Hot Trailer: ‘Anchorman 2′ 
2ND UPDATE: Charlie Sheen Fired Selma Blair From … 
Time Warner Cable Sued For Passing Lakers-Dodgers Costs On … 
Jonah Hill Signs For Management With LBI 
TOLDJA! ‘Dumb And Dumber To’ Proves No-Brainer … 
Salma Hayek’s Animated Passion Project ‘The … 
Relativity Moves Scott Cooper’s ‘Out Of The … 
Hot Trailer: ‘The Lego Movie’ 
Russell Crowe Sets ‘The Water Diviner’ For … 
Comedy ‘I Didn’t Do It’ Gets Series Order … 
CNN’s ‘New Day’ Debut Up In Demo But … 
Liv Tyler To Co-Star In Damon Lindelof’s HBO Pilot … 
DreamWorks Animation Launches Effort To Re-Position Itself … 
‘Pacific Rim’ Sequel In Planning Stages, … 
Legendary “Down To Handful” Of Studio Suitors: … 
UPDATE: Dan Harmon Apologizes For Comments Slamming … 
Paramount- Montecito Set Black List Scribes Eyal Podell … 
‘Bioshock’ Creator Ken Levine Takes On … 
Deadline Expands: Hires Washington Post Journalist Lisa De … 
Ratings Rat Race: ‘The Voice’ Rises, … 
Angelina Jolie Stunt Double Files First U.S. Phone-Hacking … 
History entered the original scripted arena in a big way last night. The premiere of the cable network’s miniseries Hatfields & McCoys drew a staggering 13.9 million total viewers, 4.8 million adults 18-48 and 5.8 million adults 25-54 from 9-11 PM to become the the No. 1 non-sports telecast in ad-supported cable television history. The combined viewership for Part 1′s two airings was 17 million. “With all the success we have had at History, we felt strongly for some time that we should own historical drama, and in true History fashion, we have done it, with — pardon the pun — guns ablazin!,” said History’s president and general manger Nancy Dubuc. Hatfields & McCoys, a three-part, six-hour miniseries starring Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton, tells the true American story of a legendary family feud that spanned decades and nearly launched a war between Kentucky and West Virginia. Part 2 and Part 3 premiere tonight and tomorrow night, respectively. The mini is produced by Thinkfactory Media, with Leslie Greif executive producing, and Costner, Darrell Fetty and Herb Nanas producing. Sony TV is distributing. Hatfields & McCoys had been a passion project for Greif for more than 20 years.
Related: RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘America’s Got Talent’ & ‘Bachelorette’ Down
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
Loading ...
Wow. I felt it was too rushed since they only have 6 hours. I bet they wish they stretched it to 12 now.
Excellent across the board in every department!
Everything was letter perfect and very few commercial breaks.
Far more impressive than I thought it would be.
Such a surprise, the whole thing, so far. Much better than expected. Mr. Costner was much more plausible in the lead than I’d imagined. The violence could have been dialed back for my tastes, in lieu of the only part I felt has been been rushed (during night one; then abandoned tonight?) that being the most compelling (least repetitive) storyline; the romance between the “kids”… in which the surprising supporting cast (Matt Barr and especially Lindsey Pulsipher) really shined. Seems like their story warranted it’s own development… having had no idea there was a love story ever in this, I’m eager for resolution!
The right Stars and the right Story were all in alignment. Kudos to producer Kevin Costner and History Channel for making this a big hit!
Congrats! Cable rules!
CONGRATULATIONS LESLIE!!!! 30 years of a Sisyphian effort and mega success. Much deserved pal.
“The No.1 non-sports telecast in ad supported cable television history.”
Slightly confused. What’s the distinction? “Ad Supported cable” ratings versus (HBO) cable ratings?
Yes. Exactly.
They should start working on a series about the Civil War now. Bet that would do huge numbers, and they wouldn’t have to limit it to 6 hours.
The challenge would be, doing battle scenes on a TV budget. But it could skirt that issue by focusing on spies, something like that. AMC was thinking of that approach for the Revolutionary War (also a good idea).
I would definitely watch either idea.
H&M looks fantastic — great wardrobe, sets, very in-period. And I’m enjoying Costner which is not an always thing for me.
This is great to see since Costner never got to make his adaptation of THE KENTUCKY CYCLE for HBO, which would have been amazing. Great to see this doing well.
There was absolutely nothing else on so of course the numbers were huge! Plus Kevin Costner is still a big, big draw and has been out there talking it up all week. Good marketing and very good timing!!! Everyone else is still ‘on vacation’.
I don’t know if anything else was on because I usually only watch the news couple of hours a month but I was glued to part one and two and have already watched the repeat of each.
i had choices – i usually watch bravo. first time viewer for history channel.
Congats to all. What this suggests to me is that there is a huge appetite for event miniseries out there that nobody in the broadcast arena and few in the cable arena are servicing. Hello?? Anybody think it’s time to go back to reintegrating longform programming into the mix?
Great to see the underrated, wonderful actor Tom Berenger (who is also the nicest guy in the business) back at the top where he belongs! Heartfelt congrats!
They all deserve “EMMYS”, but I think Paxton really stands out. Good for Costner for not hogging all the best stuff for himself, there are enough great lines and screen time for everyone. Plus it has Powers Booth in it so how can it not be good
ted mann penned this. congrats to him!
Ronald Parker also penned this and is credited with Ted Mann. Congrats to both of them!
Bet me they aren’t already shooting , pardon the pun, the series version.
The “2 Kevins” Costner & Reynolds, is a great collaboration, going back to Fandango when neither of them were “stars”. The western genre always did work for TV. I can’t wait for parts 2 & 3. Well done History Channel~~
Except that one little movie about a world covered with water.
I know it’s not cool to say, but I actually like a lot about WATERWORLD with the major exception of the villains, the Smokers. They absolutely ruin the movie for me. Otherwise, it’s an intriguing sci-fi concept with a lot of potential, but the need to structure the plot with “bad guys” who pose a physical threat completely unravels when they just come off as silly and illogical.
Waterworld didn’t even come close to being the blockbuster dog of The Postman.
Not too surprised. History did a great job marketing the miniseries. When I went to see The Avengers, a trailer played before the theatrical trailers began. Even though the lights were still on and people were being seated, the crowd seemed very enthusiastic about the preview.
Sure there are a lot of cable outlets that passed on this and are kicking themselves today. I personally thought the first episode was solid..looking forward to seeing the rest. GREAT cast too
I went into this with low expectations, but with a long holiday coming to end it was the only non-repeat, non-marathon choice out there. I was pleasantly surprised. Kevin Costner (who I’ve never been much a fan of) was good as were Paxton and Winningham (a very underrated and underused actress), but I thought the supporting cast was even better; especially Matt Barr and Lisa Pulsipher whose characters became an emotional end to the first episode.
Maybe this will push the cable nets not to abandon original program over the holidays. Any of them would have flipped to get one-quarter of that audience.
Agreed. The vets are solid, but the younger supporting cast is fantastic. It’s Matt Barr & Lindsay Pulsipher who have me coming back for more tonight. I also thought Noel Fisher was terrific, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of Boyd Holbrook and Jena Malone. Great casting all round.
Ok I’m ready for a Lincoln County War mini-series: Billy The Kid, Lew Wallace, John Chisum, Murphy-Dolan gang…..has the makings of a very good follow up!!! History channel….let’s hope this is just the beginning!!!
Do the rating show how many were watching by the end of the program? Very boring stuff.
But there were no aliens.
I just can not get past most everyone looking like they just stepped out of a fashion magazine. These were inbred hillbillys bent on drinking moonshine, fighting, shooting, and making babies. My willing suspension of disbelief is not willing to make the leap to romanticizing this low life. Having said that, it did have great production values.
Randel, lowlife? Really? Not all were “inbred” and honestly, there weren’t many reliable forms of birth control back then. It was much more cost efficient to buy a couple of bushels of corn, bring it into the mountains on horseback and make moonshine. Much more efficient than trying to find enough land to clear, and then planting the corn, waiting for it to grow, then harvest it and have to transport to wherever to sell it. Have you ever tried to plow a mountain. Brush up on your KY history before making judgements like that. People adapted to what was available. Fighting and shooting? Law enforcement was rather sparce
Wonderful, wondeful, History Channel has done it again. Love all their programs, this is top rated, have not looked forward to anything coming to television this much sine Lonesome Dove.
I was thoroughly entertained. Great acting, excellent writing with a bit of comedy. They’ve surprisingly revived the miniseries with something that men & women can actually watch together.
Bravo to Costner! The man has deserved a successful comeback for ten years.
Lazy writing. All exposition, no arcs. I know you have to have the obligatory scene where the hatfield and mccoy kids get to know each other, but at least make the conversation more interesting than “Hey, I fancy ya. Hey, I fancy you too. You think my pa’ll mind you comin’ over? Naw, I think not.”