Lindsay Lohan‘s new self-titled reality TV show premiered on Oprah Winfrey‘s OWN Network last night. The show was simulcast on the Discovery Channel for those who don’t get OWN on cable. Despite an avalanche of hype and free press from the blogs and social media, Lindsay’s reality show failed to attract TV viewers.
The first episode of Lindsay earned 693,000 viewers at 10 p.m. on Sunday night. While hardly a launch high for the growing cable network, it did mark the best unscripted premiere of 2014.
Lohan’s episode of Oprah’s Next Chapter brought 892,000 viewers in its premiere telecast, getting an extra 504,000 viewers with an adjacent encore.
A network effort to bring in new viewers, Lindsay did skew younger. Among women 18-34, the premiere’s .53 rating was up 231 percent from the year prior.
“We knew statistically speaking, from a ratings point of view, that we wanted to bring a different audience to this network,” OWN president Erik Logan told The Hollywood Reporter on Monday.
Compared to other unscripted efforts, the Lindsay premiere ranks third in that demo behind Iyanla: Fix My Life and Life with La Toya. The total viewers, while modest, gave OWN a six-week high in the Sunday hour.
Thanks to loyal reader Ernest O. for the tip.
