AMC did frightfully well in ratings on Sunday night. The network’s debut of Ridley Scott’s “The Terror” came in as the No. 1 new series premiere on cable for the current TV season (fall to present), according to live plus same day data from Nielsen.
With a lead in from “The Walking Dead” at 9 p.m. (which had an average of 6.8 million total viewers), at 10:03 p.m., the David Kajganich and Soo Hugh-helmed drama’s launch also grabbed more eyeballs in both the key 18-49 demographic and the 25-54 range than the linear starts of FX’s “Trust,” Showtime’s “Billions,” and HBO’s half-hour comedies “Silicon Valley” and “Barry” — combined.
“The Terror” brought in an average of 3.3 million total viewers. In that same slot, “Trust” had 786,000 million viewers, “Billions” took 928,000, “Silicon Valley” managed 698,000 and “Barry” settled for 564,000.
Among adults 18-49, “The Terror” scored 1.7 million viewers, with “Trust” taking 260,000, “Billions” putting up 329,000, “Silicon Valley” earning 405,000 and “Barry” grabbing 285,000.
However, these ratings don’t count streaming, and it’s important to note that HBO Go numbers mean a lot to the premium cabler.
“The Terror,” based on Dan Simmons’ novel (and a true story), stars Jared Harris (“The Crown”) as Captain Francis Crozier and Tobias Menzies (“Outlander”) as Captain James Fitzjames, follows the men of the Royal Navy as they set off on a quest through uncharted territory in search of the Northern Passage from 1845 to 1848.
On their way, they encounter about as many problems as Odysseus faced while trying to get back from the Trojan War, including unsafe conditions, dwindling resources, wicked bad frostbite, hopelessness, and some in-house drama.
The series is executive produced by Kajganich, Hugh, Scott, David W. Zuker (“The Good Wife”), Alexandra Milchan (“The Wolf of Wall Street”), Scott Lambert (“Jane Got a Gun”), and Guymon Casady (“Game of Thrones”).
“The Terror” hails from Scott Free, Emjag Productions and Entertainment 360 in association with AMC Studios.