The Alienist returned to solve another crime on Sunday, but the ratings are down considerably.
The Alienist: Angel of Darkness Episode 1 garnered 1.33 million total viewers and a 0.26 rating in the all-important 18-49 demo, with a second episode following with 1.10 million viewers and a 0.19 rating.
These numbers are passable, but they represent a big decline from the buzzy drama’s freshman season, which kicked off with 2.09 million viewers and a 0.51 rating.
As a whole, The Alienist Season 1 averaged 1.76 million viewers and a 0.41 rating in the demo.
The Alienist launched as 2018’s #1 new cable drama in adults 18-49, and given the decent hold throughout the season, it was expected that a sequel would have more solid sampling.
More people are at home watching TV, but the series was no match for Paramount’s competing Yellowstone, which, once again, dominated the Sunday in total viewers.
Yellowstone Season 3 Episode 5 garnered 3.69 million total viewers and a 0.71 rating.
The Kevin Costner-led drama continues to be way up season-to-season, following a similar trajectory to AMC’s The Walking Dead in its earlier seasons in terms of percentage growth.
Both shows typically get solid post-airdate viewership, but it remains to be seen whether people will catch The Alienist follow-up via other means.
For now, Sundays remain a fiercely competitive night. You would think that some of the programming would be dispersed to other nights that have little to no content because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Over on HBO, Perry Mason, which is skewing older than the typical HBO show, is still getting some solid viewership.
The most recent episode had almost 900,000 viewers in its linear debut. Of course, HBO takes delayed viewing into consideration because it is a, premium cabler and it is not ad-supported.
Look for a formal Perry Mason Season 2 pickup in the coming weeks!
90 Day Fiance: Happily Ever After? was the show to beat in the younger demos, pulling in an eye-popping 0.94 rating.
People sure love all the drama!
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Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.