The Penguin scored a strong debut on HBO and Max last week, both in viewership and reviews, but it seems that one industry veteran has put all of that in perspective, and proven that broadcast television is not dead yet, to boot. Kathy Bates returned to screens on Sunday in her new, and most likely final, role of Matlock in a reboot of the classic legal drama of the same name. The debut episode became a huge hit for CBS, and it dwarfed the opening numbers for The Penguin’s arrival.
The Penguin brings Colin Farrell to the small screen in a continuation of Matt Reeves’ The Batman universe. With that movie having grossed almost $800 million on its release in 2022, it seemed like there was no way the spin-off series was going to be a failure, and so it proved as the premiere drew in $3.2 million views in its first four days between the two platforms. This number jumps up to $5.3 million when accounting for all platforms, making it the biggest new series launch since The Last of Us.
However, The Penguin’s figures prove that sometimes streaming platforms and franchise releases just cannot compete with a beloved star and a strong legal drama. Bates made her first appearance as Madeline Matlock on Sunday, and delivered one of the largest Live + Same Day linear viewerships seen in several years. According to figures released by Nielsen (via Deadline), Matlock was watched by 7.73 million people within its first day, giving CBS its highest audience in over 5 years, discounting shows that have aired directly after the Super Bowl.
In short, Matlock pulled in more than double the viewers of The Penguin when considering just those who watched on CBS and HBO/Max, respectively. Even when adding in all the other platforms The Penguin was available on, and the fact it had a four-day window, the result for Matlock is even more impressive.
Matlock Has Bested The Penguin in Its Reviews Too
As well as dominating the DC property in viewership, Matlock has also succeeded in receiving a better Rotten Tomatoes score from critics and matching audience scores with it. Currently, Matlock has retained its perfect 100% Tomatometer score and backed that up with an impressive 89% Popcornmeter average to boot. In comparison, The Penguin has the same audience score, but saw its critical appraisal dip to 94%. While this is certainly nothing short of a success for the new series, it has proven that sometimes you don’t need a big Hollywood franchise to take the crown.
The Penguin will continue with its 10-episode run this Sunday, where it will be seen if the premiere was enough to not only make people want to come back for more, but whether it can increase its viewership as Oz Cobb’s story develops. For Matlock fans, there is a little bit of a longer wait for the next episode. The premiere was released as a “sneak peek” of the series, with the show not airing weekly episodes until October 17.
The Penguin
continues on September 29 on HBO and Max.
