It’s rare that Showtime outdraws HBO in head to head competition. In fact, it may never have happened before.
But Sunday night the Showtime series finale of “Dexter: New Blood” was an actual hit. The Michael C. Hall bloodbath brought in 814K viewers in its first viewing. The Showtime people must have opened bottles of something. The show was was a killer, as Dexter might say. Unfortunately, he will not be returning, except maybe as a ghost. (Maybe he can join CBS’s “Ghosts.” Now, THAT I would watch!)
Over on HBO Prime, the Season 2 premiere of “Euphoria” was murdered by “Dexter.” Just 254,000 fans returned for the new season on HBO Prime at 9pm. But HBO says the total is 2.4 million including HBO Max and all platforms. They say it set a record on HBO Max.
As for the HBO Prime number, the only one that’s verified: Euphoria” star Zendaya is in the record-breaking “Spider Man” movie playing right now and is poised to be a Big Star. But the teen hedonism of “Euphoria” may not play as well during the pandemic. We’ll see.
HBO needn’t worry. They just swamped the Golden Globes with wins for “Mare of Easttown,” “Succession” and “Hacks.” And “The Gilded Age” is coming, which is going to be an enormous hit.
