Code Black received good news during November sweeps. They received a back 5 order for the season, bringing the series to a total of 18 episodes.  The ratings have been modest but steady, which means that the show has found a target audience that proved to the network the show is worth keeping. Delayed viewing has also been raising the ratings to above a 2.0 which is a decent number.

Code Black’s rating jumped to a 1.3 last week when it aired the night before Thanksgiving. It had no other competition that night as the other network shows did not air new episodes. It also had its second largest number of viewers, 7.44 million, since the premiere in September. The midseason finale is set to air tonight at 10 p.m and but will compete only with Nashville, which has been generating the lowest ratings for the network shows at that time slot. NBC will be airing a Saturday Night Live rerun instead of Chicago P.D, which is more of a threat to Code Black.

Overall, I consider Code Black to be a success for CBS. It has generated steady ratings and viewers for a long period of time, which is hard for a new show to accomplish. It has good lift with L+3 and L+7 viewing, as well as a solid fan base. There has been no word about a second season yet, but if the second half of this season goes well, I believe that Code Black has a good chance at renewal.

As the season nears November sweeps, it is interesting to take a note of Code Black’s numbers. While the ratings have pretty much stayed at a 1.2 in age group 18-49 since the second episode, the number have people watching have hovered around 6 and a half million. This is a much higher number which suggests that the target audience for the show might be skewed older for 25-5- year olds. Also, Deadline just released the Live + 3 results from the first 3 weeks. For the first 3 episodes of Code Black, the L+3 ratings increased steadily from 1.6, to 1.7, to 1.8. Although these numbers aren’t huge, few shows this season have had a steady increase week by week.  For this reason, I think it’s possible that Code Black will get picked up for a full season by the network.

Another interesting number to look at, is the amount of money the show earns from advertisers. Code Black’s TV air prices are $125,715. It makes the most money off of advertising in its 10 pm time slot, as Chicago P.D earns $119,065, and Nashville earns $92,965. This number could also be a deciding factor in renewal, in addition to just the ratings.

However, Code Black is no longer the only new medical drama on primetime. NBC’s Chicago Med premiered on Tuesday with a rating of 2.2 with 8.59 million viewers, and held 85% of viewers from the lead in show The Voice. Although these numbers are much higher than Code Black, the shows air on different nights and don’t directly compete, which was most likely a strategic scheduling decision.

CBS is known for having exclusive digital content for their network shows, and they have a whole department dedicated to the digital aspect of Television Programming. Code Black is no exception, and the show has a lot of interactive and additional content on CBS.com. In addition to streaming all of the episodes of CBS All Access, CBS.com has behind the scenes photos and videos of the cast, reactions from real doctors about the show, and even a Code Black interactive digital game called the Code Black challenge.

In this online game, fans get to choose if they want to be a male or female doctor, and then are given the task of caring for the patients in the ER. In the center stage in the red square, are the patients who need critical attention. Their status become worse as the game goes on. In order to pass a level, you must clear all patients before time runs out. The levels increase from Code Green to Code Black as the amount of patients increase, in order to simulate the stressful environment of the show to give fans a way to creatively interact with the show.

The game is just one way for fans to connect with the show when they aren’t watching it, which is a good marketing strategy in my opinion. The additional online content makes the show not only more interesting, but more relatable and personable as well.  Viewers must think so too, because since it’s premiere, Code Black has maintained about 80% of its audience. We will see in the upcoming weeks if this leads to a full season order.

Despite Code Black’s season low rating of 1.1 this past week, there is good news for the show. Marcia Gay Harden and Raza Jaffrey have both been nominated for a People’s Choice award for their roles in Code Black. Harden is in the category “Favorite Actress in a New TV Series” along with Emma Roberts (Scream Queens), Jamie Lee Curtis (Scream Queens), Lea Michele (Scream Queens), and Priyanka Chopra (Quantico). The show itself is also up for a nomination in the Favorite New TV Drama Category.

The cast is very excited about this nomination, and have been all over twitter and social media promoting it and asking their fans to vote for them. In addition, the Twitter feed for Code Black has been very active recently, and every actor and actress who is on the show seems to be live tweeting during each episode and promoting them throughout each week.

 On tonight’s episode, Michael Trucco and Shiri Appleby are set to guest star. Hopefully with the exciting nominations this week, Code Black will see a rise in numbers for the new episode.

Exciting news for both CBS and Code Black fans alike- the network has just ordered 6 additional scripts for the series, which means they have faith in the success of the show and will hopefully lead to a full season.  CBS has wanted a medical show for a long time, so despite Code Black’s mediocre but steady ratings, they want this show to stay alive.

In addition to the recent renewal news, Code Black has hired some exciting upcoming guest stars. Alton Fitzgerald White, who starred in the musical The Lion King, it set to appear in the November 25th episode and will play a patient who is part of a touring musical who arrives at the ER with a throat infection.

Also guest starring in the near future, is Jillian Murray who will have a recurring role. Murray has recently appeared in Cabin Fever: Patient Zero. On Code Black she will play Dr.Heather Pinskey who is described as “a sexy and smart cardiology resident and love interest to Mario” ( who is played by Benjamin Hollingsworth). In addition, actress Shiri Appleby, who plays Rachel Goldberg on Lifetimes UnReal, will have a multi episode character arc on Code Black.  She is set to play Dr. Carla Niven who will arrive at the hospital as a pregnant patient of her ex-girlfriend, Dr. Mayala Pineda (played by Melanie Chandra).             

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.

Code Black Promo 1×04

The second episode of Code Black aired on October 7th at 10 pm. The ratings from adults 18-49 fell to 1.2, which was 0.3 lower than the premiere which was 1.5. The total number of viewers also had a significant decrease and fell from 8.58 million to 6.83. It however once again was beat by NBC’s Chicago P. D which had a rating of 1.5, but won the time slot for total number of viewers.

One factor that contributed to the lower ratings, was the decrease in ratings for Criminal Minds which is the lead in to Code Black. Because Criminal Minds lost a large portion of its audience, so did Code Black– there were a lesser amount of viewers who stuck around the watch.

Keeping in check with the ratings, the reviews of Code Black have not been that great. TV.com put it under the category “The Awful” regarding new Fall shows, saying “someone call 911 for Code Black because its dying.”  It seems to early to tell if this show will be successful or not, and it might take a few more episodes for Code Black to get its footing on the network. In Tv By The Number’s Renew or Cancel section, Code Black has an index of 0.78 which means that it is still a tossup whether or not it will be renewed or cancelled by May 2016.

I look forward to seeing how Week 3 plays out and if Code Black’s rating is higher or lower than this past week.

Code Black finally premiered last week on September 30th, and did fairly well. It was up against Nashville and Chicago P.D, and was lead in by Criminal Minds. Code Black had a premiere rating of 1.5 in 18-49, which beat out Nashville who had a rating of 1.1, but fell behind Chicago P.D who had a rating of 1.7. However, Code Black won its time slot for 10 pm in adults 25-54 with a Live + SD rating of 8.5 million viewers. Code Black also had success with their Live + 3 rating, which was 2.3. This was a 53% increase from their live rating of 1.5. The number of viewers also increased to 11.47 in Live + 3.

Looking at these numbers, the Live+3 rating could be an important one for Code Black. The premiere gained over 2 million viewers in 3 days, so in future episodes I am interested to see if the Live + 3 continues to be higher than Live + SD.  Another interesting thing about the Code Black premiere, was that it retained 75 % of the 18-49 audience from Criminal Minds which was Code Black’s lead in.

Code Black’s ratings were decent for the premiere, but it received several mixed reviews from critics.  The Hollywood Reporter praised Marica Gay Harden for her performance, but thought that the other characters were underwhelming and that the show itself was just average. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Daily News complemented Code Black on focusing on the more chaotic, gritty, and realistic side of medicine and the ER as opposed to medical shows that focuses more on romantic relationships and soap opera drama.

For it’s premiere, Code Black did decently regarding ratings and reviews, so I am interested to see the upcoming numbers and opinions from the second episode which is set to air tonight, October 7th at 10 p.m.

Code Black is set to premiere tonight at 10 pm, up against Nashville and Chicago P.D. Nashville already premiered last week with a 1.2 rating in adult
 18-49 ,which was down from last years premiere rating of 1.5. It wasn’t up against any other premiering shows, but it still had the lowest number of viewers compared to all the other networks that night. These numbers can be beneficial for Code Black because if Nashville didn’t draw in a big audience when it had no competition, it can mean that
viewers are more likely to give Code Black a chance and watch the premiere.

However, Chicago P.D is also premiering its first episode of the season tonight at 10 pm.
The show is in its third season which means it already has an established and loyal fanbase. In last years premiere episode, Chicago P.D had a 1.9 rating in adults 18-49, which was down .10 from the season one premiere, but up from the season 1 finale which earned a 1.6 rating. It also won the hour and beat out ABC, CBS, and FOX, so it poses a potential threat to Code Black’s ratings tonight.

Critics have given Code Black mixed reviews, but as a pilot show, it will hopefully be able to draw in curious viewers that might not be watching television at 10 pm otherwise. I am interested to see how it competes with Nashville, and if it is able to beat Chicago P.D in viewership.

With many medical dramas on tv today, it may be hard for Code Black to compete. There is already Grey’s Anatomy which already has a huge established fan base who may not want to become loyal to another medical show. However, Code Black has been compared to ER since it is set in an emergency room, which may differentiate it from other shows and allow it to be successful with its ratings.  According to The Observer, which gave reviews of all the new Fall TV shows, Code Black falls under the “Watch” category. Entertainment Tonight also listed it as a must watch show because “it’s gritty,inspiring, and at times heartbreakingly realistic.”

The realistic aspect of the show is something creator Michael Seitzman prides himself on. He wanted to give the show a authentic, and realistic feel so that the viewers could better relate and emphasize with the characters and situations. To do so, the show hired real medical staff and required all the main actors to go through training to become familiar with medical jargon and procedures. In addition, it’s filmed in a documentary style which is new for a medical show.

Code Black will premiere next week against Chicago P.D and Nashville, so I look forward to seeing how it competes, and if the audience is receptive to the authentic and documentary style of the show.