Television ratings are a cruel mistress. And an infamously fickle one, too - it's rare that the viewer ship for a show will steadily increase over the first few episodes. In fact usually it's the exact opposite, as the hype for the pilot fades away and a load of the audience drift away, showing a dramatic decline in ratings over the next few episodes. Marvel's Agent Of SHIELD had a particularly dramatic decline over the first season, and Arrow slowly built up a cult following that only caught on properly in terms of tangible figures around the second season. Three episodes in, The Flash has already bucked that trend. The first episode was was watched by 4.8 million viewers, making it The CW's most watched and highest rated series première since The Vampire Diaries in 2009, and it's second highest ratings in history. Factoring in the on demand stuff, it ended up being watched by a total of 6.8 million viewers on TV and 13 million when you factor in online platforms, making it the most-viewed show in The CW's history. It has dropped a little since then, but nowhere near as significantly as its rivals and given the critical acclaim, expect to see that climb back up (especially when the network's already ordered an additional bunch of episodes).
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
