The premiere of IFC’s newest original comedy, “The Spoils of Babylon,” brought in 911,000 viewers.
Two half-hour episodes debuted back-to-back on Thursday Jan. 9, and then the cable channel looped the hour-block three more times. The eight 30-minute blocks resulted in a combined audience of nearly 2.3 million total viewers.
IFC’s “The Spoils of Babylon” was also the No. 1 ranked Thursday show according to Nielsen SocialGuide in Unique Audience and Impressions versus all cable non-sports programming, and No. 3 among all TV shows for the night.
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“We could not be more pleased to see a viewer response to this premiere night worthy of the great Eric Jonrosh and his epic work,” said Jennifer Caserta, IFC president, referring to Will Ferrell‘s character. “We look forward to continuing this star-studded and meticulously-crafted ride over the next four weeks.”
The Spoils of Babylon is a comedic tale of forbidden love, betrayal, corruption and bloodshed. The TV miniseries is based on the work of famed author Eric Jonrosh (Ferrell). The six-part saga features Kristen Wiig, Tobey Maguire, Jessica Alba, Jellybean Howie, Val Kilmer, Haley Joel Osment, Tim Robbins, Michael Sheen and Steve Tom with cameos by David Spade and Molly Shannon, and Carey Mulligan voicing a mannequin.
The miniseries is produced by Funny or Die and executive produced by Ferrell, Adam McKay, Matt Piedmont, Andrew Steele and Nate Young.
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The remaining four episodes will air Thursday nights at 10 p.m., with the finale airing on Feb. 6.