Cancellation Watch: The Ark and Lockwood & Co Have Soft Starts

Cancellation Watch: Ratings results and status updates for the sci fi and fantasy shows on the broadcast networks, cable channels, and streaming services as well as breaking news on the currently airing, returning, and upcoming genre entries.  For the streaming ratings, see our weekly Digital Ratings posts.

Linear Ratings Results of Interest:

Syfy’s new space-based series The Ark had its debut last week, though it only posted a 0.08 rating based on same-day viewing for the 18-49 demographic with 578K total viewers. Those are not terrible numbers for that network, but that does not count as a strong start either. This show appears to be an acquisition by Syfy and the network only makes money from advertising which will not draw very good rates with these numbers. We will see how this one tracks in the coming weeks, but the early numbers are not promising.

On Monday, Quantum Leap posted a 0.29 rating with 2.1 million total viewers after two weeks in repeats. That show has already been renewed for a second season.

On Tuesday, NBC’s La Brea returned from Winter hiatus with a double-episode but only averaged a 0.24 rating in the demo with 2.1 million viewers across those two hours. The show has already been renewed for a third season, but it is looking like that could be its last, especially if the ratings remain at these levels. Over on The CW, The Winchesters remained low at a 0.06 rating with 347K total viewers and its chances for a second season remain iffy with new owners Nexstar shaking things up.

On Thursday on CBS, Ghosts improved to a season-high 0.62 rating with 6.9 million total viewers.  That show has already been renewed for a third season.

On Sunday on HBO, The Last of Us improved to a 0.26 rating with 991K total viewers while AMC’s Mayfair Witches improved to a 0.10 score with 574K total viewers.  Both of those shows have been renewed for a second season.

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 1/30/23

Nielsen Streaming Top 10

The numbers for the Nielsen Streaming Rankings were running late again, so I am merging the Digital Ratings into this post (the linear ratings from Nielsen were running behind today as well). Netflix’s Wednesday (Renewed) slipped one spot to Number 3 for the week of January 2nd to 8th and had an estimated one billion minutes of viewings. Stranger Things (Renewed) popped back into the charts at the Number 10 slot with 284 million minutes of viewing. Disney+’s Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Renewal Possible) had its second season debut that week but did not make it into the rankings. And The Witcher: Blood Origin dropped out after one week. 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 Jan-2 to Jan-8

Streaming Originals
3 (2) Wednesday (Netflix) 1 Billion Minutes, Weeks in the Chart: 7
10 (n/a) Stanger Things (Netflix) 284 Million Minutes, Weeks in the Chart: 1

Acquired Shows
2 (n/a) The Walking Dead (Netflix) 905 Million Minutes, Weeks in the Chart: 1
10 (n/a) Supernatural (Netflix) 535 Million Minutes, Weeks in the Chart: 35

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

Netflix Top 10:

Netflix’s new supernatural drama Lockwood & Co. (Renewal Possible) made it into the charts for the week of January 23rd to 29th, premiering at Number 6 with 25 million hours viewed. That show has received good feedback from critics and viewers (90% Fresh Rating and 93% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes), but this is not a good start on the Netflix charts. It needs to keep working its way up in the rankings otherwise it will get moved to Bubble status. In the Non-English Language charts, the Turkish fantasy series Shahmaran (Renewal Possible) improved to Number 2 with 34 million hours watched. 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 Jan-23 to Jan-29

English Language Shows
2 (3) Wednesday 35.9 Million Hours, Weeks in the Chart: 10
6 (n/a) Lockwood & Co.: Season 1 25.1 Million Hours, Weeks in the Chart: 1

Non-English Language Shows
2 (5) Shahmaran 34.0 Million Hours, Weeks in the Chart: 2
10 (n/a) Alchemy of Souls: Part 1 14.9 Million Hours, Weeks in the Chart: 17

Source: Netflix

Cancellation/Renewal Score:

Last week brought one more cancellation and one renewal among genre entries. HBO Max will not be continuing with a fourth season of the Batman prequel series Pennyworth as shakeups continue with the DC Universe. But AMC did give the greenlight to a second season of supernatural drama Mayfair Witches as expected. Note that the renewal of Hit-Monkey by Hulu counts back to the 2021-22 season. The Cancellation/Renewal Score currently stands at 25 cancelled and ending shows (38% of shows tracked) vs. 22 renewed (33%). 20. Below is the current Cancellation/Renewal Score for the 2022-23 season, and you can keep up with this throughout the week at our Cancellation Watch Page.

CancelledSciFi.com: Keep up with the status updates of all the airing, returning, and upcoming sci fi and fantasy shows for the current season 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 you can see the premieres for all the upcoming genre entries at this link.