Midseason CBS drama “True Lies” has been a solid early performer in both TV ratings and streaming viewership.
Per CBS parent company Paramount, the streaming average minute audience (AMA) for the premiere episode of the Steve Howey and Ginger Gonzaga-led series ranks as CBS’s third-largest premiere this season on both Paramount+ and CBS TVE.
Ahead of “True Lies” are the premieres for the second season of comedy powerhouse “Ghosts,” which sits at No. 1 on the list of CBS’ streaming debuts of the 2022-2023 season, and freshman drama “Fire Country.”
Debuting on CBS March 1, the first season of “True Lies” is averaging 4.6 million total linear viewers across its first four weeks, based on the “most current” data stream from Nielsen, which includes a week’s worth of delayed viewing where available. With two weeks of (mostly DVR) playback, the “True Lies” premiere episode has risen to 5.73 million viewers, up 77% from the episode’s Live + Same Day audience.
With the addition of “True Lies,” CBS now has four of broadcast TV’s top six new dramas season-to-date: “Fire Country” (averaging 8.5 million total viewers), “East New York” (6.7 million), “So Help Me Todd” (6.4 million), and “True Lies” (4.6 million). Rounding out the Top 6 are ABC’s “Will Trent” (5.2 million) and “Alaska Daily” (5 million) in fourth and fifth place, just ahead of “True Lies.”
The rest of the list is as follows: Fox’s “Accused” (4.2 million), ABC’s “The Rookie: Feds” (4.1 million), NBC’s “Quantum Leap” (3.82 million), and Fox’s “alert: Missing Persons Unit” (3.8 million).
Inspired by James Cameron’s 1994 action-comedy film of the same name, “True Lies” follows Harry (Howey), “a first-class international spy for U.S. intelligence agency Omega Sector, and his wife, Helen (Gonzaga), a language professor bored with her daily routine, who makes the shocking discovery that her seemingly ordinary husband is leading an extraordinary double life,” per CBS’ description for the series. “With the secret out, Omega recruits Helen, who impresses everyone with her formidable skills (thanks to Tae Bo and yoga), and she joins Harry and his team of top-notch operatives, embarking on covert missions around the globe and an exhilarating life of danger and adventure.”
