Cancellation Watch: Tales of the Walking Dead Has Soft Start, The Sandman Hits Number 1 on Netflix, and More

Linear Ratings Results of Interest:

AMC’s The Tales of the Walking Dead had its premiere on AMC on Sunday, but the Walking Dexit has carried over to that show as it only managed a 0.09 rating based on same-day viewing for the 18-49 demographic with 572K total viewers.  That is the lowest rating for a Walking Dead show since late in the second season of The World Beyond.  Whether these numbers will doom this anthology from continuing into a second season remains to be seen, but that is not a great start

Over on HBO on Sunday, Westworld held steady at a 0.07 rating with 391K total viewers for its Season 4 finale.  A fifth season for that one could still be in the cards, but it’s likely that it will wrap up at that point.

Syfy’s Resident Alien returned from hiatus on Wednesday, but its numbers were down notably from March as it only managed a 0.08 rating with 657K total viewers.  It did pick up an additional 0.06 rating from its simulcast on USA, but considering the amount of money the network put into promoting the show, I would have expected better numbers.  This one has already been renewed for a third season, so it is safe for now.

On Thursday, Adult Swim’s Primal improved to a 0.15 rating with 310K total viewers.  That one appears to be on track for a third season renewal.

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 8/8/22

Netflix Top 10:

The Sandman took over the top of the Netflix chart for English language shows for the week of August 1st to 7th.  It debuted at Number 1 and pulled in 69.5 million hours of viewing over a three-day period since it started streaming on a Friday.  Expect to see the numbers go up for that one when it has a full week of streaming and consider it to be on track for a second season renewal (although that is never a sure thing for a Netflix entry).  Stranger Things Season 4 slipped to Number 4 with 37 million hours viewed, and all three seasons of Manifest remained in the Top 10.  Resident Evil slipped out of the Top 10 after three weeks, but it still has a chance of continuing into a second season.  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 Aug-1 to Aug-7

English Language Shows
1 (n/a) The Sandman 69.5 Million Hours
4 (2) Stranger Things: Season 4 44.8 Million Hours
5 (4) Manifest: Season 1 36.7 Million Hours
7 (7) Manifest: Season 2 21.3 Million Hours
9 (9) Manifest: Season 3 19.9 Million Hours
10 (8) Stranger Things: Season 3 17.0 Million Hours

Non-English Language Shows
4 (4) Alchemy of Souls: Season 1 20.1 Million Hours

Source: Netflix

Nielsen Streaming Top 10

Netflix’s Resident Evil premiered in the Nielsen Streaming Top 10 for originals for the week of July 11th to 17th.  It placed at Number 3 for its debut week and had an estimated 858 million minutes of viewing.  Stranger Things remained at Number 1 for the week and pulled in another 2.9 billion minutes viewed.  Amazon’s The Boys held at Number 4 the week after it wrapped up its third season, pulling in 828 minutes of viewing.  That one has already been renewed for a fourth season. Ms. Marvel remained at Number 7 for the week of its Season 1 finale with 357 million minutes viewed and could be on track for a second season renewal.

Hulu’s animated sci fi series Solar Opposites had its third season premiere that week but did not place in the Nielsen Top 10.  And Netflix’s animated sci fi comedy Farzar debuted that week but did not make it into the charts.  In the Top 10 for acquired shows, the encore run of Legacies on Netflix dropped out after two weeks.  Fans will want to get that one back into the charts to help their case as they lobby for a fifth season.  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 Jul-11 to Jul-17

Streaming Originals
1 (1) Stranger Things (Netflix) 2.9 Billion Minutes
3 (n/a) Resident Evil (Netflix) 858 Million Minutes
4 (4) The Boys (Amazon) 828 Million Minutes
5 (3) The Umbrella Academy (Netflix) 714 Million Minutes
7 (7) Ms. Marvel (Disney+) 357 Million Minutes

Acquired Shows
10 (10) Supernatural (Netflix) 373 Million Minutes

Source: Nielsen SVOD Content Ratings (Amazon Prime, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, Netflix, and Apple TV+), Nielsen National TV Panel, U.S. Viewing Through Television

Changes to the Cancellation Watch Page

As we head into the new season, I have made some changes to the Cancellation Watch Page to make it easier to determine which shows are struggling and which ones are on track for renewal.  The Renewal Status column is now broken into five categories: Cancelled/Ended, On the Bubble, Renewal Possible, Renewed, and Upcoming.  Cancelled/Ended and Renewed are self-explanatory, On the Bubble tracks shows that are uncertain for renewal, Renewal Possible includes those that appear to be headed to a new season, Upcoming is for the show that will premiere within a month or so.  The shows will be sorted so that each category is together and the cancelled and struggling entries first on the list.

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.