Sunday night on TV, er cable, was busy busy busy.
Of course, “Yellowstone” hung in there with 8.8 million viewers, down a bit from previous weeks but still much bigger than anything on cable or broadcast TV except for football. The breakdown, by the way, was 8 million on the main Paramount network, and 800,000 on CMT. There are likely zillions more on other non linear platforms that aren’t measured.
“The Walking Dead” series finale pulled a little less than 2.3 million viewers, it exited in a coffin. In the old days, “TWD” had up to 17 million viewers. I don’t know why there are three spin off series coming, the interest in these zombies is over.
“Yellowstone” cousin “Tulsa King” starring Sylvester Stallone is bringing in minor numbers. On the Paramount Network, Stallone had just 3.4 million fans. It’s a little apples and oranges, but that’s less than the whole CBS Sunday night lineup, and he’s a Big Movie Star. It’s 60% less than “Yellowstone,” which is also on cable. Stallone knows the show is not a blockbuster and has already indicated he’s out after one season.
HBO’s “The White Lotus” actually lost viewers in its fourth episode. It’s down to 414,000 on HBO linear. I’ve no doubt there were more on HBO Max. But this entire season is proving to be less interesting or welcoming than the first one. The show’s been renewed for season 3, and hopefully the writers will realize that the entire group of character can’t be off putting. There is no one to root for in this show, no moral center. They are all villains with the exception (so far) of Haley Lu Richardson’s Portia and Jennifer Coolidge’s mainstay, Tanya. (The latter we accept already being from outer space.)
There are two more episodes left in this season. We know there are murders to solve, but before that it’s clear terrible things will happen this week. But they aren’t delicious terrible things, they’re just OMG what now? I am curious to see who gets killed and by whom. I could see Portia just drowning all of them!
