The next time you talk to your parents on the phone, don’t bring up Yellowstone unless you want it to be a two-hour long conversation. There’s a good chance that the Paramount Network series, created by Taylor Sheridan (Sicario, Hell or High Water) and John Linson (Sons of Anarchy) and starring Kevin Costner as a rancher, is your dad’s favorite series — and there’s a lot of dads out there who still subscribe to cable.
The season four premiere “averaged 8.12 million viewers over its two hour-plus running time, setting an all-time high for both the series and Paramount Network as a whole,” according to the Hollywood Reporter. The first of the two episodes was seen by 8.38 million people, which is the second largest viewership of any show on any broadcast or cable this year behind only another mom and dad-favorite, NCIS.
Yellowstone also drew the biggest same-day audience for any cable scripted series in almost four years, since an episode of The Walking Dead in November 2017.
The series premiere of Dexter: New Blood wasn’t a Yellowstone-sized hit, but it still did well. The episode drew 678,000 viewers for its initial airing (the most for Showtime since the Shameless series finale earlier this year), while “streaming and on demand viewing gathered 1.3 million viewers, and an additional 188,000 caught an on-air replay, bringing the cross-platform total for Sunday to 2.17 million.” That’s the most for a “premium cable scripted drama premiere” in 2021. A niche distinction, but a distinction nonetheless.
Oh, and in case you were wondering: Yellowstone airs on Sundays, so you should think about leaving the folk’s home the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Otherwise, you might get sucked into the show. Kevin Costner’s rugged handsomeness has that effect on people.
(Via the Hollywood Reporter)