Despite lackluster ratings, The Idol shows signs of life on streaming

The weekend might be over, but the Weeknd is just getting started. Per Variety, viewership for Sam Levinson’s follow-up to Euphoria, The Idol is still down after last week’s premiere. However, this show aimed at ‌Weeknd and Euphoria fans is doing fine on streaming, which is probably how its intended audience watches television.

First, the bad news: The show’s viewership dropped 12% from last week’s premiere, with 800,000 viewers tuning into The Idol on Sunday night, a figure that includes cable and Max streams. But in the previous week, things have started looking up for the show. The premiere’s 912,000 viewers didn’t set the world on fire, especially considering the lengths the show went to provoke viewers via a semen selfie. Over the next week, though, viewership increased to 3.6 million viewers, besting Euphoria or The White Lotus. Of course, that doesn’t explain why this didn’t result in people tripping over themselves to watch episode two, “Double Fantasy,” on Sunday night.

That might have something to do with the show’s quality and its penchant for causing viewers to come down with an acute case of cringe. The Idol has mainly been panned by critics, including here at The A.V. Club. In their recap, writer Manuel Betancourt described the “unsexy” sexuality of the show:

Another (intentionally?) unsexy sexual episode between Jocelyn and Tedros where she asks him to yet again tie up/blindfold her and boss her around. Again, that blurring of agency comes through here: Is she submitting to Tedros or is she thinking she’s in control because she’s chosen to submit? Those would be interesting questions were they not framed by laughable dialogue like “Show me how sexy you are” and “Make that throat wet for me.” Is it the point that these moments are so unsexy? That the audience can see right through Tedros’ hollow seduction? Maybe. But that just leaves those gratuitous moments of sex-as-empowerment feel equally hollow.