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
Rating Results of Interest:
The Flash returned for its eighth season on The CW on Tuesday and pulled a 0.23 rating based on same-day viewing for the 18-49 demographic with 754K total viewers. That was up from the show’s season average last year and that is one of the best ratings that an Arrow-verse show has seen in a while. Leading out from that, Riverdale returned for its sixth season and posted a 0.11 rating with 334K total viewers. That is right in line with its fifth season average. Over on NBC on Tuesday, La Brea improved slightly to a 0.60 rating with 4.7 million total viewers. It has been renewed for a second season. Syfy’s Chucky posted a 0.24 rating with 655K total viewers including its simulcast on USA. That is currently one of the most “In Demand” new TV shows according to Parrot Analytics and has a good chance of continuing to a second season. The full ratings for the week will be available in the Tuesday Sci Fi TV Update post.
Digital Rating:
The week of October 18th to 24th brought some turnover to the Nielsen Streaming Top 10 for Original and Acquired shows. In the rankings for Originals, Netflix’s Lucifer dropped out after six straight weeks, but Locke & Key jumped in with its second season premiere, placing at the Number 4 slot with an estimated 637 million minutes of viewing. Another Life, also from Netflix, made it into the Top 10 for the week after its second season release, grabbing the Number 7 slot with 304 million minutes of viewing. Supernatural dropped out of the Top 10 acquired shows after several months, but was replaced by two other CW shows having their encore runs on Netflix. Legacies was at Number 9 with 379 million minutes of viewing and Riverdale was at Number 10 with 359 million minutes of viewing. Black Widow held onto the Number 1 slot in the Top 10 for movies for a third week in a row. And the Netflix original horror film Night Teeth debuted at Number 5. Following are all the sci fi and fantasy entries on the streaming charts for the week (the number in parenthesis is the prior week rank):
Digital Ratings for the Week of Oct-18 to Oct-24
Streaming Originals
4 (n/a) Locke & Key (Netlfix) 637 Million
7 (n/a) Another Life (Netlfix) 304 Million
Acquired Shows
9 (n/a) Legacies (Netflix) 379 Million
10 (n/a) Riverdale (Netflix) 359 Million
Movies
1 (1) Black Widow (Disney+) 269 Million
5 (n/a) Night Teeth (Netflix) 188 Million
6 (8) The Nightmare Before Christmas (Disney+) 168 Million
Source: Nielsen SVOD Content Ratings (Amazon Prime, Disney+, Hulu, and Netflix), Nielsen National TV Panel, U.S. Viewing Through Television
More Digital Rating:
Netflix has been reluctant to release viewing numbers for its programming, and when it has previously released any stats, its methodology has been questioned (it was based on viewers watching at least two minutes of the program). But they are now compiling lists based on total hours watched and claim they will release these on a weekly basis. The first Top 10 lists the streamer put out has the shows and movies with the all-time highest viewing on the service. Two genre entries made it into the list for original shows and two made it to the list of original movies. Stranger Things Season 3 ranked Number 4 among original TV shows with 582 million hours viewers. And The Witcher Season 1 was at Number 5 with 541 million hours. In the Top 10 for movies, Bird Box was at Number 1 with 282 million hours viewed, and Army of the Dead was at Number 8 with 187 million hours. You can see the full list at this link.
Sci Fi TV News of Note:
Star Trek: Discovery has left Netflix and will now be streaming exclusively on Paramount+. The show was already only available on that streamer in the U.S. while Netflix had the global streaming rights, but those have now expired. Paramount+ will start streaming the show worldwide in 2022, but it currently does not have as large of a digital footprint as Netflix . . . Jeff Rake has sent out a tweet indicating that production has begun on the fourth season of Manifest. That show was cancelled by NBC after three seasons but then picked up by Netflix after it topped the streaming rankings for acquired shows for eleven weeks. Expect the fourth season to debut on the streamer mid-to-late 2022 . . . Production has also begun on the third season of the Parmount+ supernatural drama Evil. That show aired its first season on CBS but then moved to the network’s streaming service. Expect the third year to have its bow in Spring or Summer 2022. Be sure to follow r/SciFiTV for news, schedule updates, trailers, discussions, and more.
Sci Fi TV Schedule:
Next week is a holiday week, but it will still bring three premieres for sci fi/fantasy shows. On Tuesday, Part 2 of Kevin Smith’s Masters of the Universe: Revelations will have its debut on Netflix with all episodes available that day. On Wednesday, the first two episodes of Hawkeye will be available for streaming on Disney+. The show will then release one episode per week. And on Thursday, the animated Supercrooks–which takes place in the same universe as Jupiter’s Legacy–will premiere on Netflix with all episodes available for viewing. 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.
