Unless otherwise noted, the ratings numbers below are based on the final overnights and may vary slightly from the preliminaries reported on the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site.

Renewal Announcement: BBC America announced yesterday that their freshman series Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, based on the Douglas Adams books, will be getting a ten episode second season, up from the eight episodes for its first season. The news comes as a bit of a surprise based on the fact that the show has barely registered in the ratings thus far (it is currently at only a 0.09 average based on the overnights for the 18-49 demographic), but this also shows how it is harder to predict these cable shows. BBC America has a partnership with Netflix on the show, and the streaming service distributes Dirk Gently outside of the U.S. and Canada. And this one likely plays better to international audiences, thus the reason I have had it at only a Moderate Cancellation Alert level despite its low ratings. Orphan Black also got renewed by BBC America last year at the same ratings levels, but that was also announced as the show’s final season. Dirk Gently may be able to hold on at those levels plus the Netflix partnership as the Too-Much-TV era makes it harder and harder to determine the fate of these “ratings noise” cable shows.

Ratings Results of Interest: On Sunday, TNT’s The Librarians had its Season 3 debut and pulled a 0.53 rating based on the overnights for the 18-49 demographic with 1.9 million total viewers. That is even with its average from last season and looks pretty good considering the stiff competition on the night. Factor in the loyal and active fanbase for the show which keeps it trending on the social nets and I like its chances of a fourth season, especially considering the fact that it has made it to the cable third year threshold. AMC’s The Walking Dead slipped yet again, this time to a 5.2 rating with 11 million total viewers as the Walking Dexit continues. But don’t fret too much for that one as it is still the highest rated scripted show on all of television. Over on HBO, Westworld continues to improve its numbers as it pulled a 0.80 rating with 1.8 million total viewers. That show is heading into its season finale in two weeks and has already been renewed for a second year. Over on Starz, Ash vs. Evil Dead slipped to a 0.12 rating with 240k tot viewers which are its lowest numbers of the season. But it has already been renewed for a third year. On Saturday, BBC America’s Dirk Gently slipped to a 0.05 rating with 240k total viewers, but that didn’t stop it from getting a second season renewal (see above). And I don’t have it in the chart below, but the first episode of the animated restoration of the classic Doctor Who episode “The Power of the Daleks” did not fare much better at a 0.06 rating on the night. Over on Disney XD, Star Wars: Rebels slipped from its last new episode to a 0.11 rating with 410K total viewers, and more consistent scheduling would definitely help that one (though I don’t believe it is in any danger of cancellation). On Friday, FOX’s The Exorcist remained low at a 0.6 rating with 1.7 million total viewers. That show only has two more episodes left and then it will likely join the many other one-season-and-done shows from the Too-Much-TV era. You can see my coverage of the Monday through Thursday shows from last week as well as the Scorecard at this link. And note that with the holidays this week, ratings results will be delayed for several days with Nielsen probably not catching up until Wednesday of next week. There will also be a fair number of preemptions starting tomorrow, and you can see the listings for the week at this link.

Ratings results for the sci fi / fantasy shows airing Monday November 14th thru Sunday November 20th (metric definitions below):

(Links are to the show pages on this site with season to date ratings results and status updates)

Chart Activity: The Walking Dead slipped to Number 4 (down from Number 3) in the Weekly Social Net Rating Top 10 and American Horror Story did not make it back into that chart with its season finale. But that show did return to the cable Top 25 based on the 18-49 demo for its season finale at the Number 6 slot. The Walking Dead improved to Number 1 in the cable Top 25 based on the demo and total viewers. MacGyver slipped one slot in the broadcast net Top 25 based on total viewers to Number 20. And Son of Zorn fell out of the Top 25 based on the demo as its was preempted on Sunday.

(Updated for the broadcast network and cable Top 25 chart activity)

Series Chart Curr Wk Rank Prior Wk Rank American Horror Story Cable Top 25 (18-49 Demo) 6 n/a MacGyver Broadcast Net Top 25 (Total Viewers) 20 19 Son of Zorn Broadcast Net Top 25 (18-49 Demo) n/a 24 The Walking Dead Nielsen Social Net Ratings Top 10 4 3 The Walking Dead Cable Top 25 (18-49 Demo) 1 3 The Walking Dead Cable Top 25 (Total Viewers) 1 11

Be sure keep an eye out for the latest numbers and any breaking news throughout the week at the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site and Facebook Page. You can see the status of all the currently airing sci fi / fantasy shows at the Cancellation Watch page and also the latest Cancellation Watch Hit List post. And for more information on where I get these numbers and how I make my Cancellation Alert assessments, check out the Cancelled Sci Fi FAQ.

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Metric Definitions:

Series: (R) indicates a repeat airing

Rating: Overnight rating in the 18-49 demographic for same day viewing based on the final numbers unless otherwise noted

% Chng: The percentage change +/- for this week’s rating vs. last week’s rating (if a new episode aired last week).

Tot Viewers: Estimated total viewers (age 2+) to tune in to the episode for same day viewing.

StD Rating: Season to date average for the rating metric tracked above.

Net Bench (Network Benchmark): For the broadcast networks, this is the net’s season to date average rating based on the overnights for the 18-49 demographic for non-sports, non-special, non-repeat broadcasts. For the cable channels, this is the lowest level at which a show is typically renewed by that network if there are enough genre entries on that channel to provide a decent sample.

Cancellation Alert: My prediction of the likelihood that a show will get cancelled. From least to most likely the statuses are Low, Moderate, Medium, Elevated, and High.

Source: ShowBuzzDaily and TV by the Numbers