Tuesday, July 18, 2017

The Breakdown: CW Wednesday in 2016-17 (Arrow, Frequency, The 100)




It's time for a journey through the CW Wednesday schedule in 2016-17...


fall

Year8:008:309:009:30Avg
2015-16ArrowSupernatural61
7251
2016-17ArrowFrequency43 (-31%)
61 (-15%)24 (-52%)
VsAvg+7%-33%-8%
Rank7/1615/1613/16

We sort of saw the trends getting worse for Arrow late last year, but weren't prepared for the decline rate to hit double digits right off the bat. And the four-way DC crossover, which set a new Plus series high, actually made the fall run look less bad than it actually was. The CDub traded out Supernatural for DOA newbie Frequency, and the Wednesday 9/8c comparisons would look terrible all season long.

winter

Year8:008:309:009:30Avg
2015-16ArrowSupernatural59
6850
2016-17ArrowThe 10040 (-32%)
48 (-29%)33 (-35%)
VsAvg+10%+13%+11%
Rank9/165/166/16

The trends really got ugly for Arrow in the winter months, as Arrow settled at 0.6 for awhile and then slipped to its first 0.5 in February. Midseason staple The 100 replaced Frequency and definitely improved the timeslot, clinging to dear life for 0.4 through most of this period.

spring

Year8:008:309:009:30Avg
2015-16ArrowSupernatural49
5445
2016-17ArrowThe 10034 (-32%)
43 (-21%)24 (-45%)
VsAvg-13%-21%-16%
Rank12/1610/1612/16

Arrow actually held up OK after DST... but that just means its y2y trend went from -29% to -21%. The 100 became a consistent 0.3er by the time spring rolled around.

Rating the Ratings

NameLoAvgHiy2yPlusLabelPlusy2yResults
Arrow*0.50.631.3-33%51hit(CW)-21%detail
Frequency0.20.280.423flopdetail
The 1000.30.340.4-30%28marginal(CW)-16%detail

Arrow: The superhero shows were a little underwhelming in general this season, but Arrow was definitely the most disappointing of the bunch, taking a huge Plus drop back to about what it was doing in the pre-Flash years. There were a couple slightly more hopeful 0.6's at the end of the season, but it was bad enough that the network is sending Arrow to Thursday and trying for a reinvention of Wednesday. Grade: D.

Frequency: For a show that seemed at least in the general ballpark compatibility-wise, this show was crushingly weak. I'm giving it a Grade: D- just to set it a notch above No Tomorrow, but it was rough.

The 100: After last year's Plus growth, The 100 fell back to a new low in season four, but pulling off those 0.4's early in the season made it look a lot better compared to Frequency. (The renewal actually came the week before it fell to its first 0.3...) It's surprising that Arrow was this much worse as a lead-in than Legends of Tomorrow was last year, but that factor makes its decline look not as bad in True Plus. Grade: C.

The names in this last table link to the shows' War of 18-49 pages. Links with an asterisk(*) have been updated with the new info. Updates to younger shows will come later in the summer.

Here's the now updated Schedules Plus for CW Wednesday.

No comments:

Post a Comment

© SpottedRatings.com 2009-2022. All Rights Reserved.