‘The Bastard Executioner’ early ratings close to ‘Sons of Anarchy’ series premiere

While FX often likes to wait until the live+3 data is in before releasing ratings information on some of their shows, we thought we could at least still give you a little bit of context when it comes to Kurt Sutter’s new series “The Bastard Executioner,” which we thought had a solid start creatively on the network Tuesday night.

The show’s first two episodes, which aired in a block as a two-hour premiere Tuesday, drew a 0.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic and also just over 2.1 million viewers. When you look at this compared to the 6.2 million who watched the final season premiere of “Sons of Anarchy” last year, that may not look great. However, there are many things to consider here.

1. “Sons” already had a firmly established base last year, and became in some ways event television. With series premieres, there is not the same pressure to watch live or hope to avoid spoilers later.

2. This is even more true when it comes to the schedule. Even though sometimes “Sons” would run close to midnight, that thirst to watch it immediately or risk learning what happened (almost like a sporting event) had viewers burning the late-night oil. The same immediacy is not here.

3. When you compare the series premiere of this show to the series premiere of “Sons of Anarchy,” the numbers are very comparable (2.1 compared to 2.5 million viewers). When you consider further the availability of DVRs and streaming devices in 2015, it probably more than levels off. Ultimately, “The Bastard Executioner” will likely end up passing the “Sons” premiere once all data is compiled.

You can read our take on the “Bastard Executioner” premiere starting over at the link here. Also, you can sign up now to have even more updates on everything we cover sent right your way via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: FX.)