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Showtime’s series were off to a good start last night. Leading the way was new racy drama Shameless, a remake of the acclaimed British series, which drew 982,000 at 10 PM (1.3 million overall for the 2 runs) to rank as the most watched Showtime drama series premiere in 7 years, since Dead Like Me (1.11 million). It topped the debuts of The L Word (2004) – 936,000; The Tudors (2007) – 869,000; Dexter (2006) – 603,000.
Californication (848,000) at 9 PM delivered the dark comedy series’ best series premiere, topping the Season 3 premiere’s 821,000 which had the benefit of a Dexter lead-in. For the two airings combined, Californication averaged 1.12 million viewers.
At 9:30 PM, the showbiz-centric new comedy series starring Matt LeBlanc Episodes garnered 768,000 viewers (902,000 total), retaining 91% of its Californication audience. The premiere numbers are expected to get a boost from the pay cable network’s free cable and satellite previews this past weekend. The above numbers only factor in subscribers.
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Episodes was just awful.
Episodes, wasn’t bad but not for me. Mainly because THE TV SET covered similar territory and it was probably one of the best and underrated comedies of the decade.
SHAMELESS… I have to say I wasn’t expecting much from the trailers BUT I loved it. Emmy Rossum is hot. Macy’s great. I thought the Justin Chadwick guy was just some pretty boy before but he’s really good. The whole cast and characters are endearing/interesting. The couple next door are hilarious. The gay kid storyline is actually interesting and not cliche. The bj scene at the tutoring session where the Dad busts in on his daughter is probably one of the most hilarious scenes I’ve seen all in year in film or tv.
“The bj scene at the tutoring session where the Dad busts in on his daughter is probably one of the most hilarious scenes I’ve seen all in year in film or tv.”
Really? Really!??
What is Sho’s going rate for posting PR flackery on the boards?
Certainly less than HBO’s but in this economy it all spends…assuming your critical integrity is worth little…
All that scene needed was Benny Hill music and…it would have been second-rate…Benny Hill…for chrissakes…
You sound like you work for the show. No one else would go to such great lengths to point out every single aspect of the show. Fact is, neither show is very good.
No I don’t work for Showtime, hah. I said it was ONE OF the most no THE MOST hilarious scenes. If you see it when the dad comes in and Joan Cussack is just out of it and the apple falls under the table, the dad finds it and sees his daughter giving a bj. Then he starts chasing them. Its hilariously played.
Fact is I probably won’t return to Shameless. It needs to be a half hour. Wouldn’t keep investing time into it. I don’t feel the NEED to watch it like I do Breaking Bad, Dexter, The Walking Dead… and err… 90210/Gossip Girl.
Watched part of Shameless… Wish I could get that 35 minutes back. Guess not every show is a winner
Sunday nights are great again!
Californication is stronger than ever, and Shameless looks to be quite good too. Strong premiere episode that (hopefully) sets up what could be a great new series.
Episodes looks like a complete turkey, however. The producers should thank their lucky stars that it is sandwiched in between Californication and Episodes.
Someone please explain to me what was good about this debut episode. I was all psyched for it, and the first two minutes, the couple fights, don’t have a single good line, and it continues throughout.
These people who work on shows really have zero talent. I don’t understand how they can create 30 minutes, write 25-40 pages, and expect that people will consider it to be good. It’s like a bunch of college kids in a creative writing program watched Entourage and took a shot at writing this series.
I’m frankly not just disappointed, but angry that these creators are given a shot, because this is garbage television.
Shameless was pretty cool. A lot of twists and turns. Enough there to make me want to come back next week. Episodes was funny enough. The girl who played the head of comedy for the network was really good.
I thought the network head was good but even more funny was her d-girl underling. The blonde Jewish gal. She was hilarious. Just her facial expressions and everything. I would go back and watch just for her. I have no connection to the woman, she was just hilarious. I hope she’s in the second episode.
These shows=EPIC FAIL
Big kudos to Kapinos and the Californication team for finding ways to keep it fresh. There really hasn’t been a bad episode yet.
How are these numbers considered good? its insane.
Didn’t see Shameless. Saw Episodes and really, really loved it. Lots of laughs, and the poignancy of the old-time Brit actor having to audition for the lead, doing different accents to an unsmiling audience until he was thoroughly humiliated. Best new comedy pilot in years. And as others have said, loved, loved the woman who played the head of the comedy department. Great understatement. Episodes is a winner. Reminds me of Larry Sanders and Comeback.
What?!?!?! THIS reminded you of Larry Sanders?!?!? What? WHAT?!
While watching Episodes I kept thinking of the TV Set which covered the same ground, but much better. It wasn’t awful, but it felt so tired conceptually. Of course, Entourage has sucked the past few seasons, but it was quite good for a while. I’m also concerned that like his former Friends’ castmate HBO show The Comeback this will be a one joke show. The Brits really, really don’t want Matt! That will no doubt get tired by episode 34. No?
Episodes was so poorly written, and nothing at all happened.
You were given 30 minutes on premium cable, and delivered that? Shame on you.
And the executives who worked on this, you should be fired. Why?
The only reason the show has heat is because LeBlanc is spoofing hismelf? So let’s shut him out of the story.
Also, hate to say it, but the entire show was filled with unattractive people.
The two leads, the elder statesman, the network head, the t.v. people…
It’s the entertainment industry. It’s shallow. Maybe cast some good-looking people once in awhile. This isn’t The Sopranos, it’s a show about LA.
Loved EPISODES–loved it. Reminded me of one of my old favorites which never got it’s due on Showtime, Beggars & Choosers. I think the two lead Brits are hysterical, and agree the network suits are right on..can’t wait for “joey” to join in the fun..also pleasantly surprised by SHAMELESS..trailers were crappy,show is much better than the marketing campaign.
The woman in Episodes who couldn’t crack a smile was Daisy Haggard, a British comic actor. She’s ordinarily *very* smiley, which I guess was an added joke for those aware of her. You can see her in various things, but I’d recommend Psychoville.
She is hilarious. EW just did a feature on her. I want to marry her. The fact that she’s British makes me love her even more. She needs to go mainstream.