The Breakdown: CW Wednesday in 2016-17 (Arrow, Frequency, The 100)

It's time for a journey through the CW Wednesday schedule in 2016-17...


fall

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
2015-16	Arrow		Arrow	Supernatural		Supernatural	61
	2015-16	72		72	51			51	61
2016-17	Arrow		Arrow	Frequency		Frequency	43 (-31%)
	2016-17	61 (-15%)		60.7733095286875	24 (-52%)			24 (-52%)	42.6320231022136
VsAvg	+7%		0.0748987923207892	-33%		-0.331044243580447	-8%
Rank	7/16		7/16	15/16		15/16	13/16

We sort of saw the trends getting worse for Arrow late last year, but weren't prepared for the decline rate to hit double digits right off the bat. And the four-way DC crossover, which set a new Plus series high, actually made the fall run look less bad than it actually was. The CDub traded out Supernatural for DOA newbie Frequency, and the Wednesday 9/8c comparisons would look terrible all season long.

winter

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
2015-16	Arrow		Arrow	Supernatural		Supernatural	59
	2015-16	68		68	50			50	59
2016-17	Arrow		Arrow	The 100		The 100	40 (-32%)
	2016-17	48 (-29%)		47.6208768694939	33 (-35%)			33 (-35%)	40.1375962185735
VsAvg	+10%		0.103497708916238	+13%		0.126509538547693	+11%
Rank	9/16		9/16	5/16		5/16	6/16

The trends really got ugly for Arrow in the winter months, as Arrow settled at 0.6 for awhile and then slipped to its first 0.5 in February. Midseason staple The 100 replaced Frequency and definitely improved the timeslot, clinging to dear life for 0.4 through most of this period.

spring

Year	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	Avg
2015-16	Arrow		Arrow	Supernatural		Supernatural	49
	2015-16	54		54	45			45	49
2016-17	Arrow		Arrow	The 100		The 100	34 (-32%)
	2016-17	43 (-21%)		42.8587891825446	24 (-45%)			24 (-45%)	33.6747629291421
VsAvg	-13%		-0.13147546290653	-21%		-0.210962949780454	-16%
Rank	12/16		12/16	10/16		10/16	12/16

Arrow actually held up OK after DST... but that just means its y2y trend went from -29% to -21%. The 100 became a consistent 0.3er by the time spring rolled around.

Rating the Ratings

Name	Lo	Avg	Hi	y2y	Plus	Label	Plusy2y	Results
Arrow*	0.5	0.63	1.3	-33%	51	hit(CW)	-21%	detail
Frequency	0.2	0.28	0.4		23	flop		detail
The 100	0.3	0.34	0.4	-30%	28	marginal(CW)	-16%	detail

Arrow: The superhero shows were a little underwhelming in general this season, but Arrow was definitely the most disappointing of the bunch, taking a huge Plus drop back to about what it was doing in the pre-Flash years. There were a couple slightly more hopeful 0.6's at the end of the season, but it was bad enough that the network is sending Arrow to Thursday and trying for a reinvention of Wednesday. Grade: D.

Frequency: For a show that seemed at least in the general ballpark compatibility-wise, this show was crushingly weak. I'm giving it a Grade: D- just to set it a notch above No Tomorrow, but it was rough.

The 100: After last year's Plus growth, The 100 fell back to a new low in season four, but pulling off those 0.4's early in the season made it look a lot better compared to Frequency. (The renewal actually came the week before it fell to its first 0.3...) It's surprising that Arrow was this much worse as a lead-in than Legends of Tomorrow was last year, but that factor makes its decline look not as bad in True Plus. Grade: C.

The names in this last table link to the shows' War of 18-49 pages. Links with an asterisk(*) have been updated with the new info. Updates to younger shows will come later in the summer.

Here's the now updated Schedules Plus for CW Wednesday.