The Rainmaker: USA Network’s Legal Drama Scores 6.3 Million Viewers Despite Low Critic Ratings

As legacy media slowly continues to transition into the streaming era, procedurals and drama remain among the few prominent survivors on network TV. Shows about police, doctors, firefighters, and lawyers have remained staples within the industry, as studios collaborate to produce entire expanded universes linking these shows together.

NCIS, Law & Order, One Chicago, and 9-1-1 have all expanded through spinoffs and revivals, lacing together stories from locations set around the world. Even streaming services have been adopting procedurals of their own, including Prime Video’s recent impressive success with its newest procedural series, Ballard.

Legal dramas have been especially successful, as Suits proved to be a massive hit in recent years, leading to the development of Suits: LA. Even Law & Order spends half of each episode on court battles, as lawyers face off before a judge. With strong potential for viewership, USA Network recently launched its own legal drama, which is finding success.

The Rainmaker Is A Success

Having premiered on August 15, The Rainmaker is already seeing strong viewership across USA Network and Paramount. As an adaptation of John Grisham’s book, The Rainmaker follows Rudy Baylor (Milo Callaghan) as he joins a small-scale legal firm after being let go from a far more prominent firm.

There will be 10 episodes in season 1, with the finale expected to air on October 17. Episode 1 premiered simultaneously on Peacock, USA Network, and four other major networks. Partly thanks to that support from its parent company, USA Network is now seeing major viewership totals from the series.

According to a report by Deadline, the show earned a surprising total of 2.2 million viewers in just three days. After just one week on the small screen, the show has officially ushered in 6.3 million viewers. That is an especially impressive milestone to achieve, as that number only accounts for linear TV numbers, rather than streaming.

What This Means For The Rainmaker’s Viewership

There is no guarantee that The Rainmaker will continue seeing this level of success for future episodes. The pilot for any show generally receives the highest viewership, unless a series is able to maintain strong word-of-mouth encouragement. This series, however, has been struggling to impress critics, despite its impressive opening.

The show has a paltry 45% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes, though audiences have been considerably more positive with a 79% Popcornmeter score. If viewers spread the word about Rainmaker, new viewers may be interested in following the rest of the season, though that remains to be seen.

6.3 million viewers is a strong showing for a network TV show in the streaming era, and it does represent a good sign of its future prospects. If The Rainmaker can maintain its momentum in the coming months, then this series could easily become a staple franchise for USA Network.