It’s been the biggest show on FX for some time now, but Sons of Anarchy; the impressive drama series from creator Kurt Sutter (The Shield), about a group of outlaw bikers; is continuing to grow, and managed to draw a record ratings high during its fourth season premiere this past Tuesday night.
Opening with a 90 minute premiere, the first episode of Sons of Anarchy’s fourth season quickly became the most watched episode in the show’s history; drawing nearly 5 million viewers with its first screening, and adding its two repeat showings drew an impressive 7.25 million combined viewers; ending up with 28% higher ratings than the Season 3 premiere, and also finishing ahead of the season two finale (the most previous most viewed episode), which drew 4.3 million viewers.
FX predicts that once more data has been collected, the recently aired premiere will likely be the single most-watched episode of any FX original series ever aired by the network, and showrunner Kurt Sutter has also given fans a number of reasons to celebrate, as he’s now not only returned to Twitter in order to celebrate the current success, but will be offering a “trip and swag” to lucky fans that he’s planning to choose over the coming weekend, and fly out to his home in order to view a private screening of the season’s tenth episode.
FX President John Landgraf has said that “Last night’s ratings are indicative of the passion the audience has for this wonderful show, Kurt has crafted one of the most compelling series on television, with the raw, blow-your-hair-back energy of a wide open Harley and the subtle complexity of a great book”, and it stands to reason that all eyes will now be watching Sons of Anarchy, and waiting for the official commissioning of a fifth season (now an inevitability at this point).
For more information on Sons of Anarchy, and Sutter’s competition, you can follow his personal blog here, or Twitter account here.
Matt Wheeldon.
Sources: Deadline, TV By The Numbers, Kurt Sutter.
