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

This week I widened my search for feedback on The Player. I stuck to TV By The Numbers for the concrete ratings, but then I checked out Metacritic to see what other critics and industry professionals predict for this years’ fall shows. The ratings on TV By The Numbers continued to drop this week. The Player went from a rating of 1.0 in adults 18-49, to a rating of 0.7 this past Thursday. This downward trend is a contrast to the other Thursday night shows, such as The Originals, Grey’s Anatomy, and Thursday Night Football, that all boosted up in the ratings.

Metacritic has started to release its picks for fall show renewal, and The Player is nowhere to be found. However, NBC isn’t completely in the hole. Heroes Reborn is mentioned as a Thursday night show that is likely to return. The critics gave a majority of negative and mixed reviews on the site, whereas users gave a majority of positive reviews. Unfortunately, critics tend to have more influence where return is concerned.

The fifth episode of Life in Pieces aired Monday night, pulling in its highest 18-49 rating since the premiere. The show has seen steady viewership but has been struggling to capture the key 18-49 demographic. Monday night’s episode received a 2.1 18-49 rating, a .3 increase from the previous episode’s 1.8 rating. Additionally, the show saw in rise in total viewers from 7.84 to 8.47, bringing the show’s average post-premiere viewership to around 8.5 million weekly viewers.

CBS will not air a new episode of Life in Pieces next week and, in the week following, the show will be moved to Thursday nights. Considering that Life in Pieces seems to have found a steady audience, this might not be as risky a move as it would seem. CBS appears to be confident that Life in Pieces can hold its own on Thursday nights without the help of a Big Bang Theory lead-in. Additionally, TVbytheNumbers has predicted that, following The Big Bang Theory and NCIS, Life in Pieces is the most likely show to be renewed by CBS.

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.

The Player is on a downward spiral, and this is not just referring to its ratings for the first two weeks. However, that is what caused TV by the Numbers to put it at the top of its list of “canceled by May 2016” shows. The Renew/Cancel Index is the ratio of a show’s adult 18-49 rating in comparison to other new episodes of shows on its network. When analyzing NBC network’s other shows in comparison to The Player, it is no surprise that it is on the chopping block according to the Index.

NBC’s most popular show in the ratings right now is Blindspot (which I happen to be a big fan of). The show is reviewed as “fresh” and “eye-catching,” where as it’s sibling, The Player, is described as “absurd” and “not worth betting on.” When looking at the ratings, we see that The Player is grasping at a measly 1.0, whereas Blindspot is soaring at a 2.85. This rating is 1.15 over the next leading rating of 1.7 (Chicago PD). I would not be surprised if The Player saw a move to Saturday nights, and was then promptly booted off the network.