It appears that my worries were unfounded;Torchwood: Miracle Day premiered Friday night on Starz to strong ratings.
The fourth season premiere of Torchwood, "The New Earth," garnered a respectable 1.5 million viewers on its first showing, according toEntertainment Weekly. The series picked up another half million viewers through the full weekend. That's on par with recent Starz newbieCamelot's premiere. If Torchwood can avoid the hemorrhaging of viewers that befell Camelot, I think it'd be safe to say that the series can be considered a success -- at least stateside.
How the show performs in the U.K. when it airs on BBC One on July 14 might be an entirely different matter. Will fans have resorted to piracy to dodge the six-day wait placed upon them by the BBC's contract with Starz? If so, viewership for Miracle Day could be way down from the average 6.5 million viewers who tuned in back in 2009 for Torchwood: Children of the Earth. If U.K. viewership experiences a big drop, that could be problematic for the potential future of Torchwood, regardless of good numbers in the U.S.
Torchwood: Miracle Day will premiere on BBC One on Thursday, July 14, with the episode "The New World." Episode 2, "Renditions," will air Friday, July 15 on Starz in the U.S.
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