Cancellation Watch Scorecard: Colony Continues to Fall in the Rankings

USA’s alien invasion series Colony returned low in the rankings last week due to its disappointing Season 3 debut numbers. And for its second episode it slipped further causing that one to drop six slots in this week’s Scorecard, from Number 40 to Number 46. NBC Universal (which owns USA) has its upfront on Thursday and its possible that the network could make an announcement on this show during the presentation (I also expect to hear word on Falling Water as well). Most of the rest of the movement for the week was just incidental and you can see the full rankings below.




The scorecard ranks all of the sci fi and fantasy shows’ ratings performance vs. their network’s ratings benchmark (see definition below).  Shows at or above their benchmark should be okay, whereas those slipping notably below are getting into iffy territory.

Scorecard rankings based on the ratings through May 13th (metric definitions below):

Rank (PW) Series Net Std Avg Net Bench % Var Live+7 Avg Rtg Status
1 (1) The Walking Dead (O) AMC 3.39 0.50 578.0% 5.22 Renewed
2 (3) American Horror Story (O) FX 1.10 0.50 120.7% 2.47 Renewed
3 (2) Fear the Walking Dead (O) AMC 1.08 0.50 115.6% n/a Renewal Likely
4 (4) The Flash (O) CW 0.71 0.38 84.4% 1.61 Renewed
5 (5) Ghosted (O) FOX 1.60 0.98 64.1% n/a On the Bubble
6 (6) Outlander Starz 0.32 0.20 59.6% 0.60 Renewed
7 (7) The Magicians (O) Syfy 0.26 0.17 54.3% 0.57 Renewed
8 (8) Krypton Syfy 0.25 0.17 46.3% 0.77 Renewal Possible
9 (9) Black Lightning (O) CW 0.56 0.38 46.2% 0.97 Renewed
10 (10) Supernatural (O) CW 0.53 0.38 38.2% 0.99 Renewed
11 (11) Supergirl (O) CW 0.53 0.38 36.7% 1.01 Renewed
12 (13) Happy (O) Syfy 0.21 0.17 24.3% 0.55 Renewed
13 (12) Westworld HBO 0.72 0.60 20.0% n/a Renewed
14 (14) Siren Freeform 0.23 0.20 12.9% 0.55 Renewed
15 (15) Riverdale (O) CW 0.43 0.38 12.8% 1.01 Renewed
16 (16) Legends of Tomorrow (O) CW 0.41 0.38 7.0% 0.94 Renewed
17 (18) The Expanse Syfy 0.18 0.17 3.5% n/a Cancelled
18 (19) The Orville (O) FOX 1.00 0.98 2.6% 2.15 Renewed
19 (20) Z Nation Syfy 0.17 0.17 0.5% 0.37 Renewed
20 (21) Arrow (O) CW 0.38 0.38 -1.9% 0.93 Renewed
21 (17) The Originals (O) CW 0.38 0.38 -2.4% n/a Final Season
22 (22) The X-Files (O) FOX 0.95 0.98 -2.6% n/a Final Season
23 (24) The 100 (O) CW 0.37 0.38 -4.6% n/a Renewed
24 (23) The Good Place (O) NBC 1.04 1.10 -5.1% 1.95 Renewed
25 (25) The Gifted (O) FOX 0.85 0.98 -12.8% 2.08 Renewed
26 (26) Into the Badlands (O) AMC 0.40 0.50 -19.5% n/a Renewal Possible
27 (27) Shadowhunters (O) Freeform 0.16 0.20 -20.6% 0.40 On the Bubble
28 (29) Stan Against Evil IFC 0.06 0.08 -21.9% n/a Renewed
29 (30) Lucifer FOX 0.76 0.98 -21.9% 1.37 Cancelled
30 (31) The Last Man on Earth (O) FOX 0.76 0.98 -22.1% n/a Cancelled
31 (28) Final Space (O) TBS 0.23 0.30 -22.7% n/a Renewed
32 (32) MacGyver (O) (F) CBS 0.83 1.08 -22.8% n/a Renewed
33 (33) Van Helsing Syfy 0.13 0.17 -25.8% 0.30 Renewed
34 (34) The Librarians TNT 0.29 0.40 -27.5% 0.60 Cancelled
35 (35) Mr Robot (O) USA 0.22 0.30 -28.0% 0.44 Renewed
36 (36) Gotham FOX 0.69 0.98 -29.2% 1.41 Renewed
37 (38) iZombie (O) CW 0.24 0.38 -37.5% 0.50 Renewed
38 (37) The Crossing (O) ABC 0.68 1.14 -39.9% 1.60 Cancelled
39 (39) Timeless (O) NBC 0.60 1.10 -45.2% 1.23 On the Bubble
40 (42) The Inhumans (O) (F) ABC 0.59 1.14 -48.5% 1.13 Cancelled
40 (43) Kevin Probably Saves the World (O) ABC 0.59 1.14 -48.5% 0.97 Cancelled
42 (41) Superstition Syfy 0.09 0.17 -48.5% n/a Cancellation Likely
43 (44) Channel Zero (O) Syfy 0.09 0.17 -49.0% n/a Renewed
44 (45) Ghost Wars Syfy 0.09 0.17 -49.8% n/a Cancelled
45 (46) Counterpart Starz 0.09 0.20 -53.0% n/a Renewed
46 (40) Colony (O) USA 0.14 0.30 -53.3% n/a On the Bubble
47 (47) Agents of SHIELD (O) (F) ABC 0.53 1.14 -53.9% 1.23 Renewed
48 (48) The Shannara Chronicles (O) Spike 0.09 0.20 -54.3% 0.30 Cancelled
49 (49) Beyond Freeform 0.09 0.20 -56.7% n/a Cancelled
50 (51) The Exorcist (O) (F) FOX 0.42 0.98 -56.9% 0.60 Cancelled
51 (50) Legion (O) FX 0.20 0.50 -59.7% 0.70 On the Bubble
52 (52) Once Upon A Time (O) (F) ABC 0.45 1.14 -60.1% 1.02 Cancelled
53 (53) Ash vs Evil Dead Starz 0.08 0.20 -62.5% n/a Cancelled
54 (54) Dirk Gentlys Holistic Detective Agency BBCA 0.07 0.30 -76.7% n/a Cancelled

Metric Definitions:

Rank (PW): Current rank based on the variance of a show’s season to date ratings average vs. its network’s benchmark (see definition below).  The number in parenthesis is the prior week’s rank.  Note that shows on the streaming services are not included because of insufficient viewership data and foreign imports like Doctor Who will not be included because they rely more heavily on their viewership in their home countries.

Series: (O) indicates the show is owned or co-owned by the network and/or a sister studio. (F) indicates the show airs on Friday when ratings expectations are lower on the broadcast networks.

StD Avg:  The show’s season to date ratings average based on the overnights for the 18-49 demographic.

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.  But note that with cable entries intangibles such as international and/or streaming partnerships can play an important factor in a shows survival and that is not measured here.

% Var:  The percent variance between a show’s season to date average and the network benchmark as defined above.  The higher the variance, the better a show is performing vs. the benchmark.

Live+7 Avg Rtg:  The show’s season to date ratings average based on delayed viewing up to three days past the live broadcast.  This data is not available for all shows.

Status: My assessment of the likelihood that a show will get renewed or cancelled. The statuses are Renewal Likely, Renewal Possible, On the Bubble, Cancellation Likely (plus Renewed and Cancelled/Ended)

Ratings Source: ShowBuzzDaily and TV by the Numbers

Author: johnnyjay

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