HBO's 'VEEP' opens with larger audience than 'Girls' premiere

Look for second season renewal notice from premium channel soon

Anna Chlumsky in "Veep." (Handout photo by William Gray / March 3, 2011)

By David Zurawik The Baltimore Sun

7:23 a.m. EDT, April 25, 2012

"VEEP," the widely-praised Maryland-made comedy starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, got off to a solid start Sunday night with an audience of 1.7 million viewers for two showings. The 10 p.m. showing opposite AMC's "Mad Men" drew 1.4 million viewers.

"VEEP" drew 300,000 more viewers than the finale of "Eastbound and Down," which aired the previous week in that timeslot for HBO.

"Girls," another critically-acclaimed HBO comedy, opened the week before with 810,000 viewers in its 10:30 p.m.Sunday timeslot and 1.1 million for two showings.

Based on Sunday's opening-night numbers and widespread critical paise for "VEEP," look for HBO in coming days to announce that it has ordered a second season from creator Armando Iannucci.

And that will be very good news for the local production community in the Baltimore.

Comments (2)

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Sherry T. at 12:08 PM April 29, 2012

An interesting discussion this morning on Reliable Sources about "Girls" on HBO. The question came up about the show not being culturally diverse in it's casting, that is was only portraying white young women. Well it was good discussion. If the show is a good show and it is relating to young women then I am not sure if that is a huge issue. It's only ran twice anyway, so who can say whether or not all of the cast has been introduced. If it is a good show that deals with the issues of young women and today's economic situation it will get a culturally diverse audience and that's what matters in my opinion. Bill Cosby's show was one of my favorites and it was very culturally relevant to a diverse population and was a huge success. We can all learn from GREAT shows. :)

Sherry T. at 9:16 PM April 24, 2012

Hi Z, that's very good news for HBO's "VEEP" and Baltimore, keep Baltimore working. The tax incentives will be doing their job then and very important for those extra-people doing set designs, paint businesses and everyone. Glad to hear that. "Girls" sounds intriguing too, both seem like very culturally relevant series plots right now, both definitely reflecting our current economic situation.

I wonder how Savage U and Mad Men are doing in the ratings. I like those shows. I think Mitt Romney is on his way to the GOP nomination.

Have a good Tuesday night Z and everyone.

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