The first season of the Black Lightning TV show on The CW was a Nielsen ratings hit. The series ended the regular season as the network’s second highest rated series in the demo and third, in terms of average total audience size. Now that it is back for a second season, can it continue its super-charged path and draw in an even larger audience? Will Black Lightning be cancelled or renewed for season three? Stay tuned. **Status update below.
Based on the DC Comics character created by Tony Isabella with Trevor Von Eeden, Black Lightning stars Cress Williams, Nafessa Williams, China Anne McClain, James Remar, Damon Gupton, Christine Adams, and Marvin Jones III. The CW superhero drama centers on Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams). While he once waged a vigilante war against crime — using the masked persona “Black Lightning”— Pierce retired years ago and now serves as the principal of a charter high school. Endowed with the amazing ability to harness and control electricity, Black Lightning jumped back into action when his city was overrun with crime and corruption. Now it stands a fighting chance, but at what cost to his family?
The ratings are typically the best indication of a show’s likelihood of staying on the air. The higher the ratings (particularly in 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.
3/19 update: You can see the latest night’s ratings in context.
Note: If you’re not seeing the updated chart, please try reloading the page or view it here.
For comparisons: The first season of Black Lightning on The CW averaged a 0.56 rating and 1.732 million viewers.
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 Lightning TV series on The CW? Should it be cancelled or renewed for a third season?
**1/31/2019 Status Update: Black Lightning has been renewed for season three on The CW. Details here.
Love this show season 3?
GREAT !! I love this show !!
Oh my God! They renewed this for a third season; how desperate is this network!?
CANCEL, cancel, cancel. I tried to give this show a chance and watched the first few episodes, but I just can’t get into it. Who wants to see an old Superhero, with grown kids almost the same age as the rest of the heroes in the Arrowverse? The CW dropped the ball here, should have launched it like the other shows with his younger version coming into his powers ect. Needs a major reboot in this aspect or CANCELLED!!!!
I so Love The Show, I’ve put a lot of people on watching the show after my 15 year old son told me about the show back in August of 2018. It is a wonderful show to watch and I feel as if you give a chance and give people enough time to catch up on the episodes, the ratings will go up. The show Black Lightning will be a successful show just don’t give up. Just like any seed you sow in the ground you have to give it time to grow, same thing with this show it will… Read more »
You should keep it going I love this show my whole family watching this
keep dropping ratings keep dropping time for a more worthy show to fill the show
Don’t ratings usually come out three days after the episode aired? Or did something change and are they calculating the ratings differently?
When do Season 3 start?