The 2018-19 regular season has wrapped up and this will serve as the final Scorecard for the shows that aired from Fall through Spring. For the first time since The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones have aired together in the same season we have a new series on the throne with GoT taking the top spot this year. TWD is one slot behind at Number 2, but the continued Walking Dexit led to enough viewer attrition to knock it from the top of the rankings. FX’s American Horror Story is at the Number 3 slot with The CW’s The Flash at Number 4. At Number 5 is USA’s new series The Purge which performed well last Fall in its inaugural season. The rest of the Top 10 consists of CW shows and NBC’s freshman entry Manifest which finished up at Number 7.
As far as how accurate the Scorecard was at predicting whether a show would be cancelled or renewed this past season, it did a pretty good job especially considering the fact that it is becoming increasingly more difficult to gauge the fate of a show based on ratings data. All of the shows in the Top 15 were renewed except one. The one that was cancelled, FOX’s The Passage, likely fell to the house-cleaning that followed the Disney buyout of FOX entertainment properties and I believe that show would have had a shot at a second season if it had been business-as-usual for the network. The next highest show to get cancelled was Syfy’s Z Nation (at the Number 27 slot) which did see a notable drop in its ratings from last year, but I believe the cancellation had more to do with Syfy breaking from The Asylum (the studio that produced Z Nation and the Sharknado films).
In the bottom third of the rankings, most shows were cancelled, in their final season, or are currently On the Bubble. Among the three renewals in the bottom third, FX’s What We Do in the Shadows was in its first season and scored well in delayed viewing, Starz’s American Gods will likely end with its third season, and Syfy’s Van Helsing was a surprise renewal but could also be heading into its final season.
So overall, the higher a show ranks on the Scorecard, the more likely it is to get renewed. And the lower ranking shows are more likely to get cancelled unless there are other factors beyond the ratings dictating there fates. The Scorecard will continue through the Summer because there are plenty more shows on the way over the next three months, so be sure to keep an eye on the rankings to see where your show stands.
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 May 19th:
| Rank (PW) | Series | Net | Std Avg | Net Bench | % Var | Status |
| 1 (1) | Game of Thrones (O) | HBO | 5.17 | 0.50 | 933.7% | Final Season |
| 2 (2) | The Walking Dead (O) | AMC | 1.88 | 0.50 | 276.1% | Renewed |
| 3 (3) | American Horror Story (O) | FX | 0.96 | 0.30 | 219.7% | Renewed |
| 4 (4) | The Flash (O) | CW | 0.62 | 0.31 | 102.6% | Renewed |
| 5 (5) | The Purge (O) | USA | 0.41 | 0.30 | 36.0% | Renewed |
| 6 (6) | Supernatural (O) | CW | 0.40 | 0.31 | 30.9% | Renewed |
| 7 (7) | Manifest (O) | NBC | 1.25 | 1.04 | 20.3% | Renewed |
| 8 (8) | Supergirl (O) | CW | 0.35 | 0.31 | 16.0% | Renewed |
| 9 (9) | Riverdale (O) | CW | 0.35 | 0.31 | 14.5% | Renewed |
| 10 (10) | Arrow (O) | CW | 0.34 | 0.31 | 11.6% | Renewed |
| 11 (11) | The Magicians (O) | Syfy | 0.19 | 0.17 | 10.9% | Renewed |
| 12 (12) | Black Lightning (O) | CW | 0.30 | 0.31 | -1.8% | Renewed |
| 12 (13) | The 100 (O) | CW | 0.30 | 0.31 | -1.8% | Renewed |
| 14 (14) | Legacies (O) | CW | 0.30 | 0.31 | -1.8% | Renewed |
| 15 (15) | The Passage (O) | FOX | 0.92 | 0.94 | -2.6% | Cancelled |
| 16 (16) | Legends of Tomorrow (O) | CW | 0.29 | 0.31 | -4.0% | Renewed |
| 17 (17) | God Friended Me (O) | CBS | 0.89 | 0.93 | -5.3% | Renewed |
| 18 (18) | Roswell New Mexico (O) | CW | 0.27 | 0.31 | -11.9% | Renewed |
| 19 (19) | Deadly Class (O) | Syfy | 0.15 | 0.17 | -12.9% | Renewal Possible |
| 20 (20) | Siren (O) | Freeform | 0.17 | 0.20 | -13.1% | Renewed |
| 21 (21) | Project Blue Book (O) | History | 0.31 | 0.36 | -13.6% | Renewed |
| 22 (23) | Outlander (O) | Starz | 0.17 | 0.20 | -15.0% | Renewed |
| 23 (22) | Charmed (O) | CW | 0.26 | 0.31 | -15.2% | Renewed |
| 24 (24) | The Good Place (O) | NBC | 0.83 | 1.04 | -20.6% | Renewed |
| 25 (26) | The Orville (O) | FOX | 0.74 | 0.94 | -21.8% | Renewed |
| 26 (25) | Star Wars Resistance (O) | Disney | 0.08 | 0.10 | -22.0% | Renewed |
| 27 (27) | Z Nation (F) | Syfy | 0.13 | 0.17 | -23.5% | Cancelled |
| 28 (28) | MacGyver (O) (F) | CBS | 0.70 | 0.93 | -25.6% | Renewed |
| 29 (29) | Gotham (O) | FOX | 0.63 | 0.94 | -33.6% | Final Season |
| 30 (30) | iZombie (O) | CW | 0.20 | 0.31 | -34.5% | Final Season |
| 31 (31) | The Gifted (O) | FOX | 0.61 | 0.94 | -35.6% | Cancelled |
| 32 (32) | Nightflyers | Syfy | 0.11 | 0.17 | -36.9% | Cancelled |
| 33 (34) | What We Do in the Shadows (O) | FX | 0.18 | 0.30 | -39.6% | Renewed |
| 34 (33) | Cloak and Dagger (O) | Freeform | 0.12 | 0.20 | -40.0% | On the Bubble |
| 35 (35) | Happy (O) | Syfy | 0.09 | 0.17 | -44.9% | On the Bubble |
| 36 (36) | Van Helsing (F) | Syfy | 0.09 | 0.17 | -45.7% | Renewed |
| 37 (37) | Stan Against Evil | IFC | 0.04 | 0.08 | -46.9% | Cancelled |
| 38 (38) | American Gods (O) | Starz | 0.10 | 0.20 | -50.6% | Renewed |
| 39 (39) | Channel Zero (O) | Syfy | 0.07 | 0.17 | -57.8% | Cancelled |
| 40 (40) | Midnight Texas (O) (F) | NBC | 0.41 | 1.04 | -60.4% | Cancelled |
| 41 (41) | Into the Badlands (O) | AMC | 0.19 | 0.50 | -61.8% | Cancelled |
| 42 (42) | Mars | NGC | 0.06 | 0.16 | -65.6% | On the Bubble |
| 43 (43) | 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
More Season Roundup Coverage:
List of all the Cancellations and Renewals from the 2018-19 Season
Syfy Appears to Be Fading as a Network, Will It Become a Peak TV Casualty?
Scoring This Season’s Predictions for Shows Like The Orville, The Gifted, Z Nation, and More
A Look at How This Year’s Sci Fi and Fantasy Shows Did on the Linear Networks and Streaming Channels
First Look at neXt, Batwoman, Evil, and More of the Upcoming Season’s New Shows (with Trailers)
First Look at the Fall 2019 Slate of Sci Fi and Fantasy Shows
Roundup of the Renewals, Cancellations, Pickups, and Schedule Announcements from the Upfronts
More from CancelledSciFi.com:
Keep up with the ratings developments and the status of all the currently airing sci fi and fantasy shows with our Weekly Roundup posts. Join the #CancelledSciFiArmy on Twitter to bolster our ranks and help us fight for the struggling and cancelled sci fi and fantasy shows.
Check out our Sci Fi TV Schedule for debut and season finale dates and follow our Weekly Listings for a rundown of the shows airing in the current week.
A look back at forgotten magic and hidden treasures from the worlds of sci fi and fantasy TV with Sci Fi TV Genre Gems.
