"Forbidden History" Has Low Ratings but Outdraws More Prominent Sunday Shows

Sorry, but I have nothing for you today. It’s a slow week. It’s also unseasonably hot, and I just don’t have the energy to forage for something to write about today. I will note briefly that last week’s episode of Forbidden History drew just 370,000 live plus same day viewers for the Science Channel, which sounds awful until you realize that on the same night, HBO’s heavily publicized Mark Ruffalo vehicle I know This Much Is True had 314,000 viewers and the same network’s Run had 211,000 viewers. The even more heavily hyped Penny Dreadful: City of Angels on Showtime had only 369,000 viewers. (The numbers rise when factoring in streaming views and DVR replays later in the week.) Yes, more people watch Forbidden History live than high-profile premium cable dramas. And yet the HBO shows get acres of press coverage, and almost literally no one but me discussed the propaganda passing as “history.”