, a look at the top performers since 2001-02 using numbers that are adjusted for historical decline. The table simply looks at the top
is the number of years since 2001-02... so with each yearly update, each list will get one entry longer. There are some pithy notes about many of the seasons below the table. The chart you can activate at the bottom chronicles the top single performer within each year.
1. Peak
Flash so far came in season two, when it became the first netlet show in our records to vault into the 90s. Though it couldn't keep up with the very early weeks of season one, it hung right around a 1.4 deep into the winter, resulting in a far more impressive mid-section of the season.
2. One of the
A18-49+ era's most impressive sophomore bounces came from
Smallville, which exploded to heights the netlets would not see again for over a decade. Despite an 87 average, this season somehow never had a league average episode, posting a couple 4.4's that were just below the 4.44 LA.
3. Nearly a decade into the CW's existence, the netlet finally found a series that could truly redefine what was possible ratings-wise on the network. The series premiere (113) was the first netlet scripted episode to beat the league average since week two of
Enterprise over 13 years previous.
4. Rather than make another jump to the league average, season three of
The Flash dipped back to its rookie season Plus level. It did have the series' highest individual episode so far, posting a 1.5 demo (or 122 Plus) as part of the network's four-way DC superhero crossover.
5. Over fifteen years later, the netlets still haven't come up with an episode that comes all that close to
Enterprise's mammoth series premiere (a 6.3 demo/146 Plus). That episode pretty much ensured it would beat fellow netlet breakout
Smallville in the season averages, though the shows were fairly close on a weekly basis by the second half of the season.
Smallville ultimately got the last laugh, running 10 seasons to
Enterprise's four.
7. The A18-49+ era picks up only the tail end of
7th Heaven's prime years, but in 2001-02 the family drama was able to inch past season one of
Smallville for the highest average on the WB.
9. The series premiere (3.8 or 88 Plus) was not nearly as flashy as
Enterprise over on UPN, but the post-premiere hold was a lot better; it hovered around 3.0 pretty much all season, even hitting a 3.1 in May.
12. The A18-49+ era misses out on
Buffy's WB years, but season six got on this list in the year after its famous move to UPN. Its average got a nice boost from a huge two-hour 3.8 (or 88 Plus) in its first UPN episode. It dropped over a point in week two and spent most of the season in the mid-2's (or 60ish Plus).
13. After years in the shadow of
7th Heaven and
Smallville, it was finally time for dramedy veteran
Gilmore Girls to take up the WB's ratings leadership starting in 2004. It would be the highest-rated drama in the last two WB seasons as well as the inaugural campaign of the CW.
14.
Arrow was a nice, 50ish Plus success for the CW in its first two seasons. But it was not getting ratings worthy of this list till a more potent superhero companion came along in
The Flash. Crossover episodes with
Flash and friends would set Plus series highs for
Arrow in seasons three, four and five.
15. It was the most successful CW show before the superheroes came along, topping the network's scripted ratings in each of
TVD's first five seasons. But
The Vampire Diaries still made this list just once, for its inaugural season. Season four (59) just barely missed and also had the biggest individual episode (76), very narrowly topping the series premiere (75).
18. After a decent-rated first season (115) on CBS,
Supergirl joined the CW superhero stable in season two. Though it shed nearly half of its Plus in the network change, it still became the CW's second highest-rated series this season.
