The premiere of Aaron Sorkin's new drama "The Newsroom" got off to a respectable start Sunday night, landing the third-highest series premiere numbers for HBO since 2008 and coming in just slightly behind the series premiere of "Game of Thrones."
The premiere of "The Newsroom," which stars Jeff Daniels and Sam Waterston, grabbed 2.1 million total viewers with its 10 p.m. airing. That's a far cry from the numbers for "Boardwalk Empire," which amassed 4.8 million viewers for its 2010 premiere, but is within spitting distance of "Game of Thrones," which premiered with 2.2 million total viewers in April 2010.
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"The Newsroom" bow also beat out the series premieres of "True Blood" (which took in 1.4 million total viewers) and "Luck" (which received 1.1 million).
"The Newsroom" pulled in an additional 513,000 viewers with an 11:15 p.m. encore airing, bringing the tally for the night up to 2.7 million.
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Sunday night also saw "True Blood" draw approximately 5 million total viewers across its two airings, with the 9 p.m. airing pulling in 4.7 milion viewers and another 324,000 tuning in for the 12:30 a.m. encore.
HBO is also streaming the premiere episode via a number of platforms, including for free on YouTube.