Dustin Lance Black has called ratings
for his miniseries When We Rise within the range of his
expectations.
Broadcast on ABC over four nights, the
eight-part miniseries takes a look at the people and events that
shaped the modern LGBT rights movement.
According to Variety, the show's
Monday premiere had 2.95 million viewers, but viewership dropped by
nearly 1 million (2.05 million) when the show returned on Wednesday
after the president's Tuesday address to Congress. Thursday's
installment pulled in 2.12 million viewers.
Black told The Advocate that
those numbers are initial estimates and that he always expected that
the show would be watched on DVR and online, ABC.com
and Hulu,
for example.
“[Final] numbers do not come in for
another week or so, so the verdict on who's watching When We Rise
is not in yet,” Black
said.
“We've always known, and it's always
been our belief, that this show is going to excel in DVR and online,
because that's how people watch miniseries now. This is not the era
of Roots, where there's three networks and you have to watch
live. So, we're really hopeful, I have to say.”
“I do believe that the vast majority
of viewers will watch on DVR. And if we can double our viewership on
DVR, we're considered a hit.”
Black added that the number of live
viewers had “fallen in the range” of his expectations. “Not my
hopes, but my expectations,” he said.