‘Homeland’ season 3: Damian Lewis’ return actually gains viewers vs. ‘Walking Dead’
It was not entirely ridiculous to think that “Homeland,” like almost everything else on the planet, would have some sort of shared audience with “The Walking Dead.” So to actually see the Showtime series not lose any viewers against the AMC behemoth? Let’s just say that it was a major reason to have your jaw on the floor for at least a few moments.
Overall, the “Homeland” episode ended up drawing 1.8 million viewers, which is a season high for the show in that metric. So why is this still down from some of what the show brought in last year? It’s not airing after “Dexter” anymore and when you don’t get the opportunity to follow up the most-successful show in the history of the network, you are going to lose a little bit of your ratings clout. “Homeland” is now the biggest hit that they have going, and with that in mind, we would be stunned if there was a plan to cancel it at any point in the near future.
One other interesting revelation brought on by the official cable ratings from Sunday night? With a 2.6 rating, “Talking Dead” actually did better in the metric that matters than anything on network TV, save of course for NFL football. The Chris Hardwick talk show has become more popular in some ways than almost any other talk show out there, which is great for him and his million other ventures. (Meanwhile, it’s also great for the random celebrities who manage to join the cast on the show.) It is just interesting that this is where the AMC show has managed to grow to: A group of people sitting around and talking about what they just saw on TV has a bigger overall audience in the demo than “Once Upon a Time,” “The Mentalist,” or “The Amazing Race.” Quite stunning, no?
The good news for a show like “Homeland” here is that there is not necessarily requirements for the show to get all of its viewers live; there are still ways to watch throughout the week, and they factor into what the network wants to do just as much as anything else.
Want to read some more “Homeland” season 3 scoop? Then just click here, where you can see a full preview for the episode airing on Showtime next week.
Photo: Showtime