The season finale of Dark Side of the Ring featured the most-watched episode in the history of the series with ‘The Last Days of Owen Hart’ chronicling Hart’s death in May 1999.
The show averaged 349,000 viewers with a 0.18 in the main 18-49 demographic and tops the previous high of 320,000 viewers for the season two premiere, which was a two-hour episode focusing on Chris Benoit.
This season averaged 257,000 viewers this season with the most-watched being the shows featuring Owen Hart, Chris Benoit, and the Road Warriors.
This week’s episode went head-to-head with FS1’s airing a WWE Ruthless Aggression episode that did 214,000 viewers at 10 pm Eastern. Another episode of Ruthless Aggression aired at 11 pm with 177,000 viewers.
Below are how this season’s episodes of Dark Side of the Ring performed:
*Chris Benoit – 320,000
*The Life and Crimes of New Jack – 224,000
*Brawl for All – 226,000
*Jimmy Snuka and Nancy Argentino – 209,000
*The Assassination of Dino Bravo – 221,000
*Dr. D David Schultz – 255,000
*Cocaine and Cowboy Boot: The Herb Abrams Story – 246,000
*The Last Ride of the Road Warriors – 264,000
*The Final Days of Owen Hart – 349,000
The thing about the ratings for shows like this, is the rating really has nothing to do with the quality of the episode, but rather the interest in the subject since each episode has nothing to do with the previous one. I was super excited to watch the Owen the episode, so I’m not surprised it did so well.
I’d argue that the viewership would speak to the overall quality of the series. Many people tuned in, knowing the subject matter and how well produced the series is / faith in the brand - and perhaps that lead to the increased viewership.
Agreed, the series earned viewers with consistent quality. No way did more people care/know about Herb Abrams than Jimmy Snuka, but the show built up a following as the season progressed.