Sci Fi TV Update: Status updates, news, and developments on sci fi and fantasy television. For breaking news, be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site
Ratings Results of Interest:
NBC’s new sci fi entry La Brea saw its numbers slip for its second episode, but not to levels that should raise many concerns. It pulled a 0.64 rating based on same-day viewing for the 18-49 demographic on Tuesday with 5 million total viewers. That was a seventeen percent drop from its premiere, but it still held on to a significant portion of its lead-in audience from The Voice and it was the top-rated scripted show for the night for a second week in a row. The downward trend could continue for a few more weeks which is typical of any Prime Time show after its premiere. But as long as it does not slip too much further, the show should be okay. The supernatural sitcom Ghosts had its premiere last night on CBS, but those numbers will not be available until later today. I will cover that in the next Sci Fi TV Update post.
Digital Ratings:
The Nielsen Streaming Top 10 for the week of September 6th through 12th has not been posted as of this morning. It is possible that those are delayed because Nielsen is making some changes to its measurements, and it may be a few weeks before they start posting stats again. If the numbers for that week do get released, I will include those in the next Sci Fi TV Update post.
Renewal Announcement:
Coming as no surprise, Apple TV+ has officially given a second season renewal to its science fiction series Foundation. Allegedly the series had been renewed in advance to keep the expensive production on schedule, but there had not been an official announcement. Apple TV+ has typically given advance renewal notices for its originals, but since Foundation is so costly, perhaps they wanted to see what the early audience numbers looked like before giving the official go-ahead for the second season. Showrunner David S. Goyer has stated that they are playing the “long game” with the series and has indicated he has eight seasons planned to unfold the story based on the classic Isaac Asimov trilogy. That may be rather ambitious for a production on the streaming services seeing as they typically cap off around the three to four year mark, but we have yet to see the cut-off point for Apple TV+ originals since the service has only been around for a few years.
Sci Fi TV Development:
An adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” and other stories is in the works at Netflix. This comes from the creator of The Haunting of Hill House Mike Flanagan. The Wrap gives the following description for the project:
The eight-episode limited series will be based on multiple Gothic fiction works of Poe’s, including the titular 1840 short story, which follows an unnamed narrator who goes to visit his ill friend, Roderick Usher, at his estate, the House of Usher.
The series is not related to Flanagan’s The Haunting shows which also includes The Haunting of Bly Manor. The new series will likely join Netflix’s lineup of originals at some point in 2022.
Sci Fi TV News of Note:
A spin-off from Disney+’s WandaVision is in the works which will focus on Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha Harkness. This show is in the early stages of development and Jac Schaeffer–executive producer and head writer for WandaVision–is pegged for the writing duties. There are no further details on the direction the show will follow at this point . . . Kiernan Shipka will be returning to the role of Sabrina Spellman in the upcoming sixth season of Riverdale. The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina was cancelled by Netflix after four seasons, but it was originally intended as a spin-off of Riverdale and shares much of the same creative team as The CW show including showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. A crossover between the two shows had been considered previously and now will go forward when the Archie series returns in November . . . Titan Publishing’s upcoming Star Trek Explorer magazine–which is a rebranding of The Official Star Trek Magazine—will contain all-new Trek short stories in each issue. The first set of stories will focus on Q who was played by John de Lancie across several Trek shows. The first issue will be available November 2nd. Be sure to follow r/SciFiTV for news, schedule updates, trailers, discussions, and more.
Sci Fi TV Schedule:
The release date for the third and final season of Netflix’s Lost in Space has been announced as December 1st. A teaser for that dropped this week. This coming week will bring quite a number of premieres with several of The CW shows kicking off their Fall seasons. On Wednesday, Legends of Tomorrow returns for its seventh season in a new timeslot at 8 PM EST. Following that is the third season premiere for Batwoman, also in a new timelost at 9 PM EST. On Thusday, the fourth season of Legacies will have its premiere on The CW at 9 PM EST. On Wednesday on Syfy, the Chucky TV series will have its debut at 10 PM EST. And on Friday, Syfy’s new zombie-pocalypse series The Day of the Dead–based on the George A. Romero film–debuts at 10 PM EST. Then on Sunday, AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead returns for its seventh season. You can keep up with the Weekly Listings at this link and you can see the full Fall schedule of sci fi and fantasy shows at this link.
Follow our Sci Fi TV Update posts each week for the status of the current sci fi and fantasy shows, the latest news, schedule info, and more.
Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and keep up with what is airing/streaming each week with our Weekly Listings.
