‘Yellowstone’ Season 4 Finale Draws Record Audience Despite Fans Feeling Mostly Underwhelmed

“Yellowstone” fans didn’t have the nicest things to say about the latest season of the hit show. After the heart-pounding season 3 finale, the country-Western drama had a lot to live up to in the fourth season, it’s true. Many viewers are saying the narrative lost focus and the finale, which aired January 2, left a lot to be desired.

But even this ho-hum reception wasn’t enough to kill the ratings. According to Deadline, the season 4 finale smashed records with 9.3 million total viewers in Live+Same Day. This represents an 81% jump compared to the Season 3 finale, which boasted 5.2 million.

That number is also a huge increase over the “Yellowstone” season 4 premiere, which pulled in 8 million total viewers. The finale results were enough to make the series the most-watched telecast on cable since “The Walking Dead” season 8 premiere on AMC in October 2017, which had 11.4 million viewers. 

And now Deadline reported that this makes “Yellowstone” the number one series of 2021 across broadcast, cable, and premium in both the coveted adults 18-49 and adults 25-54 demographics.

“‘Yellowstone’ continues to shatter records with more than 11 million viewers tuning into the season finale, proving we’ve hit a cultural nerve – from the center of the country to each of the coasts – and still have lots of room to grow on linear,” Chris McCarthy, President and CEO of ViacomCBS Media Networks told the publication. 

“Our strategy to franchise ‘Yellowstone’ into a universe of series to fuel growth for Paramount+ is already exceeding expectations with ‘1883’ and ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ proving to be two of the top titles.”

Meanwhile, at least one reviewer called the season 4 finale “underwhelming,” which was a sentiment shared by much of the viewing audience. The major complaints seemed to be that the action and violence, though pervasive, is never high stakes, with resolutions that come about too quickly and easily. Some fans are also fed up with certain storylines that focus on characters they aren’t interested in seeing.

In the finale, Beth and Rip get married in a surprise ceremony after she kidnaps a priest at gunpoint to perform the ceremony. Meanwhile, Garrett Randall (Will Patton) dies. But even these twists in the action weren’t enough to attract rave reviews like the end of season 3 did.

Even as fans start to sour on “Yellowstone,” the spinoff prequel “1883” is gaining momentum with the fan base. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the premiere from Taylor Sheridan earned 6.4 million viewers, which was a series premiere record for Paramount Network. And that’s not even including streaming numbers. This made “1883” the most-watched series premiere on cable in more than six years, falling in behind the 10 million people who tuned in for the 2015 premiere of “Fear the Walking Dead.”

And even with less-than-stellar reviews, fans are still tuning into the original “Yellowstone” as well. The series was renewed for a fifth season and is scheduled to begin filming in May.

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