Despite an all-star cast including Russell Crowe, Naomi Watts and Seth MacFarlane, Showtime’s “The Loudest Voice” premiered to unspectacular figures on the cabler.
The premiere averaged 299,000 total viewers during its initial Sunday 10 p.m. broadcast which, for comparison, is just over half the 532,000 viewers which “City on a Hill” managed for its debut episode. That number also lags behind the recent debut of another big Showtime limited series, “Escape at Dannemora,” which was watched by 397,000 total viewers during its initial broadcast. However, that show’s viewership increased to over 700,000 by its finale, so expect “The Loudest Voice” to potentially achieve something similar.
“The Loudest Voice” figures did double with the addition of replays (152,000) and digital viewing (200,000) to 651,000, and it’s worth mentioning that with Showtime series, the bulk of viewing is typically delivered across on demand platforms, streaming and delayed viewing, so expect that figure to increase significantly in the coming days.
The miniseries charts the rise and fall of Roger Ailes (Crowe) and how he built Fox News from the ground up. Other cast members include Watts, who plays plays Gretchen Carlson, Sienna Miller, who plays Ailes’ wife Beth, Seth MacFarlane, who plays his acolyte Brian Lewis, and Simon McBurney, who plays Rupert Murdoch. The series is written and executive produced by Gabriel Sherman, among others, whose 2014 biography of Ailes acts as a foundation for the show.
