The Child’s Play franchise made its debut on the small screen this week with the premiere of Don Mancini’s “Chucky,” which is airing on both USA and SYFY. Both networks were all-in on promoting the series premiere, with Chucky making appearances on everything from “Maury” to WWE’s Monday Night Raw. He even joined forces with Michael Myers!
So how many people tuned in to watch the continuing adventures of horror’s most iconic killer doll? Interestingly, more people watched the premiere of “Chucky” on SYFY than on USA, with 0.451 million people watching the episode on SYFY. As for USA, 0.357 million tuned in.
In total, that brings the live viewership to 0.808 million, just shy of 1 million. In the key 18-49 demo, it should also be noted, the SYFY rating was 0.18, while the USA rating was 0.13.
The full premiere episode, titled “Death by Misadventure,” was also uploaded onto YouTube the day after it premiered, and thus far over 260,000 people have streamed it via YouTube.
Watch the “Chucky” premiere below. New episodes air Tuesday nights at 10/9c. Expect weekly reviews from Meagan, and weekly “Queer Horror of Chucky” recaps from Joe.
Brad Dourif is back as Chucky and Jennifer Tilly is back as Tiffany in “Chucky,” which will continue the storylines from the *original* movies and their recent sequels, Curse and Cult of Chucky. Also returning are Fiona Dourif as Nica Pierce, Alex Vincent as Andy Barclay, and Christine Elise as Kyle. Devon Sawa (Final Destination, Hunter Hunter) also stars.
“Chucky” has been described as a “fresh take on the franchise” that’ll “explore Chucky’s character with a depth that is uniquely afforded by the television series format.”
In the series, “After a vintage Chucky doll turns up at a suburban yard sale, an idyllic American town is thrown into chaos as a series of horrifying murders begin to expose the town’s hypocrisies and secrets. Meanwhile, the arrival of enemies — and allies — from Chucky’s past threatens to expose the truth behind the killings, as well as the demon doll’s untold origins as a seemingly ordinary child who somehow became this notorious monster.”
“Chucky” is executive produced by Nick Antosca (“Channel Zero”).