Sacha Baron Cohen's 'Who Is America?' Draws Tepid Ratings
by EG
Showtime had been trying to drum up free publicity for Who Is America??, the new satirical series from Sacha Baron Cohen. News headlines in recent weeks focused on the conservative politicians who had been tricked by Cohen's fake interviews. But the hype didn't seem to pay off, given that roughly six dozen other shows on cable drew bigger audiences on Sunday night. Read on for details.
Via Deadline.
Oscar Wilde once quipped that “there is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”
Having generated a lot of chatter recently, Sacha Baron Cohen and Showtime may take The Importance of Being Earnest author’s words as some cold comfort today. They may have to. Because, for all the hoopla around the debut of Cohen’s Who Is America? series, the 10 PM premiering satire offering attracted a pretty meager viewership on July 15, at least on the small screen.
Just 327,000 sets of eyeballs tuned in to the premium cabler on Sunday night to see the Borat star spoof Senator Bernie Sanders, gun activists, Trent Lott, supporters of Donald Trump and more in the first episode of the series. Among the key demographic of adults 18-49, Who Is America? pulled in a low 0.1 rating. That put the secretive and controversial Who Is America? in the hinterland of the 70th highest-rated original show on cable on July 15.
Which is clearly not a place you want to be if you are a marquee name for the CBS owned outlet.
In comparison and airing in the same 10 PM ET slot as Who Is America??, Fox Sports 1 had UFC Fight Night with a 0.3 rating and 754,000 viewers. Over on Home, House Hunters Renovation snagged a 0.3 in the key demo too. However, the politics free HHR also pulled in an audience of 1.4 million.
Get the rest of the story at Deadline.
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