ABC gave Black Box a straight-to-series order and ordered 13 episodes without seeing a pilot first. They held it until late in the season (typically not a good sign) on Thursdays at 10pm as a replacement for their hit show, Scandal. Will Black Box live up to expectations? Will it be a ratings success and earn a second season or will it be cancelled instead? Stay tuned.
Black Box revolves around a beautiful and brilliant neuroscientist (Kelly Reilly) who’s hiding the fact that she’s bipolar. The rest of the cast includes Ditch Davey, David Ajala, Terry Kinney, Ali Wong, David Chisum, Laura Fraser, Siobhan Williams, and Vanessa Redgrave.
The ratings are typically the best indication of a show’s likelihood of staying on the air. The higher the ratings (particularly the 18-49 demo), the better the chances for survival. This chart will be updated as new ratings data becomes available — usually the next day, around 11:30am EST/8:30am PST. Refresh to see the latest.
8/7 update: ABC has cancelled Black Box after one season.
Final season averages: 0.9 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 4.41 million total viewers.
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Note: Note: These are the Live + Same Day Ratings which include “live” viewing plus delayed DVR viewing, up until 3am local time that same night. Ratings marked with an “*” are the fast affiliate ratings and will be updated with the Live+SD numbers when they are made available. Typically, networks get paid for C+3 ratings which includes DVR viewing within three days of the original airing when commercials are watched. Those numbers are rarely released to the press.
What do you think? Do you like the Black Box TV series? Do you think it should be cancelled or be renewed for a second season?
I have worked as a mental health professional for 35 years in many settings including inpatient psychiatric units, state hospital and outpatient for the past 20 years. The portrait of bipolar illness was very accurate in my professional experience. At one time or another I saw things that happened on the TV show at one time or another. Bipolar illness affects all ares of a person’s life including family,interpersonal relationships and work. Many choose to disbelieve things they have never seen. The brain needs visual images to believe. As far as the neurology stuff i could have cared less. To… Read more »
I will. I am constantly under physician care as iam a diabetic type 2. Thank you for your comments.
ok I can appreciate what you are saying but at least it was entertaining. I did think however that a lot of that bipolar that she was exhibiting was a bit much but that is tv you cannot believe everything you watch anyway. I guess I am a woman and I liked the romance part of it.
The “romance” part of it? More like the “psychotic” part of it. These days it takes a lot less misbehavior than Catherine Black demonstrated to get in hot water in the medical community. With her shenanigans, Black wouldn’t have lasted a year at the position she was supposed to have held. Lots of doctors have messy, chaotic personal lives; no one cares as long as you leave that personal life at home when you come to the office. Black didn’t. – It doesn’t matter how smart you are. Smart people are a dime a dozen. As Professor Dumbledore said, “It… Read more »
All right I guess you said it all. I have worked with doctors for a long time and you are right there is a lot of education involved to make a true professional. It was just entertaining that is all. I know a lot of it was not researched enough to make that series. If there is one thing I do know I highly respect the medical profession and all the education that goes along with it. You are constantly learning with new advances in medicine. I applaud all physicians for the service they give to mankind. Thank you for… Read more »
There are different levels of bipolar she was in a much higher one. I personally loved the show and want it back or atleast sell the first season so i can watch it over snd over again.
I really.liked the show. When it was cancelled I kept thinking why did the show leave you hanging. Maybe the ratings were low but I thought the show did not get a fair rating being it ended so abruptly. As an advocate of watching a program about mental illness (specifically bipolar disease) I thought a lot of people were made aware od this devastating disease. Some other programs on TV are really not worth watching but I felt an educational learning experience from this one. Forget about the other doctors I am specifically talking about the actress Kelly Reilly. I… Read more »
MaryAnn, as a physician, I give you fair warning: If you EVER find yourself in the care of doctors as irresponsible and incompetent as Catherine Black or any of the other “doctors” on this you-should-excuse-the-expression television show, you should run away. Very fast.
I promise you I will. I am pleased with my current doctors as Ian a diabetic type 2 and always need care. Thank you for your reply.
Black Box getting canceled is more then upsetting… Here we FINALLY had a show with intellect, fire and an actual platform with purpose. Bringing mental illness to light was only one of the show’s great accomplishments but to shine the light brighter by casting a female character as a brilliant, successful, and acclaimed doctor was even better… (being a beautiful and sexy actress along with that was just a viewer’s perk). But as I started to state in beginning; to have shows continue to stay on air that do nothing but embarrass and insult the networks and even more, their… Read more »
As a neurologist, I can tell you that every single thing you think about Black Box is wrong. I had a chance to read the scripts for the first two episodes of this travesty before production began because I had a chance to be a technical advisor on the show. When I read them, my heart sank. This show had as much believability and verisimilitude as I Dream of Jeannie compared to the real space program. Not only did the creators ignore realism, they WENT OUT OF THEIR WAY to thumb their noses at it. And the characters of the… Read more »
True or not real or fake i succesful or dissaster scripts I love the show and would LoVe to see it come back.