Netflix Top 10:
Stranger Things returned with its fourth season the week of May 23rd to 29th, and it did so in a big way. The premiere of the latest season set a viewership record for Netflix with 287 million hours watched, and that wasn’t even for the full week since it bowed on Friday. The first three seasons return to the chart that week as well ranking at Numbers 3, 4, and 5. The first seven episodes of Season 4 were released that week and the final two will get a later release at the beginning of July. The animated sci fi anthology Love Death + Robots was at Number 8 for the week with 15.4 million hours viewed for its third season. That one debuted the prior week at Number 6 with 14.4 million hours viewed. Following are all the sci fi and fantasy TV shows on the Netflix charts for the week (the number in parenthesis is the prior week rank):
Netflix Top 10 for the Week of May-23 to May-29
English Language Shows
1 (n/a) Stranger Things: Season 4 286.8 Million Hours
3 (n/a) Stranger Things: Season 1 38.0 Million Hours
4 (n/a) Stranger Things: Season 3 24.3 Million Hours
5 (n/a) Stranger Things: Season 2 22.0 Million Hours
8 (6) Love Death + Robots 15.4 Million Hours
Non-English Language Shows
9 (7) Tomorrow 11.1 Million Hours
Source: Netflix
Status Updates:
There have been rumors flying around that The Orville could end with its third season which releases on Hulu on June 2nd. But in a recent discussion with TVLine, series creator Seth McFarlane claimed that is not necessarily the case even though some of the actors (including himself) have moved on to other projects. His comment was “It’s really just a question of, is there an audience? And that’s what remains to be seen.” So if the show scores well in viewership, a fourth season could still be in the cards.
Disney has not officially issued a fourth season renewal for The Mandalorian yet, but series creator Jon Favreau indicated during the Star Wars Celebration convention that he is already working on it. The third season is set to premiere in February 2023.
The space-based workplace comedy series Avene 5 could be coming to an end with its upcoming second season according to Deadline. That HBO series debuted to poor ratings and little in the way of praise from critics in January 2020, and its second season has been delayed due to the pandemic-related shutdowns. It is tentatively set to return in Fall 2022, but if the ratings remain low it could be on the way out.
Nielsen Streaming Top 10
Amazon’s Outer Range continued its run in the Nielsen Streaming Top 10 for Originals for the week of April 25th to May 1st. That is its third week in a row in the Top 10 and it placed at Number 8 with an estimated 343 million minutes of viewing. Disney+’s Moon Knight was in the Top 10 for a fifth week in a row, holding at Number 3 with 681 million minutes of viewing. Following are all the sci fi and fantasy TV shows on the streaming charts for the week (the number in parenthesis is the prior week rank):
Nielsen Streaming Rankings for the Week of Apr-25 to May-1
Streaming Originals
3 (3) Moon Knight (Disney+) 681 Million Minutes
8 (7) Outer Range (Amazon) 343 Million Minutes
Acquired Shows
(n/a) No Genre Entries () Million Minutes
Source: Nielsen SVOD Content Ratings (Amazon Prime, Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, and Apple TV+), Nielsen National TV Panel, U.S. Viewing Through Television
Linear Ratings Results of Interest:
Nielsen is running behind yet again, this time due to the Memorial day holiday. I have no idea when the Sunday results will be available, so I am pushing forward with what I have at this point. I will post the remaining numbers when available.
On Tuesday, The Flash and Kung Fu both slipped in the ratings last week with the Summer slump setting in. The former posted a 0.09 rating with 541K total viewers and the latter had a 0.06 score with 484K total viewers. Both show have been renewed, though. On Friday, Charmed ticked down to a 0.05 rating with 308K total viewers as it heads to its series finale.
[Update] AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead took a Memorial Day weekend hit, dropping to a series low 0.08 rating with 598K total viewers. But it has already been renewed for an eighth season. Showtime’s The Man Who Fell to Earth ticked down to a 0.02 rating with 162K total viewers while HBO’s The Time Traveler’s Wife was also at a 0.02 score with 159K total viewers. The future for both is murky at this point.
You can see the full, season-to-date ratings for the sci fi and fantasy shows at this link, and below are the ratings for the genre shows from the past week. Ratings Source: ShowBuzzDaily
Ratings Results for the Week of 5/23/22
| Series | Rating / Tot Viewers |
| Superman and Lois (CW) Tue 8 PM (Repeat) | Repeat, Status: Renewed |
| The Flash (CW) Wed 8 PM | Rtg: 0.09 ↓ / Tot Vwrs: 541K, Status: Renewed |
| Kung Fu (CW) Wed 9 PM | Rtg: 0.06 ↓ / Tot Vwrs: 484K, Status: Renewed |
| Legacies (CW) Thu 9 PM (Repeat) | Repeat, Status: Cancelled |
| Charmed (CW) Fri 8 PM | Rtg: 0.05 ↓ / Tot Vwrs: 308K, Status: Cancelled |
| Riverdale (CW) Sun 8 PM | Rtg: 0.04 ↓ / Tot Vwrs: 169K, Status: Renewed |
| Fear the Walking Dead (AMC) Sun 9 PM | Rtg: 0.08 ↓ / Tot Vwrs: 598K, Status: Renewed |
| The Time Travelers Wife (HBO) Sun 9 PM | Rtg: 0.02 / Tot Vwrs: 159K, Status: On the Bubble |
| The Man Who Fell to Earth (Showtime) Sun 9 PM | Rtg: 0.02 / Tot Vwrs: 162K, Status: On the Bubble |
CancelledSciFi.com: Keep up with the status updates of all the currently airing sci fi and fantasy shows with our Cancellation Watch posts. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news and updates.
SciFiTVSite.com: 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.
