Beyond their premiere dates and glitzy vibe, “The Gilded Age” and “All’s Fair” have little in common — but they both stirred up notable ratings the last time they aired. As they launch new seasons this week, can they keep that ratings momentum going?
As both shows return for their next installments, they face the increasingly difficult task of retaining, and hopefully growing, their viewership — an issue that’s been plaguing even the most established streamers, most notably Netflix, which is facing serious questions about its engagement struggles. HBO Max’s “The Gilded Age” and Hulu’s “All’s Fair” hope to buck that trend and build upon their earlier successes.
The shows sit on two very different ends of ratings success. “All’s Fair,” Ryan Murphy’s campy Hulu legal drama starring Kim Kardashian, Naomi Watts, Niecy Nash-Betts, Sarah Paulson and Glenn Close, was panned critically. But the joke was on the critics as it secured Hulu’s biggest scripted series debut in three years with 3.2 million views, leading the streamer to grant a Season 2 renewal less than three weeks after its debut.
In fact, the critical bashing and subsequent social media chatter — which generated 10 billion impressions from the trailer’s release on Oct. 8 to Nov. 20 — might have, in part, boosted viewership as audiences scurried to form their own opinion on “All’s Fair” to share on social media. A year later, the show is back and as campy as ever. Will curious audiences tune back in?
Conversely, “The Gilded Age” was an HBO slow burn, finding its footing in Season 3 to break into another ratings stratosphere with five consecutive records leading into the finale and a season average of 8.8 million U.S. cross platform viewers. The growth was fueled by a distinct marketing approach from the first two seasons, embracing fandom and social media creators, with VP of originals marketing at HBO Max Mark Doumet telling me last summer, “We tore up the playbook.”
One thing working in both show’s favors is the quick turnaround between seasons. “All’s Fair” Season 2 debuted exactly one year after Season 1 on Wednesday, while “The Gilded Age” had about a year and three months gap between its Season 3 finale and the Season 4 launch, a slightly longer stretch with the show moving from a summer to a fall premiere. In a landscape where even prestige drama “The Pitt” has been pulling off a season a year, the shorter gap is better for any show.
With both shows tied heavily to social conversation, the key is enlivening that audience on social media again to remind stragglers of the release. HBO and Hulu have set themselves up there with buzzy premiere events with plenty of social media creators ready to start that conversation.
And thanks to a weekly release for both series — “All’s Fair” embraces a staggered debut while “The Gilded Age” airs an episode a week in traditional HBO fashion — both shows have set the groundwork for that online presence to grow over the course of the season. We’ll see what the numbers say sooner than later.
Midterm ratings shift the leaderboard
NBC News emerged as a clear ratings winner during coverage of Tuesday’s midterm elections, with the most recent numbers seeing the network bring in 6.8 million total viewers during primetime, with its closest competitor standing as ABC News with 5.12 million viewers.
CNN initially led the cable networks, but updated numbers saw MS NOW take the lead with 4.19 million viewers, sliding just ahead of CNN with 4.18 million viewers while Fox News brought in 4.08 million viewers. CBS News ranked last among the six networks measured, averaging 2.73 million viewers.
ABC’s Thursday dramas start strong
The Thursday drama lineup kicked off with a bang, with both “9-1-1” and “9-1-1: Nashville” seeing viewership gains over their past season average. The Season 10 debut of “9-1-1” scored 8.1 million viewers after a week — rising 4% from the previous season average — while the Season 2 debut of “9-1-1: Nashville” scored 6.8 million total viewers after seven days, outperforming both the Season 1 finale by 9% and the season average by 1%.
“Grey’s Anatomy” kicked off Season 23 with 5.6 million total viewers.
South Park streaming milestone
“South Park” entered Nielsen’s acquired streaming chart for the first time since July 2025 with 540 million minutes during its third week of Season 29. That boosted the show to land as the No. 7 most-watched acquired streaming title for the week of Oct. 12, and the showhad the highest concentration of adults 18-34 of any Top 10 title during the week with 52%.
ICYMI:
- “Crystal Lake” generated 1.7 billion minutes watched in its first two weeks
- CBS secured the top new shows of the fall thanks to impressive performance from “NCIS: New York” and “Cupertino” in their second week
- “The One About Matthew Perry” debuted atop Netflix’s most-watched English-language TV list in its first week on the streamer
- Inde Navarrette boosted “SNL” to its highest viewership of the season thus far
