The CW’s Black Lightning started out its fourth season with decent ratings for that network, but they have been slipping since then. That has caused it to slip two rungs in the latest Scorecard to the Number 7 slot and it will likely slip further next week. That show is currently in its final season. Another CW show has seen its numbers slip as viewership for Charmed has been on the decline this season as well. It slipped one place to the Number 14 slot, but it has already been renewed for a fourth season. TNT’s Snowpiercer looks like it slipped one spot in the rankings (to Number 9), but that was actually because it was leapfrogged by CBS’ MacGyver as that show’s numbers have been on the upswing lately. The rest of the movement in the Scorecard was mostly incidental and you can see the full ratings results from the week at this link.
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 February 21st:
| Rank (PW) | Series | Net | Std Avg | Net Bench | % Var | Status |
| 1 (1) | Supernatural (O) | CW | 0.30 | 0.15 | 103.6% | Final Season |
| 2 (2) | Resident Alien (O) | Syfy | 0.19 | 0.15 | 26.7% | Upcoming |
| 3 (3) | Fear the Walking Dead (O) | AMC | 0.35 | 0.30 | 18.1% | Renewed |
| 4 (4) | Legacies (O) | CW | 0.15 | 0.15 | 3.2% | Renewed |
| 5 (7) | Riverdale (O) | CW | 0.14 | 0.15 | -3.6% | Renewed |
| 6 (6) | Batwoman (O) | CW | 0.14 | 0.15 | -3.6% | Renewed |
| 7 (5) | Black Lightning (O) | CW | 0.14 | 0.15 | -5.0% | Final Season |
| 8 (9) | MacGyver (O) (F) | CBS | 0.53 | 0.59 | -10.0% | Renewal Possible |
| 9 (8) | Snowpiercer | TNT | 0.27 | 0.30 | -10.8% | Renewed |
| 10 (10) | The Walking Dead World Beyond (O) | AMC | 0.25 | 0.30 | -16.7% | Renewed |
| 11 (11) | Swamp Thing (O) | CW | 0.12 | 0.15 | -18.6% | Cancelled |
| 12 (12) | Primal | ADSW | 0.19 | 0.25 | -24.0% | Renewed |
| 13 (14) | Two Sentence Horror Stories | CW | 0.09 | 0.15 | -40.0% | Renewed |
| 14 (13) | Charmed (O) | CW | 0.09 | 0.15 | -40.6% | Renewed |
| 15 (15) | Nancy Drew (O) | CW | 0.08 | 0.15 | -43.0% | Renewed |
| 16 (16) | The Outpost | CW | 0.08 | 0.15 | -44.1% | Renewal Possible |
| 17 (17) | Trickster | CW | 0.08 | 0.15 | -49.1% | Cancelled |
| 18 (18) | Pandora | CW | 0.07 | 0.15 | -52.5% | Renewal Possible |
| 19 (19) | NeXt | FOX | 0.25 | 0.67 | -63.1% | Cancelled |
| 20 (20) | Star Trek Discovery (O) | CBS | 0.21 | 0.59 | -64.4% | Renewed |
| 21 (21) | American Gods (O) | Starz | 0.04 | 0.15 | -73.3% | On the Bubble |
| 22 (22) | His Dark Materials | HBO | 0.05 | 0.30 | -82.4% | Renewed |
| 23 (23) | The Watch | BBCA | 0.03 | 0.25 | -86.3% | Renewal Possible |
| 24 (24) | 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
