This past week was big on the small screen superhero circuit, as all four shows in the Arrow-verse returned with season premieres. After a summer dominated by superhero movies on the big screen, it was possible that more people could be looking for some comic book action on the small screen. Then again, all four shows are far enough into their runs on The CW that newcomers may not feel inclined to suddenly start watching. The ratings were bound to be interesting. Now, the numbers for Supergirl, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and Arrow are in.
Let's start with Supergirl, which premiered on Monday at 8 p.m. The Season 3 premiere was watched by 1.86 million viewers and scored a disappointing 0.5 rating in the key 18-49 age demographic in Live+Same day calculations, making it the lowest-rated show in its time slot. In fact, the only Monday night show that performed with lower numbers was The CW's new series Valor, which only won a 0.3 rating and 1.21 million viewers. While it was to be expected that CW numbers would be lower than other, larger networks, TV By The Numbers reports that Supergirl tied its series low rating with the 0.5. Season 3 is not off to a great start.
The superhero action picked up on Tuesday at 8 p.m. with the Season 4 premiere of The Flash, which performed significantly better than Supergirl in Live+Same day calculations. The episode that brought Barry back from the Speed Force was watched by 2.8 million people and won a 1.0 in the 18-49 demographic. Although The Flash was the least-viewed show in its time slot, it managed to edge out Lethal Weapon's 0.9 in the key demo.
Legends of Tomorrow picked up the superhero action following The Flash in the 9 p.m. time slot on Tuesday, winning 1.74 million viewers and 0.6 in the 18-49 demo. A significant portion of The Flash's audience did not stick around to see what the Legends would get up to in their Season 3 premiere. Legends was the lowest-rated and least-viewed show in its time slot, although it was pretty close in the ratings to The Mick on Fox, which clocked a 0.7 rating. Legends off Tomorrow was higher in its Season 3 premiere in the ratings than Supergirl in its Season 3 premiere, although Supergirl had higher viewership.
Arrow debuted its sixth season on Thursday at 9 p.m. in a big time slot move from its previous home on Wednesdays at 8. The premiere that saw the resolution of a huge cliffhanger was only viewed by 1.57 million people, and it only won a 0.6 rating in Live+Same day measurements, making it the least-viewed of the four shows, although it at least tied Legends of Tomorrow in the demo. It should be noted that this was the first time Arrow aired a new episode in any time slot other than Wednesdays at 8 p.m., so not all viewers may have known when to tune in. There's a chance that we'll see an uptick in the numbers next week, although we'll have to wait and see.
Tune in to The CW to catch all these small screen superheroes in primetime, and don't forget to take a look at our fall TV guide.
