HBO needs fresh blood…
By fred | September 10, 2008
HBO latest new series didn’t start off all that well. Alan Ball’s vampires show True Blood premiered on Sunday night and got what I would have called disappointing numbers, though Variety seems to call them only “modest”.
Okay, modest, very modest : 1.4 million viewers for the series premiere is really, really modest in fact. HBO was quick to remind that once the 10.30 rerun was factored it we were up to 2.1 million viewers, but we’re really far from numbers of the hit-series HBO used to have. Of course, might have something to do with the fact that the show isn’t all that good…
Recently AMC’s Mad Men was close to 2 million viewers for its second season premiere, and TNT’s Raising The Bar debuted approaching 8 million viewers ! And not so long ago John From Cincinnati averaged 3.4 million viewers, only to be canceled — of course, a lead-in such as The Sopranos might have helped getting people in front of HBO.
Meanwhile, Entourage isn’t in great shape either, down to only 1.6 million viewers where there were 2.2 million of them during last season premiere. Many cable networks are coming up with new, better series every day, and more than ever HBO seems to be looking for their new big hit which they can’t find - because I’m sure True Blood isn’t it.
Posted in Numbers/Ratings
Shows: Entourage, True Blood
