Series Premieres: #TheMist And #Preacher Look Okay For Now
Last Thursday, Spike’s new series The Mist, based on the Stephen King book of the same name, debuted with a 0.19 rating based on the overnights for the 18-49 demographic and 684K total viewers. Those numbers seem a little light considering the amount of promotion the show received, but it is hard to gauge because that network has no other scripted programming at the moment to measure the results against. That rating is about in line with Spike’s current reality shows, but then scripted entries are typically more expensive to produce.
I don’t consider The Mist to be in trouble at the moment because it is leading the charge for the network’s new direction as it preps for its name change to Paramount TV. I’m thinking they will give this show some leeway, especially since King’s name is attached and because it received some decent buzz leading up to its debut. Should the numbers slip, though, I’m not certain how charitable the network will be (or can afford to be). We will have to see how this one tracks over the coming weeks, and it could definitely use some love from fans on the social networks to help its cause.
Over on AMC on Sunday, Preacher returned for its second season and posted a 0.58 rating with 1.7 million total viewers. That is down from the 0.62 it averaged in its first year, but it’s still decent for a cable series these days. It shifts to the Monday 9 PM EST timeslot starting this week and its numbers in that hour will be more telling. I’m thinking that if it can hold around the 0.52 average that Into the Badlands had this year without a lead-in from The Walking Dead, then Preacher should be okay for a third season nod. But I will need to see the Monday numbers to feel more confident about that. (Check back on Friday when I report on those in my This Week In Sci-Fi TV column.)
Ratings Results Of Interest: #WynonnaEarp Slips, #FearTheWalkingDead Improves
On Friday, Syfy’s supernatural western Wynonna Earp slipped a bit to a 0.12 rating based on the overnights for the 18-49 demographic with 496K total viewers. That’s still better than its Season 2 debut numbers though not as good as where is was the prior week, and it could definitely use a push on the social nets from its loyal fanbase to keep it from succumbing to the Peak TV crunch. Dark Matter slipped one tick to a 0.16 rating with 607K total viewers, but I believe that one is okay for now. Over on The CW, The Originalsheld at a 0.3 rating with 798K tot viewers for its season finale. That one has already been renewed for a fifth season.
On Sunday, AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead improved just slightly to a 0.96 rating with 2.5 million total viewers. That staves off #TheWalkingDexit for one week, but we will have to see if it can hold there or improve. That one has already been renewed for a fourth season, though. On Showtime, #TwinPeaks held steady at a 0.11 rating with 246K total viewers, but those numbers are surely not enough to convince the premium cable channel to extend the “limited run” of this revival show.
I covered last week’s Monday through Wednesday shows in Friday’s This Week in Sci-Fi TV column, and be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for the latest ratings results and updates.
Scorecard: ‘Preacher’ And ‘The Mist’ Have Middling Starts
Preacher starts off at Number 20 in the Cancellation Watch Scorecard, though expect it to slip with the show moving to Mondays and losing its lead-in from Fear the Walking Dead. As for The Mist, since I don’t have good comparative ratings data for Spike, I am wagging out a network benchmark of 0.20 for that cabler. That puts The Mist as slightly under-performing which feels about right at this point. But that is really just best guess so take that and the Number 22 start on the Scorecard with a grain of rock salt. Syfy’s Blood Drive slipped a bit in the rankings due to its ratings drop last week, but its still looks okay for now.
Most of the rest of the movement on the Scorecard for the week was incidental and you can see the full rankings here.
Ratings Delays Next Week
When there is a holiday, Nielsen usually experiences delays of a day or two to catch up with ratings results. Since next week’s July the 4th holiday comes on Tuesday, expect the Saturday and Sunday ratings (which are usually out on Tuesday mornings) to be available on Wednesday (or possibly Thursday). I will be on vacation myself, so the Sci-Fi TV Status Report column will come out on Thursday. But I will post ratings results as they come available at the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site.
Be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci-Fi TV Twitter for daily ratings results as well as breaking news and updates.
