Janel Parrish in The Perfectionists | Allyson Riggs/Freeform
Despite months of hype and the “Pretty Little Liars” connection, Freeform’s new spin-off “Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists” posted underwhelming premiere ratings.
According to live+same-day data posted by Showbuzz, Wednesday’s inaugural episode drew a 0.18 adults rating and averaged 0.46 million overall viewers.
The numbers are fine by recent Freeform standards (they actually top those typically drawn by fellow spin-off series “Good Trouble”). As they only cover live+same-day television viewership, they do not reflect the boost the show will receive from DVR and on-demand/streaming viewership.
Still, it is hard to look at these numbers as anything but a disappointment. No episode of the original “Pretty Little Liars” series ever drew below a 0.40 in adults 18-49 or 0.83 million in overall viewership.
It will be interesting to see how the show fares in the coming weeks. New series have historically lost viewers in the three or four weeks following their premieres (as curiosity fades), but that trend is by no means a given in today’s climate.