Never bet against dragons.
HBO says 7.9 million people watched the return of “House of the Dragon” Sunday night. That was down 22% from the first season debut of around 10 million.
That’s “across all platforms” and in several viewings. The linear number on HBO was 1.9 million.
But a LOT of people watched the dragon fest, which included a really horrible kind of “Sophie’s Choice” moment at the end. It was enough to conquer the Tony Awards over on CBS. The Broadway awards really suffered the effects of the HBO hit. Plus, for some, a Yankees- Red Sox game was a diversion as well.
I thought for sure CBS would put Alicia Keys and Jay Z on during the 9pm hour and draw viewers away from HBO. But instead they shoved their big stars into the 8pm hour. What followed at 9pm was dancing from “Illinoise” — not much of a competition. Also, Jay Z was launched on the show almost by accident. There was no build up, and the pair performed in the lobby of the theater. It was bizarre.
