MacGyver enters the Scorecard at the Number 4 slot after posting several solid ratings performance for CBS following its late-Fall start. That show has averaged a 0.5 rating across three airings so far which are decent numbers for a Friday series in the current viewership-challenged season. If it continues with similar numbers going into the second half of the season, it should be on track for a sixth-year renewal. The CW’s The Outpost slipped a bit to the Number 7 slot as the move to Sunday nights did little to help its viewership. That show has received an order of thirteen additional episodes for its third season and those will likely air in Summer. The rest of the movement among shows in the latest rankings was mostly incidental.
This will be the final Scorecard for the Fall season, and I will resume these posts in late-January or early-February, once there is enough ratings data from the Mid-Season shows. Since a lot more sci fi and fantasy shows will be hitting the schedule at that time, this post will go back to weekly frequency.
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 20th:
| Rank (PW) | Series | Net | Std Avg | Net Bench | % Var | Status |
| 1 (1) | Supernatural (O) | CW | 0.30 | 0.13 | 131.8% | Final Season |
| 2 (2) | Fear the Walking Dead (O) | AMC | 0.35 | 0.30 | 18.1% | Renewed |
| 3 (3) | Swamp Thing (O) | CW | 0.12 | 0.13 | -5.6% | Cancelled |
| 4 (n/a) | MacGyver (O) (F) | CBS | 0.50 | 0.57 | -11.9% | Renewed |
| 5 (4) | The Walking Dead World Beyond (O) | AMC | 0.25 | 0.30 | -16.7% | Renewed |
| 6 (6) | Primal | ADSW | 0.19 | 0.25 | -24.0% | Renewed |
| 7 (5) | The Outpost | CW | 0.09 | 0.13 | -31.2% | Renewed |
| 8 (7) | Pandora | CW | 0.07 | 0.13 | -45.9% | Renewal Possible |
| 9 (8) | Star Trek Discovery (O) | CBS | 0.23 | 0.57 | -59.5% | Renewed |
| 10 (9) | NeXt | FOX | 0.26 | 0.69 | -62.8% | Cancelled |
| 11 (10) | His Dark Materials | HBO | 0.06 | 0.30 | -81.3% | Renewal Possible |
| 12 (11) | Moonbase 8 | Show | 0.01 | 0.20 | -95.6% | On the Bubble |
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
