Syfy’s vampire-pocalypse series Van Helsing is well into its fourth season and it is currently struggling in the ratings with only a 0.09 rating (nine one hundredths of a ratings point) based on same-day viewing for the 18-49 demographic. Of course, that show has never drawn a large audience and has pretty much lived On the Bubble for the past few years. It started out its current year slightly above its numbers from the 2018-19 season, but it slipped notably in November and its season-to-date average is now slightly below last year’s ratings. I have moved the show to Bubble status, but as mentioned above, that is familiar territory for this series.
Since Van Helsing‘s second season, it has been one of the lower-rated shows on Syfy, but it has managed to survive because it comes at a lower cost than more high-profile entries such as The Magicians and The Expanse. But with the numbers taking a notable drop in November, the network might reconsider whether it wants to keep this one on the schedule. Add to that the fact that Syfy appears to be slowly and quietly getting out of the scripted originals business (Van Helsing is the only show on its Fall schedule and Mid-Season looks pretty slim as well). With the numbers as low as they currently are, the network has little incentive to keep the show going, especially since the network does not own it and primarily makes money from the advertising driven by the same-day ratings.
However, the studio that produces Van Helsing almost certainly wants to keep the show going for at least one more season. That will give it the chance to resolves its storylines as opposed to being truncated without a resolution by cancellation (all too familiar to fans of Syfy shows). And while it will not get it close enough to the episode count preferred by the syndication market, that final season makes the series more binge-worthy and presents a better product for licensing to the streaming services. So it is possible that the studio could drop the cost for Syfy to next to nothing in order for them to keep it going one more season.
Syfy could also decide to bring the show back because it has been a network staple for the past four years and they may not be quite ready to let go of their scripted originals (don’t expect it to go more than a fifth season, though, as I previously discussed at this link). At this point, it may be up to the fans to make some noise and convince the network to keep the show alive. A Call to Action on the social networks may be enough to sway network executives, especially if they are currently on the fence.
Syfy was once the go to place on the linear channels for original science fiction programming (more so when they were the Sci Fi Channel), but their presence in that market has notably diminished in the past year or so. Van Helsing may manage to hang around a bit longer, but it will probably take a push from fans for a fifth season to happen. Beyond that, the future of scripted original genre programing on the cable channel surely looks bleak at this point.
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. And 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.
Check back each Saturday for Sci Fi TV Retrospectives: A look back at cancelled, classic, forgotten, and more genre shows from the past.
