All the Hate-Watching Made The Idol Most Popular Show on the Internet
Sam Levinson's new show has become a hit despite the backlash.
HBO's new biggest show, The Idol, was planned as the next bold step in the network's catalog of original content, but the controversies surrounding the project made the show a pariah rather than the acclaimed auteur project it was expected to be.
Critics were outraged by the amount of unnecessary nudity in the series and accused Sam Levinson and The Weeknd of exploiting Lily-Rose Depp and other female actresses to give their show more traction.
With all the behind-the-scenes drama and accusations, The Idol became one of the most hated shows even before it premiered on HBO on June 4. However, it seems that all the controversy around the new series didn't stop millions of viewers from watching The Idol — and it's no wonder, as everyone was curious to see what all the fuss was about.
According to the official TV statistics, The Idol became the most popular show of June 5 with an insane engagement score of 99.85, while shows like Ted Lasso and Succession were barely able to crack 50 engagement scores. It looks like the audiences' hatred towards the project didn't harm it at all, actually making more people keen to check it out.
However, some people are not sure if the engagement scores are a clear indication of the series' popularity, as the scores are generated based on how often the show is mentioned online, not the actual viewership numbers.
'Is online engagement really a believable metric in this case? Everyone and their cousins have an opinion on this show and they have been on social media talking about it, I don't think every one of them actually watched it,' a fan argued.
Even though everyone is talking about The Idol right now, HBO's official ratings show that only 913 thousand people watched the series' premiere, which is a far cry from the Euphoria Season 1 launch that drew 1.1 million viewers. Additionally, shows like White Lotus and Winning Time managed to draw 944 thousand and 901 thousand people respectively, despite not having a pedigree like The Idol.
So it looks like The Idol didn't break any records for HBO, but the upcoming episodes may change that in the future.
The Idol Episode 2 will arrive on HBO on June 11, 2023.
Source: Reddit.