HBO's Peacemaker has been renewed for a second season and finished it's first on a true high with viewership up 44% from the premiere. It was also the best single day performance for any HBO Max original.

For anyone unfamiliar with typical viewer patterns, the norm is for significant drop off over the first few episodes - people checking out a new show and deciding it's not for them - then slow decline.

Growth of 44% over the first season is remarkable but can't necessarily be attributed to the show's quality.

For example, we don't remember seeing a huge amount of promotion for it.

We saw one trailer late last year. It looked superhero'ish but not especially sci-fi so we didn't comment on it.

If Peacemaker was underpromoted then that could help account for that unusual growth.

Another potential factor is the late January (i.e. mid Peacemaker season 1) misreporting of it being the most streamed series on television by sites like SyFy Wire and that misreport being picked up and spread.

As we did this week with curious Super Bowl ad / trailer claims, we wrote a piece explaining how that was incorrect but decided to watch it ourselves before posting.

Saw that it was actually decent and wrote this off as an innocent and harmless misunderstanding.

SlashFilm published their own piece on the correct interpretation of the statistics which SyFy Wire mangled.

Regardless of the accuracy of the claims, there was a lot of media coverage of those and this likely would certainly have contributed to the end-of-season 44% growth figure.

What about the best single day performance for an HBO Max original claim? Surely that's solid?

We have the same criticism of this as Paramount's claim about Star Trek: Discovery being their number one watched original - there aren't a lot of HBO Max originals.

Is it good? Sci-fi? Worth watching?

Yes on all counts.

If you enjoyed the Guardians of the Galaxy films then you'd very likely enjoy Peacemaker. All are the work of James Gunn.

Notably with Peacemaker he manages to successfully tap into 80s nostalgia which is something DC had previously repeatedly failed at, eg. Justice League and Wonder Woman 1984.

Peacemaker season 1 is available on Binge and Foxtel Now.

[ Main Image: Peacemaker. Credit: HBO via IMDb.com. ]

References

Clark, Travis (January 26, 2022). ‘Peacemaker’ is the biggest streaming TV series in the world right now, as HBO Max originals gain momentum. Business Insider Australia.

Comtois, James (January 26, 2022). 'Peacemaker' Most Streamed Show in the World Over 'The Witcher' and 'The Book of Boba Fett'. SyFy Wire.

Gunn, James [@JamesGunn] (February 19, 2022). F#CK YEAH!! Twitter.

Gunn, James [@JamesGunn] (February 17, 2022). That’s right, Peacemaker is coming back for Season Two. Twitter.

Parrot Analytics (January 24, 2022). TV series demand across all television platforms for the U.S. (15 - 21 January, 2022).

Parrot Analytics. United States TV audience demand for Peacemaker. (viewed January 30, 2022)

Vespe, Eric (January 27, 2022). Peacemaker Is The Biggest TV Series In The World Right Now. SlashFilm.

Wiess, Josh (January 27, 2022). James Gunn Optimistic About 'Peacemaker' S2, Confirms Series Set In Suicide Squad Universe. SyFy Wire.

Wikipedia. List of HBO Max original programming. (viewed February 20, 2022)