Cancellation Watch: The Expanse Has Decent Season 2 Bow, The 100 is Down, Powerless Doesn’t Have Much Power

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.

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.