Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Cancellation Watch: Sleepy Hollow Slips Again, The Walking Dead Holds Strong, Dracula's Pulse Weakens

After going for two weeks without a new episode (preempted last week and a rerun before that), Sleepy Hollow slipped again in the ratings this time to a 2.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 7.1 million total viewers.  And that was despite a guest appearance by Fringe's John Noble, although not certain we really could have expected much of a boost from a callout to that low-rated cult series.  Still, Sleepy Hollow continues to deliver decent ratings for FOX despite its steady downward trend and there's no reason to think they will change their minds on the renewal announcement for this one.  Over on The CW, though, Beauty and the Beast still barely registers in the Nielsens as it scraped up another 0.3 score with less than seven hundred thousand viewers last night.  That one is definitely headed to cancellation, it's just a matter now of whether it will make it past mid-season which seems unlikely.

On Sunday, The Walking Dead held steady from last week delivering another 6.8 rating in the 18-49 demo with 13.3 million total viewers.  It beat out everything on cable and the broadcast nets for the night, including NBC's Sunday Night Football as it continues its dominance of the small screen.  On Lifetime, The Witches of East End held steady at a 0.7 rating with 1.6 million total viewers which continues count as a decent performance for that network.  On ABC, Once Upon A Time seems to be drawing back some of its audience as it rose for a third week in a row despite competition from football.  The latest episode pulled a 2.3 rating with seven and a half million viewers.  That's still well below where it was this time last season, but then Sunday in general has dropped for the broadcast nets year over year and relatively Once Upon A Time is doing well.  It's also in its third season which means that short of a ratings collapse ABC is almost certain to give it a greenlight for a fourth year.

On Friday, Grimm and Dracula both dropped from their impressive premieres of  the prior week.  The former slipped to a 1.5 rating with right at five million total viewers while the latter dropped notably to a 1.3 rating with 3.4 million total viewers.  For Grimm, that puts it right where it was averaging on Fridays last year and it remains safe (especially considering that it is in it third season).  For Dracula, though, that was a half point drop in its ratings and puts it right on the cusp of what would be considered acceptable ratings for its timeslot and night where a razor's edge margin can make a difference.  If it stays there, consider it a bubble show. If it drops any further--which is likely considering the typical in season trend--then NBC will likely let it air out its planned ten episode run and claim that all along it was only intended as a mini-series.

Also on Friday, ABC's The Neighbors returned with a new episode, but didn't improve its numbers any from its previous outing.  It pulled a 1.0 score in the 18-49 demo with 4.5 million total viewers and continues the face the likelihood that it will be abducted from the schedule after mid-season.  And over on Syfy, Haven continues to fly low with another 0.4 rating and 1.3 million total viewers.  That one also currently stares at a likely truncated future.

On Thursday, Vampire Diaries lost out to trick or treaters as that show sunk to a season low of a 0.9 rating with 2.1 million total viewers.  Expect it to improve next week, though, when it doesn't have to contend with kids and costumes.  Once Upon A Time in Wonderland was preempted, but it can't bode well for the show when a nearly 50 year old repeat of It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown outpaced Wonderland's previous rating by more that a full point (Charlie Brown pulled a 2.2 score vs. Wonderland's 1.1 from the prior week).  The good news, though, is that Wonderland survived the weekend even though ABC announced the cancellation of a different (non-genre) show.  They may keep it around for the next couple of months to air out its episodes, but don't count on anything from that one beyond its first season order.

Here are the season to date numbers and standings through November 4th for all the shows that have bowed so far (sorted by most likely to get cancelled).  Both Dracula and The Tomorrow People have moved to a Moderate Cancellation Alert level:


Series Network / Airs (EST) Cancel- lation Alert StD Rating StD Eps Tracking
Once Upon A Time in Wonderland ABC / Thu 8 PM High 1.3 3 Down
Revolution NBC / Wed 8 PM Elevated 1.5 6 Low
The Neighbors ABC / Fri 8:30 PM Elevated 1.0 6 Low
Beauty and the Beast CW / Mon 9 PM Elevated 0.3 5 Low
Haven Syfy / Fri 9 PM Moderate 0.4 8 Low
The Tomorrow People CW / Wed 9 PM Moderate 0.8 4 Down
Dracula NBC / Fri 10 PM Moderate 1.6 2 Down
Person of Interest CBS / Tue 10 PM Low 2.1 6 Down
Once Upon A Time ABC / Sun 8 PM Low 2.4 6 Up
The Originals CW / Tue 8 PM Low 1.0 5 Steady
Vampire Diaries CW / Thu 8 PM Low 1.1 5 Down
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ABC / Tue 8 PM Low 3.3 5 Down
Witches of East End Life / Sun 9 PM Low 0.7 5 Decent
Arrow CW / Wed 8 PM Low 0.9 4 Down
Supernatural CW / Tue 9 PM Low 1.1 4 Steady
American Horror Story: Coven FX / Wed 10 PM Low 2.4 4 Decent
Grimm NBC / Fri 9 PM Low 1.7 2 Decent
Sleepy Hollow FOX / Mon 9 PM Renewed 2.9 6 Down
The Walking Dead AMC / Sun 9 PM Renewed 7.2 4 Strong


Keep an eye on the Cancellation Watch Twitter Site for the latest numbers as well as any other ratings-related news.  You can see the current status for all this season's genre show at this link.  And for more information on the ratings numbers and how I determine the Cancellation Alert status of a show, see the Cancellation Watch FAQ.

Ratings Source: TV by the Numbers

Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2013 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.



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