The superheroes have reason to celebrate!  The CW has announced ten of their series which will be returning next season and they include all of the DC Comics shows– ‘Arrow’, ‘Black Lightning’, ‘The Flash’, ‘Legends of Tomorrow’ and ‘Supergirl’.  ‘The Flash’ remains the network’s top rated series overall, but ‘Black Lightning’ is unconnected to the other shows, so some wondered how well it would do.  Fortunately, ‘Black Lightning’ has delivered killer ratings, besting the other three DC shows.  ‘Arrow’ in particular has seen its ratings drop significantly, but it’s doing well enough to warrant another season along with the rest.

Besides the DC shows, workhorse ‘Supernatural’ has seen an uptick in ratings, even in its 13th season, which is unheard of.  It’s now the second-best rated series on The CW.  Archie Comics adaptation ‘Riverdale’ is a big hit with its target demographic, but many viewers are too young to register with the main Nielsen ratings, which only count those 18-49.  Its plodding ‘Black Hood’ storyline also seems to have chased away some viewers.  It’s dropped to #5, but that’s still strong, especially considering its desirable fan base.

Also returning are non-genre shows ‘Jane the Virgin’ and ‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’.  Neither show is a runaway hit, but they are the only two shows on the network that seem to get any critical love and/or awards recognition.  The CW needs them for the prestige.

The most startling renewal is that for newcomer ‘Dynasty’ which is the network’s second-worst rated program and has also been critically lambasted.  It is possible it could find a larger audience this summer when it hits Netflix.

Working in all of The CW’s show’s favor is that the network is expanding its programming to include Sunday nights.  That means they need enough shows to fill that extra evening, but it’s unlikely that they will simply keep all their shows without adding any new ones to entice viewers.

That leaves the fates of a few shows up in the air– ‘iZombie’, ‘The 100’, ‘Life Sentence’ and ‘Valor’.  ‘Life Sentence’ is The CW’s absolute worst-rated show, so it’s fate is probably sealed.  ‘iZombie’ outperforms ‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’ but doesn’t receive the same level of media love.  ‘Valor’ performs worse than ‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’ but better than ‘Dynasty’.  ‘The 100’ won’t return until April 24, so its future will likely depend on how well it does at that point.

But we also know The CW ordered a ton of new pilots for next season, including remakes of ‘Charmed’ and ‘Roswell’.  And ‘Supernatural’ aired the episode ‘Wayward Sisters’ which was a backdoor pilot for a female-centered spinoff.  It may depend on how well the network reacts to those (and other new pilots) to see whether they move forward with new programs or rely on their existing slate.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter