The third episode of Code Black aired on October 14th, with a rating of 1.2 in adults 18-49 which remained steady from the previous week. It had 6.96 million viewers which beat out Chicago P.D with 6.58 million viewers, to win its time slot for the third week in a row. In it’s L+3 rating, Code Black saw an 42% increase. Although there was no increase in the rating, the fact that it didn’t drop is a good sign because it may mean that Code Black is gaining a steady, core audience which will be necessary if it wants to get picked up for a full season.
It seems as if the critics are giving Code Black mediocre reviews, while the viewers are saying more positive things. According to MetaCritic which posts both critic and user ratings, Code Black has a user score of 4.5 out of 10, and a MetaScore of 53. Between the users and critics, it seemed that the majority of the reviews fell in the yellow section which contained all the mediocre reviews. One user, SynSzatana said, “It wasn’t bad or good. It has the potential to be a very good show. I hope it doesn’t become the next ER cuz we already had that.” On the other hand, one critic, Willa Paskin from Slate, said, “The ER is crowded with cases familiar from House, Grey’s Anatomy, Chicago Hope, and ER, and the doctors perform many near-miracles. And yet Code Black has a heartbeat.”
Overall, it seems that the majority of Code Black’s audience are people who are fans of the medical drama genre.