Cancellation Watch: Tracking the weekly ratings and the cancellation prospects of the science fiction and fantasy shows currently airing on broadcast and cable networks.
By John J. Joex
ABC’s new series The River, from Paranormal Activity‘s Oren Peli, debuted last night with mediocre at best ratings. The two hour premiere averaged a 2.3 rating in the 18-49 demographics based on the overnights, with around seven and a half million total viewers. That’s the softest premiere of a new genre series for the broadcast networks this season, not including those that bowed on a Friday night. And in fact, The River‘s numbers are only two ticks better than the debut of NBC’s Friday night entry Grimm which pulled a 2.1 rating with its initial outing. The numbers for The River are not disastrous at this point, but it can’t sink any lower than this and really needs to trend at least a little upward to have any hope of seeing a second season. Chances of that, though, are slim, so I will be starting it out at a Moderate Cancellation Alert status and that will go up quickly if the show’s numbers do not improve.
Alcatraz took yet another drop in the ratings this past Monday, and this one was pretty significant. It slipped to a 2.3 rating in the 18-49 demographic and just under 7 million total viewers, down from the 2.8 rating and 8.4 million total viewers from the past week. The series had to fend off some pretty stiff competition from NBC’s The Voice and CBS’s comedy shows, but that doesn’t give it a pass. It is still performing well compared to FOX’s other scripted shows, though, so it is safe for the moment. But the show needs to halt that downward trend if it wants to avoid bubble status by the time it wraps up its first season.
Once Upon A Time was preempted on Sunday, with ABC doing it the favor of not having to contend with the Super Bowl for viewers. And on Monday night, Syfy’s Being Human remained pretty much status quo.
I will have the full ratings results for all of this week’s shows in the regular Monday column next week.
Ratings Source: TV by the Numbers
