HBO ‘Winning Time’ Author Pleads For Boost To Audience Numbers In Second Season
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Author Jeff Pearlman is imploring fans to back HBO’s “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty,” so that it can possibly stretch into a third season.
The HBO series is based on Pearlman’s book, Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s. He’s worried that the Hollywood strikes will kill the possibilities of extending beyond the current second season of the series.
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Pearlman has been tweeting his concerns as the series heads into its third episode of the season this Sunday. So far, he has reason to be concerned.
The Season 2 series premiere had 629,000 total viewers tuning in across Max and linear telecasts. That’s a bit of a fall from grace, considering the 901,000 people who tuned in for the Season 1 debut in March 2022.
By May of that year, Season 1 managed to amass 1.6M same-day viewers for the finale. (Although, it might be worth nothing that Season 1 also most likely benefited from the buzz of March Madness, when basketball is already top of mind for audiences.)
HBO generally banks on the growth potential from delayed viewing, as the network previously reported that new episodes of a series tend to only draw 10%-20% of their total viewership on Sunday nights.
Season 1 episodes of Winning Time went on to average about 1.2M viewers per episode on premiere nights, which grew to 6M viewers per episode over time.
“I’m telling you — the future of “Winning Time” hangs in the balance,” Pearlman tweeted. “We need viewers. The strikes are crippling. Please help spread the word. Season 2 is amazing. But … HBO is big on #s,” he wrote.
I'm telling you — the future of "Winning Time" hangs in the balance. We need viewers. The strikes are crippling. Please help spread the word. Season 2 is amazing. But … HBO is big on #s. #winningtime pic.twitter.com/A8OTEi0Sog
— Jeff Pearlman (@jeffpearlman) August 16, 2023
It will be a shame if #WinningTime doesn’t get extended due to a combo of the effects of the writers’ strike (no promotion) and the odd timing of actual events. Lakers won 80/82 but wouldn’t face nemesis Celtics until 84, didn’t beat them until 85. NBA exploded IRL mid-80’s. https://t.co/xontXgo0Xh
— newballpark (@newballpark) August 18, 2023
Katie Campione contributed to this story.
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