The numbers aren’t that surprising, given the pre-publicity surrounding The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, but the results are no less significant; the anthology series starring Cuba Gooding Jr. as the former NFL player-turned-convicted felon netted more than 5 million viewers, a record for an FX debut.
Nielsen says the first installment of the miniseries also averaged a 2.0 rating in adults 18–49, which represents 2.481 million viewers. That’s better than the first episode of American Horror Story, which achieved a 1.6 in 2011.
Variety says the last time that an FX show broke a premiere record was in 2002 with the start of The Shield, which earned a 2.4.
FX won’t announce ratings until it sees three days’ worth of time-shifting viewing.
The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on FX.
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