The Idol premiere does solid but not euphoric ratings
Months of hype and a much-discussed Cannes premiere didn’t result in huge ratings
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The public’s desire to see Lily-Rose Depp and Able “The Weeknd” Tesfaye’s lurid drama about the exploitative pop-star factory may have been overstated. Despite reviews showering the internet with references to all the carnal horrors and on-set mayhem that helped The Idol bubble to the top of the discourse in Succession’s wake, viewers weren’t so eager for a peek. The show did solid numbers for Sam Levinson’s Euphoria follow-up, though not as much as his other show. Per Variety, The Idol pulled in 913,000 viewers on Sunday night, with numbers that combine Nielsen viewers and Warner Bros. Discovery’s data.
Not that 913,000 viewers are anything to scoff at. After all, only 2.9 million people watched the Succession finale, and that show had an online fanbase as robust and committed as any of HBO’s buzziest dramas. Moreover, as Variety notes, the premiere sits in between other shows not based on pre-existing “major” I.P., like The White Lotus (944,000 viewers) and Winning Time (901,000)—though it could be said that both hotels and Los Angeles Lakers are long-running I.P., but we don’t need to split hairs.
Yet, compared to Euphoria, pretty much all these shows’ ratings look dismal. Last year, Deadline reported that Euphoria’s season two finale brought in 6.6 million viewers, and that didn’t have the benefit of a near-constant discussion of biological fluids on Lily-Rose Depp’s face. Per our own review, The Idol’s lack of quality may have resulted in a lack of interest, resulting in a series that aims to provoke but mostly annoys. In their recap of the premiere, reviewer Manuel Betancourt wrote:
This pilot episode—all about how a viral image of Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) with cum all over her face may affect the rollout of her upcoming single and tour—constantly winks and nudges at us that it knows just how thorny and vexing talk about shame and agency operate in this kind of world. And yet, it all adds up to a rather hollow spectacle not nearly as smart or as edgy or as insightful as the show knows itself to be.
New episodes of The Idol are released on Sundays on HBO and Max.
7 Comments
Hotels are not I.P. A specific hotel chain may have a brand, but the White Lotus chain specifically was made up by Mike White for the show.
Though fictional, the White Lotus chain is IP, as is Hogwarts or Narnia.
It’s not pre-existing.
I genuinely never heard of this show until yesterday, but after having seen it, I hope everyone who writes for it feels terrible about how it’s being received. I hope they feel like failures and it ruins their week. So, so, so bad.
After several months of enjoying Sunday evenings with Succession and/or Barry, my mother asked me what was coming up next on HBO Sundays. I showed her a trailer for The Idol. Her take: “Hard pass. That looks terrible. Can any of those people act?”
The Weeknd has some good and catchy songs, yes. And Lily-Rose Depp’s dad was just in the highest-profile court case in years…which was pretty embarrassing for everyone. Other than those two things (and sex scenes), what’s the draw here? Levinson? The younger crowd who flock to Euphoria due to Zendaya and TikTok clips of that show aren’t going to immediately be drawn to this, and as an almost-30 year old, I’m not sure his brand works for me either.
tried to get through 15mins of it but it takes itself too serious and it’s not a fun watch.