Legends of Tomorrow kicked off its second season with an action-packed adventure filled with all the zany shenanigans viewers have come to expect of Rip Hunter and Co. in their time machine. All things considered, the premiere had a lot going for it. Arrow star Stephen Amell appeared as a guest star, the Season 1 finale ended on a cliffhanger, and the promos were packed with exciting new characters to look forward to in Season 2. Unfortunately, not a lot of people decided to see what Season 2 has to offer in its first night. The ratings for the premiere were the second lowest of any Legends of Tomorrow episode to date, and that's a bad sign for a big episode.
The Season 2 premiere of Legends of Tomorrow only attracted 1.84 million viewers, which translated to a disappointing 0.6 in the valuable 18 - 49 age demographic in the Live + same day numbers. To compare, the Live + same day numbers for the Season 1 premiere hit 3.21 million viewers and a 1.23 in the 18 - 49 demographic, which were phenomenal for the small CW. The Season 2 premiere was lower than the Season 1 finale as well, which won 1.85 million viewers and 0.66 in the demographic.
The ratings drop for the Season 2 premiere can't even be blamed on a smaller audience overall tuning into The CW. Supernatural airs in the time slot immediately after Legends of Tomorrow, and Deadline reports that the Supernatural Season 12 premiere was only down a tenth from its Season 11 premiere numbers. In fact, Supernatural drew 33% more viewers to The CW at 9 p.m. than Legends of Tomorrow at 8 p.m. Unless the numbers for Legends drastically rise after the Live +3 day numbers are tallied, the show may be in a lot of trouble.
That said, it's not time for fans to panic just yet. Legends of Tomorrow was the last of the four CW DC shows to debut this fall, and the other three all experienced drastic ratings drops as well. The Flash's Season 3 premiere's preliminary numbers were a 1.2 rating and 3.1 million viewers, which were significantly lower than Seasons 1 and 2. Its second episode clocked in a series low with a 1.0 and 2.75 million viewers. The Arrow Season 5 premiere brought in a 0.7 rating and 1.9 million viewers, which was a 29% drop from the 1.1 and 2.6 million from the Season 4 premiere.
For its part, Supergirl crushed in its timeslot for its grand CW debut, but it lost a lot of its viewers from its run on CBS. It's entirely possible that the seemingly problematic numbers for the Legends of Tomorrow Season 2 premiere are part of an overall trend of lower ratings for superhero series rather than an indication that Legends of Tomorrow is in danger. We may need to wait and see how all four of The CW's DC shows do in the coming weeks before we decide which may or may not be in trouble. Who knows? Maybe the epic crossover between the four shows will be exactly what they need to draw big audiences once more.
Legends of Tomorrow airs on The CW at 8 p.m. ET on Thursdays. Check out our TV schedule to see when the other CW superhero series air.
