Friday, December 13, 2024

Sunday: “Game of Thrones” Longest Ever Episode Attracts 12 Million Viewers, Pulls Following Show, “Barry” to New Highs

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Sunday night’s 82 minute episode of “Game of Thrones” scored a dizzying 12 million viewers for HBO. The Battle of Winterfell was a massive success because we don’t even know the full extent of its viewing across HBO platforms.

But what we do know is that the show that follows “GoT” has also gone crazy. Bill Hader’s “Barry” had 2 million viewers, even more than last week. Before “Thrones” started airing, “Barry” had 450,000 viewers. And this past week’s episode, which was psychedelic, w0uld never have been seen by so many people.

“Veep,” which was hilarious, scored 1 million fans, which is excellent. It sure seems like Jonah, revealed as the product of incest, may be elected president. That would be the proper ending for this insanely wonderful show.

Meantime, the Kardashians bounced back a little from last week, but they are still dying in the vine.

On Showtime, “Billions” hangs tough with 750K viewers in its first run. Like a lot of people, I watched it after “Thrones.” “Billions” is sheer genius and a guilty pleasure. Nina Arianda is killing it. Damian Lewis, Paul Giamatti and Maggie Siff are better than ever. Kevin Pollak has been a great guest star. Asia Kate Dillon continues to rock. I am so happy to see Samantha Mathis every week. Emmy nominations, please! If it doesn’t happen this time, something is corrupted in the system!

 

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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