TV
HBO’s “Watchmen” is a Massive Word-of-Mouth Hit, Averaging 7 Million Total Viewers Per Episode
Sometimes I wonder if social media is loud enough to actually matter. Is it just a bubble of likeminded individuals or does it penetrate into mainstream and eventually pop culture? While we’d have to see an actual analytical breakdown to know for sure, HBO is celebrating a brand new hit series that they credit to strong word-of-mouth.
Writer Damon Lindelof has come a long way since conning viewers with “Lost” and has since redeemed himself with “The Leftovers”, one of the greatest television dramas ever made. He reteamed with HBO on “Watchmen”, a modern take on Alan Moore’s astoundingly complex and rich comic series in which the smartest man in the world stages an alien invasion to “save the world.”
Now, as they near the first season’s finale, HBO has a hit on their hands with “Watchmen.”
Through its seven episodes so far, the show, created and executive produced by Lindelof, is drawing an average of 7.1 million viewers across HBO’s linear channels and streaming platforms, reports Variety who adds that, according to HBO’s tallies, “Watchmen” is premium cable’s most popular new series of 2019, and HBO’s most-watched new series since “Big Little Lies”.
On Sunday night, Episode 7, “An Almost Religious Awe,” drew 779,000 viewers in Nielsen’s Live+Same Day ratings, the show’s highest numbers since the premiere (799,000 viewers). Across HBO platforms Sunday, that number grew to 1.2 million viewers.
But here’s the kicker: According to HBO, the Sunday night premiere ratings for “Watchmen” account for only a little more than 10% of the show’s audience; the viewership for the series’ first episode stands at 9.6 million total viewers.
There’s been chatter that Lindelof may not be returning for a second season, and with that, another season isn’t yet guaranteed. With that said, “Watchmen” is quickly becoming an “event” series in which all spoilers are foregone as fandom live-tweets each episode. Odds are, HBO will capitalize on the new craze and us fans are learning a valuable lesson: social media can matter.
Himesh Patel (Tenet, Don’t Look Up) will star opposite Danielle Deadwyler (The Woman in the Yard) in Ryan Coogler’s reboot of “The X-Files“, which has wrapped filming on the pilot.
Patel confirmed the news in a chat with The Direct, while reiterating that he and Deadwyler play new characters.
“I don’t want to say anything that’s going to get me disappeared. Needless to say, myself and Danielle Deadwyler are playing completely new characters, and we just wrapped on the pilot. If we get to do more… we’ll see where we go from there,” Patel said.
That last sentence is noteworthy, as Patel is reminding that Hulu has only ordered the pilot so far. A full series order has yet to be greenlit.
It’s a good reminder, considering that Hulu also ordered a pilot for the “Buffy: New Sunnydale” reboot that was filmed and delivered earlier this year, only for the streamer to send shockwaves when it opted not to move forward with the series.
As for “The X-Files” pilot, Sinners filmmaker Ryan Coogler writes and directs the pilot. Jennifer Yale (“The Copenhagen Test”) serves as showrunner.
Himesh Patel and Danielle Deadwyler play two highly decorated but vastly different FBI agents who form an unlikely bond when they are assigned to a long-shuttered division devoted to cases involving unexplained phenomena.
Patel and Deadwyler previously co-starred together on “Station Eleven.”
Other actors who have signed on for guest roles include Amy Madigan, Steve Buscemi, Ben Foster, Devery Jacobs, Lochlyn Munro, Tantoo Cardinal, Joel D. Montgrand, and Sofia Grace Clifton.
“The X-Files” originally ran for nine seasons between 1993 and 2002, with two additional seasons arriving in 2016 and 2018. 218 episodes were produced in total, along with two feature films: 1998’s The X-Files: Fight the Future and 2008’s The X-Files: I Want to Believe.
Himesh Patel in “Station Eleven”
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