No “Yellowstone.” Hallelujah.
The absence of the horse opera and the apathy toward the Olympics really paid off for two high quality cable shows on Sunday night.
“Billions,” now midway through its sixth season, rose an astounding 70% from last week. The total viewership was 374,000. The prior week “Billions” had been down 30% because of the Olympics. Even counting that in, the top notch drama starring Paul Giamatti, Maggie Siff, David Costabile, Jeffrey DeMunn, Condola Rashad, and Corey Stoll jumped 40% over last week. Damian Lewis should never have left!
Now maybe Showtime can get “Billions” some Emmy love. This has gone on too long!
“Euphoria” on HBO also increased, by almost 24%. Again, “Euphoria” had fallen in the prior week because of the Olympics, but its increase was significant. “Euphoria” finished second to “Billions” at 9pm on linear cable, but it still picked up 350,000 viewers. HBO will say a couple million more watched it on other platforms and that’s fine. This past episode, with Lexi’s school play. was something to behold. If nothing else, it was a good recap of the season so far.
There’s so much TV, why leave the house? “Mrs. Maisel,” “Inventing Anna,” plus coming to HBO is John C. Reilly in “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.”
One last TV note: tomorrow night, Anthony Anderson is back and so is “Law & Order” on NBC. Anthony is also hosting a game show and still starring in “Blackish” both on ABC. He is the hardest working man in show biz!
