Cable Ratings: Big Little Lies, Good Witch, Claws, & American Princess
For the first episode, HBO does have a lot to be thankful for. Think along the lines of 1.4 million live viewers during the premiere. This is just the tip of the ratings iceberg for the network, which mostly relies on repeat viewings and streaming for its total success. When you factor in repeat ratings, plus viewership from HBO GO and HBO NOW, the viewership increases to 2.5 million. That’s not pushing Game of Thrones out the window or anything, but it’s a great start that marks an improvement over most season 1 episodes.
One of Big Little Lies’ best assets is its short run. It runs just long enough for you to get excited about it, but not so long as to burn anyone out. Season 1 boosted its numbers over time as the hype built up, and you have to think that’s what’s happening here … though it’s more of a challenge when everyone knows about your product in advance.
Want some more Big Little Lies season 2 coverage? Check out our preview of episode 2 in the video below! Be sure to subscribe to CarterMatt on YouTube for daily TV scoop!
As for some other numbers…
Good Witch – For its first proper episode of the season, the show did a solid job getting over 2.2 million live viewers and a 0.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic. It’s skewing older, but a lot of Hallmark Channel shows do. We think that with its established brand and viewer loyalty, there’s no reason to worry. There’ll be some more signature Good Witch magic coming, pending some last-second surprise of course.
American Princess – Credit to Lifetime (a network that hasn’t been big in scripted programming for some time) for taking a risk here — the story about a young woman finding a new home for herself at a Renaissance Faire wins some bonus points for uniqueness. Alas, so far it’s only averaging a 0.1 rating in the demo and more than 200,000 viewers. This is going to have to be a long-term play for the network if they want to make this princess TV royalty.
Claws – The first episode of the TNT dramedy (it’s about a billion different genres — hard to classify it) ended up pulling a 0.4 rating in the demo and around 1.05 million viewers. These are noticeable drops from the season 2 premiere, but let’s not get in the business of judging a whole season based solely on the ratings of a single episode.
Fear the Walking Dead – Unsurprisingly, the second episode of the season dropped to a 0.5 rating. The big question mark you gotta wonder is if that’s going to be it? If the numbers keep falling, you could argue that this show’s going to be in trouble eventually — we’re just not at the point of sounding the alarms just yet.
What did you watch on TV Sunday night … and did it include any of these shows? Share now in the comments. (Photo: HBO.)