HBO’s Westworld returned for its third season this past Sunday with its same-day ratings down by over fifty percent from its prior season, but the bar has dropped notably over the past year-and-half since the show last aired, and it is still performing relatively well for its network. The show is currently only slightly below its network benchmark (see definition below) which has it entering the Scorecard at the Number 8 slot. Plus, the same-day numbers are not as important to the premium cable channels because they do not answer to sponsors, so consider the show to be safe for now. Slipping in the rankings this week is AMC’s new anthology series Dispatches from Elsewhere. That show’s same-day numbers have dropped notably since its debut causing it to slip four slots to the Number 25 position. The rest of the movement among shows was mostly incidental and 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 March 15th:
| Rank (PW) | Series | Net | Std Avg | Net Bench | % Var | Status |
| 1 (1) | The Walking Dead (O) | AMC | 1.13 | 0.30 | 277.5% | Renewed |
| 2 (2) | American Horror Story (O) | FX | 0.61 | 0.30 | 103.7% | Renewed |
| 3 (3) | The Flash (O) | CW | 0.46 | 0.26 | 73.6% | Renewed |
| 4 (4) | Primal | ADSW | 0.30 | 0.25 | 20.8% | Renewal Possible |
| 5 (6) | Supernatural (O) | CW | 0.29 | 0.26 | 10.5% | Final Season |
| 6 (7) | Arrow (O) | CW | 0.29 | 0.26 | 10.1% | Final Season |
| 7 (5) | Batwoman (O) | CW | 0.29 | 0.26 | 8.8% | Renewed |
| 8 (n/a) | Westworld (O) | HBO | 0.29 | 0.30 | -3.3% | Renewed |
| 9 (8) | Supergirl (O) | CW | 0.25 | 0.26 | -3.8% | Renewed |
| 10 (9) | Legacies (O) | CW | 0.25 | 0.26 | -5.1% | Renewed |
| 11 (10) | MacGyver (O) (F) | CBS | 0.63 | 0.74 | -14.0% | Renewal Possible |
| 12 (11) | Riverdale (O) | CW | 0.23 | 0.26 | -14.6% | Renewed |
| 13 (12) | Watchmen (O) | HBO | 0.25 | 0.30 | -17.0% | Renewal Possible |
| 14 (13) | Black Lightning (O) | CW | 0.21 | 0.26 | -19.0% | Renewed |
| 15 (14) | Outlander (O) | Starz | 0.12 | 0.15 | -22.7% | Renewed |
| 16 (16) | The Magicians (O) | Syfy | 0.11 | 0.15 | -24.4% | Cancelled |
| 17 (15) | Manifest (O) | NBC | 0.68 | 0.90 | -24.7% | Renewal Possible |
| 18 (17) | Evil (O) | CBS | 0.52 | 0.74 | -29.0% | Renewed |
| 19 (18) | Charmed (O) (F) | CW | 0.19 | 0.26 | -29.5% | Renewed |
| 20 (19) | Emergence (O) | ABC | 0.48 | 0.72 | -32.4% | Cancellation Likely |
| 21 (20) | The Good Place (O) | NBC | 0.61 | 0.90 | -32.5% | Final Season |
| 22 (23) | Van Helsing (F) | Syfy | 0.08 | 0.15 | -45.1% | Renewed |
| 23 (22) | Nancy Drew (O) | CW | 0.14 | 0.26 | -45.4% | Renewed |
| 24 (24) | Mr Robot (O) | USA | 0.12 | 0.25 | -53.8% | Final Season |
| 25 (21) | Dispatches from Elsewhere (O) | AMC | 0.13 | 0.30 | -56.7% | Renewal Possible |
| 26 (25) | Avenue 5 | HBO | 0.11 | 0.30 | -63.3% | Renewed |
| 27 (26) | His Dark Materials | HBO | 0.10 | 0.30 | -67.5% | Renewed |
| 28 (27) | Star Wars Resistance (O) | Disney | 0.02 | 0.10 | -76.5% | 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
