social networks to let people know about the show and to let them know they can watch past seasons on Netflix. That could definitely help it get a fifth season.
I have to admit, I don’t like the direction the story is going in with The 100 now that they unceremoniously gave Lexa the boot but it in no way deserves cancellation. It is a great quality show with a unique concept, great characters and great acting. But the writers have been the ones to make it suffer because of their scandalous sadistic attitude towards killing certain groupings on the show. If they repaired the damage and maybe didn’t permanently rule out a Lexa return I think ratings would improve greatly. But the reason it is down is because a) The Loo hate club have been campaigning it’s cancellation and sabotaging it after Lexa’s culling and b) people don’t want to see Clarke slap Lexa in the face by getting with Bellamy so that it could become Twilight 2.0. But there are worse shows out there that cheat in getting fans and are absolutely atrocious and shouldn’t be on air (cough, Fear the Walking Dead). At least the 100 is doing it all on its own without any false safety net. I hope Jason the producer listens to the fans for once to save its ratings. He has a bad habit of doing his own thing. Even The Walking Dead producer is so eager to please fans that he would change things for them and he doesn’t have to even worry about ratings just yet but he is on the ball. But definitely don’t understand how that spin off is still limping along, dear me!!
The 100 may be down in numbers for the premier but the quality of the show was as good as ever. It’s amazing to me how many of these series, how ever good, maintain an audience when there is an eight to nine month break between the end of one season and the beginning of the next. I always wonder how many people without timers set the previous year on DVR miss the season premier or first episodes and decide to wait for Netflix.