HBO viewers weren’t exactly salivating over the prospect of a second season of The Newsroom.
Aaron Sorkin’s liberal showcase returned Sunday night, and the ratings were only slightly better than the show’s 2012 debut. It still could only hold roughly half of its lead-in audience.
An average of 2.2 million people watched Sunday’s Season 2 debut of The Newsroom — the HBO drama series journalists love to hate-watch — besting last year’s series unveiling (2.1 million). Across two plays for the night, Newsroom delivered 2.6 million viewers. One hour earlier, True Blood clocked 4.5 million viewers — its biggest audience this season.
True Blood is currently in its sixth season.
The new season of The Newsroom is already exploring what one character cheerfully dubs America’s version of The Arab Spring–Occupy Wall Street.