Nancy Sullivan Benoit AKA Woman stands behind Chris Benoit in 1998 (Photo by George ... [+]
On Monday night, Variety reported that the great season 2 premiere ratings news for VICE TV’s Dark Side of the Ring documentary series is even better than we thought it was from the initial numbers last week. What we knew last week was that the initial premiere broadcast pulled in a 0.14% rating in the key adults 18-49 demographic while averaging 320,000 viewers across all demos. What was did not know is how that night’s replay broadcasts did. (The ratings published by Show Buzz Daily that most people go by only reflect “cable originals,” which, naturally, does not include replays.) After all, this isn’t live sports, so if it’s on the actual “live” network feed and not a DVR recording of the initial broadcast, those eyeballs count just fine.
S0, how many pairs of eyeballs tuned in total?
According to Joe Otterson’s Variety report, ratings data from Nielsen records the premiere as drawing 1.2 million viewers across three broadcasts last Tuesday night, a 119% increase over the season one premiere by the same metric. The article also refers to the trio of broadcasts “setting new highs in adults 18-49 as well,” but it doesn’t give any specifics on that front.
A few hours after the story dropped, gobsmacked Dark Side executive producer Evan Husney tweeted his thanks to viewers:
Of course, while the first season grew pretty consistently from week to week thanks to strong word of mouth, but the new season is a different animal. Not only does it bring the momentum of season one, but it also opened with a two-part episode on the biggest mainstream news story in wrestling history, the Benoit murder-suicide. It was also the first chronicle of the topic to contain significant on the record contributions from friends and family of the Benoits, adding extra gravity. Whether or not the first regular episode of the season, covering New Jack’s violent exploits in the wrestling business, is something that remains to be seen.
David Bixenspan is a freelance writer from Brooklyn, N.Y. He writes the Babyface v. Heel subscription blog/newsletter and co-hosts the Between The Sheets podcast every Monday at BetweenTheSheetsPod.com/everywhere else that podcasts are available. You can follow him on Twitter
