Having read this, I was really expecting the worst for the series premiere of FX’s Sons of Anarchy. I haven’t seen the full ratings but I did see that “Sons” garnered a 1.6/3 household rating/share and a 1.2/3 among 18-49 year olds. What I didn’t see is total viewers, but the 1.2 in the 18-49 demo averages out to about 1.5 million 18-49 year old viewers. The 1.6 household rating would put it in about 1.8 million homes. While it’s not possible to calculate total viewers based on the household rating, it’s fair to guess that the number of total viewers will be better than 2 million viewers.
TV Week reports that the 18-49 ratings were better than both the season premiere of the final season of FX’s The Shield, and also better than last year’s series premiere of FX’s Damages.
Considering that 18.4 million or so were watching the Palin speech at 10pm on cable news channels alone (FNC had over 9 million by itself) not to mention another 17.4 million who watched the speech on ABC, CBS and NBC, the results for the premiere hardly seem muted to me, though admittedly the timing wound up being less than optimal for FX. in the face of that fierce competition, I’d say “Sons” held its own quite well.
Update:The Hollywood Reporter reports “Sons” averaged 2.5 million total viewers. This is lower than both the premieres of Damages (3.7 million in July ‘07) and The Riches (3.8, January ‘07). In light of the comparisons in total viewers, I can understand why one could find these numbers muted.
But if it outperformed Damages‘ series premiere in the 18-49 demo as the TV Week article suggested, doing so with 1.2 million fewer total viewers is an accomplishment. The Hollywood Reporter article notes that the repeat airing at 11:16pm drew another 1.2 million viewers and an additional 870,000 18-49 viewers.
You were right; 2.5 million tuned in, per The Hollywood Reporter (via rec.arts.tv):
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i66bd53726b7c8c35d636e322acb7f24b
thanks spacerangers, I’ve updated the post.
That seems pretty solid to me–double Mad Men on any given Sunday and only 1 million off media darling Gossip Girl. Once RNC is out of the way, with some additional sampling and people checking it out on DVR over the weekend, I expect next week will either sustain those numbers or improve. And it has GOT to be more appealing in 18-49 than freaking Damages.
Who cares,do we really need this super violent show with all the war and killings going on right now do I really want to watch someone get sodimized,sick vile who cares????Is there anyone we like????NO!!!!Just Violence,thank you for being part of the problem.
Nice Guy, I think you may have confused “Sons of Anarchy” with HBO’s Oz.
I enjoyed it. I think it will make a nice successor to The Shield.
It’s a very realistic view of a subculture very few people get to see. The bikers are tough, violent men, but are sons and fathers too. Not an easy thing to pull off, but this show is a winner. Katy Segal may win an Emmy.
IMHO Katey Sagal SHOULD get an Emmy for her performance…as should a number of others in the cast. The subtleties of emotion playing across Opie’s face in the last 3 minutes of episodes 2, where he’s miserable dealing with his inner conflict between his feelings for the wife he loves [who hates his family] and his feelings for the Sons of Anarchy [the family he grew up with] is just plain masterfully played. Been there, done that, lived to tell about it…and I don’t think there’s 2 dozen actors in the world who could have carried it off without coming across as heavy-handed.
Any news on the numbers of the second episode?
Katka, not yet, and it wasn’t in the weekly top 40, but I’m hopeful something will still show up somewhere by tonight.
That’d be great, thank you for the fast response.
And all this time I was thinking that people weren’t watching the show because of the whole concept of anarchy…I’m glad that a lot of people enjoy this show in all honesty.
I can also see where “nice guy” stands on this whole thing, but despite the fact that some of us would like to keep violence to a minimum, it won’t really do a whole world of good. Violence, sex, and drugs been a part of our lives since the day we’re born. If you’re intent on protecting yourself, then feel free to do so. However, I for one chose to watch the series because I was borderline on anarchistic ideals. That plus the whole series had a very Shakespearian theme to it which appealed to me. =)
Awesome job on the show. From what i know of the MC world and what every i ride with says. it hits the mark for the lifestyle. sure its extreme, but its a TV show. I wish it was a little more true on the minor details, but the show is so good we are starting to look past the stupid hing and just enjoying the show!
I taped Sons for the Palin episode and also watched it live on the later replay. SOA drew me to FX and I was disappointed to find that I had missed what might have been a good series called the ’shield’ which apparently ran for a few seasons. I’ll hunt for re-runs and maybe catch some. Samcrow is one show I wish was 8 days a week and never stops…..
Just so that everyone knows, SAM CRO was picked up for a second season.
On October 6, 2008, FX said it had ordered a second 13-episode season of the series.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sons_of_Anarchy)
It’s good to know that there are others out there that are enjoying this show as much as my friends and I are.
show still rocks, i hopeit gets picked up for many years!
I saw the trailers for this show before it first came out. I thought it was going to be pretty lame. One night several weeks back I caught an episode and have been hooked ever since. I’ve got two of my friends watching it now too. It’s my favorite show on tv now. I think if more people watched just one episode they’d be hooked as well.
Great show. True to life, at least for TV. Addictive. Acting good. Great writing.The big guy who plays Prez of club finally found his niche.
this is the greatest show that has come out for a long while. I’m glad to here it has been bought for a 2nd season,as it is my favorite show.it was going to tick me off if it only went on (or 1/2) like my previous favorite show “the black donnellys” which i thought kicked ass but apparently the rest of the u.s. didn’t
I am pretty pleased with this show myself and glad it got picked up for another season, FX has been on the mark pretty well with their Dramas, i liked The Shield alot but unfortunately missed a season awhile back and i just never started watching it again, (i am kinda obsessive about my TV shows so if i miss too much or don’t watch the show from the beginning i will usually avoid it for something else) but it’s a great show, i also liked Damages, and Rescue Me ….i don’t wanna get into the whole censorship issue but that’s what has drawn me to cable dramas like FX offers, i don’t know about anyone else but no one has censored my life and it makes me who i am, Good Bad and the Ugly.
SOA – love the bad boy bikers! Do not want to see it cancelled, but if it is to be…please bring closure to the series. Do not leave all hanging out!
If you don’t like this show…YOU are probably a pussy. All of you peace now pussys would be banged in the ass and slaves to those who know how to fight for themselves!!!