'Scream Queens': Scary finale ratings might not hurt season 2 odds

Scream Queens wrapped its season pretty much flat in the overnight ratings.

Tuesday night’s two-hour closer had only 2.6 million viewers and a 0.9 among adults 18-49.

Writer-producer Ryan Murphy’s latest was one of the most high-profile shows going into the fall, then shocked insiders by delivering modest numbers.

Fox has not yet renewed Scream Queens for second season, and ordinarily those overnights would doom the show. Yet Scream Queens‘ season 2 prospects are promising. When including DVR playback, the campy horror drama’s total viewers hit 5.1 million and its demo rating jumps to a 2.2. Plus the show gains an additional audience of 2.1 million outside of the Nielsen-measured 7-day window (mainly from streaming on Hulu and Fox Now).

Other considerations are that Fox and Murphy (who also does American Horror Story for Fox’s sister network FX) have a strong relationship, plus the plan is to creatively reboot for season 2, which would give the drama a second chance to launch with a new story and cast (a summer camp theme was pitched to Fox early on, but we’re hearing that concept might shift into something different). That the rest of Fox’s freshman lineup isn’t doing so hot either (Minority Report…) helps Scream Queens too.

For more, check out Amy Wilkinson’s Scream Queens finale recap, where she breaks down that Red Devil reveal.