The people who watch HBO’s “The Last of Us,” love it. It’s a water cooler show even though no one’s in an office and there are no water coolers. But you get my drift!

Still. “The Last of Us” is having trouble getting a consistent audience. On the HBO linear channel at 9pm this week, Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey somehow got from Boston to Texas to find Joel’s brother and his wife (Gabriel Luna and Rutina Wesley). Total viewers was 841,000.

The prior week, the numbers dropped to just 382,000. But that was because of the Super Bowl, which had 110 million fans tuned in. Whether fans found “Last of Us” on delayed viewing we don’t know. The prior week, before the Super Bowl, was way up to 991,000. So the Super Bowl did manage to dent the show’s ratings.

One reason for all this may be the lack of regular supporting players. From week to week, Joel and Ellie travel around and meet various new people. Often those people wind up dead at the end of the episode. There’s no secondary story line, so there’s no one else for the audience to attach themselves to. When awards time comes, no one will be eligible for supporting actor nominations. Just lots of guest actors.

In a strange way, “Last of Us” has turned into an anthology show, much like the other beloved new show, “Poker Face.” Difference is the latter is streaming only, so there are no ratings. But I’m sure there are millions coming from HBO Max for “Last of Us.”

Meantime, some of us are hooked.

I’m a huge fan of Angela Davis, the great activist and educator. I was honored to sit at her table at a lunch for a documentary about her a few years ago. We discussed how she became a target for the right back in the 60s. She was never part of the Black Panthers. But her image became entwined with theirs. She was a young trailblazer.

Tonight on “Finding Your Roots” with Dr. Henry Louis Gates on PBS, Davis learned something very surprising: she is descended from the families who came to America on the Mayflower. Shut the front door, as they say! The clip is below.

Gates is a hero with this Ancestry show. All kinds of people have learned all kinds of things sitting across from him. But this is the ultimate irony. Angela Davis is an OG American. She was always a patriot who questioned what direction this country was going in. The most American thing is to be an activist. This country owes her an apology for the way she was treated in the 60s and 70s.

Watch this. Irony is so hilarious.

“Do you know what you’re looking at? That is a list of the passengers on the Mayflower.”

Our researchers discovered #AngelaDavis’s ancestors traveled to the US on the Mayflower and here is her reaction. #FindingYourRoots pic.twitter.com/G2HhA9BSrT

— Henry Louis Gates Jr (@HenryLouisGates) February 22, 2023

“NCIS” is coming back for its 400th season. Actually it’s 21st, and third without Mark Harmon.

CBS also renewed a bunch of shows including NCIS Hawai’i, both 60 Minutes and 48 Hours, CSI: Vegas, The Amazing Race, Tough as Nails, and Lingo.

CBS is easily the most stable network, They’ve already renewed 19 shows for the 2023-24 season including Young Sheldon, Ghosts, The Neighborhood, Bob Hearts Abishola, So Help Me Todd, The Equalizer, FBI, FBI: Most Wanted and FBI: International.

Still awaiting word are Blue Bloods and East New York. The former has been on the air forever and still does good numbers. East New York is one show I’d like to see come back. Even though it’s a fantasy, it’s pretty damn good. It’s a perfect Sunday night show.

Last night on ABC I caught “The Company You Keep,” which is very well cast and has a lot of potential. It’s a terrible title, but there’s nothing we can do about it now.

Before “Company” came the most howling out loud funny episode of “The Bacheor” ever. The whole gang was in London for romantic getaways when the Bachelor– let’s call him Chip — came down with COVID. The 20 attractive young women, who together have not a brain cell, immediately complained about not getting their “alone time” with him! Not one of them asked if he was ok, if he symptoms, were they exposed? Nothing.

This went on for an hour and it just got funnier and funnier. Not one of these girls suggested that since they were in London they could go clubbing, to a museum or theater, dinner, or to like Westminster Abbey. They went on a double decker bus tour and were surprised when it started raining. Meantime, “Chip” slept and isolated, and worked on his large teeth.

It’s the best. Watching it is better than being on drugs