Starz’s American Gods returned for its second season this past Sunday and saw its ratings drop off notably after a two year absence. That causes it to enter the Scorecard at the Number 22 slot which is much lower than where it typically ranked in its first year. It is only one slot below already renewed Outlander (which airs on the same network), though, so I don’t consider it to be in trouble just yet. Syfy’s Deadly Class continues to slip as it dropped four slots from Number 13 to Number 17. The CW’s Legends of Tomorrow looks like it improved despite not airing new episodes, but that is partially the result of shows moving below it and also the network’s average skewing down which actually helps LoT. Most of the rest of the movement for the week was just incidental and you can find the full ratings coverage from this past week in our latest Weekly Roundup post.
The scorecard ranks all of the sci fi and fantasy shows’ ratings performance vs. their network’s ratings benchmark (see metric definitions 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 March 10th:
| Rank (PW) | Series | Net | Std Avg | Net Bench | % Var | Status |
| 1 (1) | The Walking Dead (O) | AMC | 1.93 | 0.50 | 286.0% | Renewed |
| 2 (2) | The Flash (O) | CW | 0.66 | 0.34 | 94.8% | Renewed |
| 3 (3) | American Horror Story (O) | FX | 0.96 | 0.50 | 91.8% | Renewed |
| 4 (4) | The Purge (O) | USA | 0.41 | 0.30 | 36.0% | Renewed |
| 5 (5) | Supernatural (O) | CW | 0.42 | 0.34 | 23.6% | Renewed |
| 6 (6) | Arrow (O) | CW | 0.40 | 0.34 | 17.3% | Renewed |
| 7 (7) | Riverdale (O) | CW | 0.40 | 0.34 | 17.3% | Renewed |
| 8 (9) | Supergirl (O) | CW | 0.39 | 0.34 | 13.1% | Renewed |
| 9 (8) | The Magicians (O) | Syfy | 0.19 | 0.17 | 12.6% | Renewed |
| 10 (10) | Manifest (O) | NBC | 1.25 | 1.16 | 7.6% | Renewal Possible |
| 11 (14) | Roswell New Mexico (O) | CW | 0.31 | 0.34 | -7.9% | Renewal Possible |
| 12 (12) | Black Lightning (O) | CW | 0.31 | 0.34 | -7.9% | Renewed |
| 13 (11) | God Friended Me (O) | CBS | 0.89 | 0.97 | -8.2% | Renewed |
| 14 (17) | Legends of Tomorrow (O) | CW | 0.31 | 0.34 | -8.4% | Renewed |
| 15 (16) | The Passage (O) | FOX | 0.94 | 1.04 | -9.4% | Renewal Possible |
| 16 (15) | Legacies (O) | CW | 0.31 | 0.34 | -9.8% | Renewed |
| 17 (13) | Deadly Class (O) | Syfy | 0.15 | 0.17 | -10.3% | Renewal Possible |
| 18 (18) | Project Blue Book (O) | History | 0.31 | 0.36 | -13.0% | Renewed |
| 19 (19) | Siren (O) | Freeform | 0.17 | 0.20 | -13.6% | Renewal Possible |
| 20 (20) | Charmed (O) | CW | 0.29 | 0.34 | -14.1% | Renewed |
| 21 (21) | Outlander (O) | Starz | 0.17 | 0.20 | -15.0% | Renewed |
| 22 (n/a) | American Gods (O) | Starz | 0.16 | 0.20 | -20.0% | Renewal Possible |
| 23 (22) | Star Wars Resistance (O) | Disney | 0.08 | 0.10 | -22.1% | Renewed |
| 24 (23) | Z Nation (F) | Syfy | 0.13 | 0.17 | -23.5% | Cancelled |
| 25 (24) | The Orville (O) | FOX | 0.78 | 1.04 | -24.6% | Renewal Possible |
| 26 (25) | MacGyver (O) (F) | CBS | 0.73 | 0.97 | -25.5% | Renewal Possible |
| 27 (26) | The Good Place (O) | NBC | 0.83 | 1.16 | -29.0% | Renewed |
| 28 (27) | Nightflyers | Syfy | 0.11 | 0.17 | -36.9% | Cancelled |
| 29 (28) | Gotham (O) | FOX | 0.64 | 1.04 | -37.7% | Final Season |
| 30 (29) | The Gifted (O) | FOX | 0.61 | 1.04 | -41.4% | Cancellation Likely |
| 31 (30) | Van Helsing (F) | Syfy | 0.09 | 0.17 | -45.7% | Renewed |
| 32 (31) | Stan Against Evil | IFC | 0.04 | 0.08 | -46.9% | Cancelled |
| 33 (32) | Channel Zero (O) | Syfy | 0.07 | 0.17 | -57.8% | Cancelled |
| 34 (33) | Midnight Texas (O) (F) | NBC | 0.41 | 1.16 | -64.6% | Cancelled |
| 35 (34) | Mars | NGC | 0.06 | 0.16 | -65.6% | Renewal Possible |
| 36 (35) | Counterpart | Starz | 0.05 | 0.20 | -75.5% | 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 show’s 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.
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
