The River Didn’t Make Any Waves With Viewers

THE RIVER -
Photo: Mario Perez/? 2011 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

ABC’s found-footage thriller The River didn’t find much love from viewers Tuesday. Despite a massive marketing campaign, the two-hour debut of the Steven Spielberg– and Oren Peli–produced drama settled for a so-so tune-in of 7.5 million viewers and a 2.4 rating among adults 18 to 49. This was an improvement over ABC’s Tuesday programming last February (V and Detroit 1-8-7), and the show did tie CBS’s weak Unforgettable for first place in the 10 p.m. among viewers under 50, but Alphabet execs had to have been hoping for more sampling of The River, a favorite among network brass. They also can’t be happy that the show lost viewers over its two-hour debut, sinking from 8.6 million viewers at 9 p.m. to barely 6.5 million by 10:30 p.m.

The River Didn’t Make Any Waves With Viewers