With most of the sci fi and fantasy shows going on their Winter breaks or having wrapped up their current season, this will act as the final set of rankings for Fall 2019. The few shows that do still have episodes that will be tracked by the Nielsens should not move much from where they are now, and any shifts will be picked up when the Scorecard resumes in January. The CW’s Nancy Drew did slip one slot this week to Number 17 as it ratings have been on the low side of late. And ABC’s Emergence slipped one slot to Number 14, mostly on the strength of other ABC shows out-performing it. Apart from that, the other shows held steady in the final set of rankings. The Scorecard will return on the second week of January.
You can find the full ratings coverage from this past week and the status of all the currently airing shows 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 December 15th:
| Rank (PW) | Series | Net | Std Avg | Net Bench | % Var | Status |
| 1 (1) | The Walking Dead (O) | AMC | 1.16 | 0.40 | 189.4% | Renewed |
| 2 (2) | American Horror Story (O) | FX | 0.61 | 0.30 | 103.7% | Renewed |
| 3 (3) | The Flash (O) | CW | 0.50 | 0.26 | 89.8% | Renewal Likely |
| 4 (4) | Batwoman (O) | CW | 0.36 | 0.26 | 35.0% | Renewal Possible |
| 5 (5) | Primal | ADSW | 0.30 | 0.25 | 20.8% | Renewal Possible |
| 6 (6) | Supernatural (O) | CW | 0.30 | 0.26 | 13.9% | Final Season |
| 7 (7) | Supergirl (O) | CW | 0.29 | 0.26 | 9.7% | Renewal Possible |
| 8 (8) | Legacies (O) | CW | 0.28 | 0.26 | 4.4% | Renewal Possible |
| 9 (9) | Arrow (O) | CW | 0.27 | 0.26 | 3.1% | Final Season |
| 10 (10) | Riverdale (O) | CW | 0.24 | 0.26 | -7.2% | Renewal Likely |
| 11 (11) | Black Lightning (O) | CW | 0.23 | 0.26 | -14.6% | Renewal Possible |
| 12 (12) | Watchmen (O) | HBO | 0.23 | 0.30 | -22.4% | Renewal Possible |
| 13 (14) | Evil (O) | CBS | 0.55 | 0.74 | -25.3% | Renewed |
| 14 (13) | Emergence (O) | ABC | 0.53 | 0.72 | -26.0% | On the Bubble |
| 15 (15) | Charmed (O) (F) | CW | 0.19 | 0.26 | -28.8% | Renewal Possible |
| 16 (17) | The Good Place (O) | NBC | 0.61 | 0.90 | -32.1% | Final Season |
| 17 (16) | Nancy Drew (O) | CW | 0.18 | 0.26 | -32.5% | Renewal Possible |
| 18 (18) | Van Helsing (F) | Syfy | 0.08 | 0.15 | -45.0% | On the Bubble |
| 19 (19) | Mr Robot (O) | USA | 0.11 | 0.25 | -55.6% | Final Season |
| 20 (20) | His Dark Materials | HBO | 0.09 | 0.30 | -68.9% | Renewed |
| 21 (21) | Star Wars Resistance (O) | Disney | 0.03 | 0.10 | -73.3% | Final Season |
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
