The nineties ushered in the grunge era, “Pulp Fiction” and “Friends” — but, as it turns out, viewers are more interested in the decade that introduced Pac-Man and “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.”
Cable news viewers among the key demo of adults age 25-54 prefer the ’80s over the ’90s, at least according to the ratings of CNN’s latest original series ‘The Nineties.”
The debut of “The Nineties” averaged 506,000 demo viewers on Sunday night, finishing as the most-watched show among cable news. During the 9-11 p.m. ET timeslot, CNN’s look at television in the ’90s beat Fox News by 82 percent and MSNBC by 315 percent.
However, the series opener couldn’t beat last year’s version, “The Eighties,” which averaged 598,000 demo viewers for its premiere. Still, “The Nineties” easily surpassed “The Seventies,” which averaged 291,000 in the demo and “The Sixties,” which averaged 284,000.
Among total viewers, “The Nineties” averaged 1.14 million to beat MSNBC’s 385,000 by 196 percent during the timeslot. However, Fox News averaged 1.2 million viewers to win the slot among total viewers.
The first episode of “The Nineties” was titled “The One About TV” and focused on television from the decade. This week, “Clinton, The Comeback Kid,” will focus on the life of Bill Clinton, who dominated the decade’s political coverage.
“The Nineties” airs on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on CNN.