Sunday’s cable ratings were stunning as usual for the Paramount Network, less thrilling for HBO.
“Yellowstone” on Paramount continued steady at the rate of 7.8 million viewers just on the main channel. Another 726K picked it up on the Country Music Television channel. They’ve really tapped that vein of the market.
But now “Yellowstone” has a companion show, “1883.” (Will it just be set in 1883 or will they have to change the title every year?) The new show scored 5 million viewers on the main channel following “Yellowstone” and then another 700K on CMT.
So that’s where the eyes were on Sunday. They were not on HBO, that’s for sure. For the first week in 10 without “Succession,” the cabler had an odd night. From 8:30 to 10pm they surprise-showed their HBO Max only series “And Just Like That” from “Sex and the City.” In the prior week, HBO had shown the Coen Brothers movie “No Country for Old Men” in that spot and picked up 196K viewers. But the “SATC” shows didn’t even register in the top 150 programs of the night.
Later, at 10:30, “Curb Your Enthusiasm” ratings fell a bit under 400K, but the episode was comedy magic with Bill Hader playing three roles (and a fourth off screen). I don’t know what happened with Hader’s own show, “Barry,” but he’ll get a guest star Emmy Award for this one.