Ratings: ‘Hell on Wheels’ season 4 solid; ‘Outlander’ sets high with midseason finale

Years ago, we never thought we would have any good news at all to share when it comes to ratings on a Saturday. Luckily, we are glad that has changed thanks to some networks actually deciding to air some good programming on the night.

“Hell on Wheels” – We’ve followed the Western all season, and what we are very impressed is the level of consistency. As a matter of fact, the figures for the episode Saturday were the best in terms of total viewers we’ve seen since the premiere. The show drew an audience of 2.3 million, and that includes a 0.4 in the demo. The demo typically matters the most, but we feel with shows on Saturday that there is a little more leeway there since many young viewers are out.

For those who like the year-to-year comparisons, this was a gain of 200,000 episodes over last week. Clearly, the death of Elam has not led to a decline in audience.

“Outlander” – Meanwhile, the series on Starz continues to impress. Per TVbythenumbers, just under 1.42 million ended up watching the midseason finale live. That may be one of Starz’s highest-watched broadcasts for an original series, at least beyond the “Spartacus” franchise, which had a few installments with better numbers over the years. The show drew a 0.4, as well, for those curious, but demo numbers are a little more insignificant for a network with a subscriber model rather than advertisers.

We’re mostly curious how the series will do in April, when more and more people have a chance to check out the series.

What do you think about some of these figures right now? Share some of your thoughts with a comment below, and you can also head over to the link here to get some further scoop related to “Hell on Wheels.” Also, sign up for further TV coverage via our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: AMC