Ratings Report: ‘Fargo’ Goes Far With Fans And Critics And ‘Obliterated’ Finds Its Crowd
Broadcast: The CW brought the Canadian sitcom, Children Ruin Everything, to American broadcast for its third season. Premiering back in September, episode nine aired November 23rd to an audience of 234,000 in the P2+ demographic, with a rating of 0.07, and 86,000 in the P18-49 group, with a rating of 0.07. The tenth and final episode of the season aired on November 30th to a smaller audience, bringing in 196,000 viewers in the P2+ demographic, with a rating of 0.06, and 42,000 viewers in the P18-49 demographic, with a rating of 0.03. This family-oriented comedy follows Astrid and James, played by Meaghan Rath (Hawaii Five-0, New Girl, Schitt’s Creek) and Aaron Abrams (Hannibal, Blindspot, The Lovebirds), as they struggle to cling to their independent identities while raising three children. The series showcases the difficulties of parenthood while demonstrating why it is worth all the sacrifices.
Cable: Fargo, FX’s hit anthology series, is back for another season. Season five premiered on November 21st, bringing in an audience of 566,000 in the P2+ demographic, with a rating of 0.18, and 158,500 in the P19-49 demographic, with a rating of 0.12. Episode two aired the following week to a slightly smaller audience, bringing in 494,000 viewers in the P2+ demographic, with a rating of 0.16, and 105,500 viewers in the P18-49 demographic, with a rating of 0.08. This American crime drama series has consistently received praise throughout the years by audiences and critics alike, and this latest outing is no exception. Season five currently holds a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes with an audience score to match. Set in Minnesota and North Dakota during the fall of 2019, season five stars Juno Temple (Ted Lasso, Horns, Killer Joe) as a not-so-innocent midwestern housewife, Dot Lyon, whose mysterious past catches up with her after a run-in with local authorities. The events of this season kickstart when Lyon manages to escape a kidnapping with the help of State Trooper Witt Farr, played by Lamorne Morris (New Girl, Woke, Sandy Wexler).
Streaming: Obliterated is the latest action series from Netflix, with all eight episodes premiering on November 30th. This high-octane adventure follows an elite special forces team that work to prevent a deadly terrorist organization from blowing up Las Vegas. After prematurely celebrating their victory, the team must power through their vicious hangovers to thwart the real threat before it's too late. In its debut week, Obliterated ranked No. 3 on Netflix’s Global Top Ten list. Between November 27th and December 3rd, this new series streamed a total of 47.600 million hours and was viewed a total of 7.000 million times. Although its Rotten Tomatoes score is quite low at 50%, Obliterated fared better with its viewers, obtaining an audience score of 79%. Obliterated stars an ensemble cast, including Terrence Terrell (Giants, Criminal Minds, Batwoman) as Trunk, Paola Lázaro (The Walking Dead, Lethal Weapon, Black Bear) as Angela, and Kimi Rutledge (Half Sisters, Shrill, The Wayfarer) as Maya.
South Korea: On November 20th the thriller series A Bloody Lucky Day premiered on South Korea’s pay-to-watch network tvN, with episode two airing the following day. These two episodes brought in an average of 1.142 million viewers. However, viewership fell off quite a bit for episodes three and four, dropping to an average of 706,000. This psychological drama follows an unlucky taxi driver who begrudgingly accepts a high-paying offer to drive a mysterious client, who is revealed to be a serial killer. The driver must use his wit and resourcefulness to survive the ordeal. A Bloody Lucky Day stars Lee Sung-min (Reborn Rich, Soul Mechanic, Splendid Politics) and Yoo Yeon-seok (The Interest of Love, Mr. Sunshine, Dr. Romantic).
On November 24th My Demon, a new fantasy rom-com series, premiered on the free-to-watch network SBS, with episode two airing the following day. The first two episodes of this debut season brought in an average audience of 1.817 million viewers. Episodes three and four aired the following week to an average audience of 1.886 million, demonstrating steady viewership. My Demon tells the story of an arrogant and cynical CEO, Do Do-hee, who becomes involved in a contract marriage with Jeong Gu-won, a demon who can prolong his life by preying on other’s vulnerabilities. Unexpectedly, Do-hee gains Gu-won’s demonic powers, bringing big changes to each of their lives. My Demon stars Kim Yoo-jung (Lovers of the Red Sky, Backstreet Rookie, Love in the Moonlight) and Song Kang (Forecasting Love and Weather, Nevertheless, Touch Your Heart) as the CEO and demon, respectively.
United Kingdom: ITV1’s Coronation Street continues to draw in a large audience throughout the U.K., performing even better than previous weeks. The long-running British drama consistently generates the most viewers per episode when compared to rival series. Between November 13th and 19th, Coronation Street averaged 4.696 million viewers across its three new episodes. ITV1’s other drama, Emmerdale, averaged 4.073 million viewers across its five episodes during the same week. Additionally, EastEnders on BBC1 averaged 3.548 million viewers across its four new episodes. The following week saw each of these series receive a slight boost in viewership. The average viewership for Coronation Street rose to 4.717 million, while Emmerdale jumped up to 4.209 million viewers. EastEnders continues to trail behind the competition, averaging 3.622 million viewers per episode. Meanwhile, Hollyoaks on E4 lost some momentum during this week as its viewership fell to 333,000, breaking its recent trend of rising viewership.