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
Renewal Announcement:
Coming as no surprise, Syfy’s new horror series Chucky has been renewed for a second season. That show has posted decent same-day ratings numbers for Syfy and has also done fairly well with its simulcast on USA. The show has also reportedly done very well in digital and delayed viewing, and it will begin an encore run on Peacock starting in December. It wraps up its eight-episode first season tonight, and when it returns it will continue to air on both Syfy and USA. The series acts as a sequel to the seventh film in the franchise Cult of Chucky and Brad Dourif reprises his role as the voice of Chucky. It has been well received by critics and fans, currently holding a 90% Fresh Rating and 88% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes. The second season will likely debut Fall 2022 and could have a larger episode order.
Digital Ratings:
The week of October 25th to 31st was another slow one for new and acquired sci fi/fantasy shows in the Nielsen Streaming Top 10. In the rankings for original series, Netflix’s Locke & Key was the only genre entry. That one improved to the Number 2 slot for the second week of its Season 2 release and pulled in an impressive 1.1 billion minutes of viewing. Netflix’s Another Life dropped out of the Top 10, and while Star Trek Prodigy had its premiere that week, the Nielsen rankings do not track Paramount+ at this time. In the Top 10 for acquired shows, encore runs of Legacies and Riverdale on Netflix remained at the Number 9 and 10 slots, though they flip-flopped from last week. In the Top 10 for Movies, Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead prequel Army of Thieves debuted at Number 4 with 294 million minutes of viewing. 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):
Streaming Originals
2 (4) Locke & Key (Netlfix) 1.1 Billion
Acquired Shows
9 (10) Legacies (Netflix) 394 Million
10 (9) Riverdale (Netflix) 389 Million
Movies
2 (n/a) King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (Netflix) 324 Million
3 (6) The Nightmare Before Christmas (Disney+) 309 Million
4 (n/a) Army of Thieves (Netflix) 294 Million
7 (1) Black Widow (Disney+) 170 Million
8 (5) Night Teeth (Netflix) 164 Million
Source: Nielsen SVOD Content Ratings (Amazon Prime, Disney+, Hulu, and Netflix), Nielsen National TV Panel, U.S. Viewing Through Television
Ratings Results of Interest:
Last Wednesday, Legends of Tomorrow and Batwoman both aired new episodes even though the TV Guide listings showed them as being preempted. The former show slipped to a 0.07 rating with 502K total viewers while the latter improved to a 0.09 score with 464K total viewers. Both are currently on track for renewal. Due to the holiday, the ratings for the rest of the week are not available yet, but I will be including those in the Friday Sci fi TV Update post.
Sci Fi TV News of Note:
Three Star Wars related announcements: Disney+’s upcoming series The Book of Boba Fett has been confirmed for seven episodes. That show spins off from The Mandalorian and carries on the story of Boba Fett. It premieres December 29th . . . Ivanna Sakhno (Pacific Rim: Uprising) has been cast in the upcoming Ahsoka limited series on Disney+. The character she will be playing has not been confirmed yet . . . Star Wars: Rangers of the New Republic, a planned spin-off from The Mandalorian, will not be going forward at Disney+ according to Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy. That was originally announced in December 2020 and would have starred Gina Carano. She was released from her contract with Disney earlier this year due to controversial comments on social media. Be sure to follow r/SciFiTV for news, schedule updates, trailers, discussions, and more.
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