WGN's latest drama Salem opened to large ratings this Sunday with over 1.5 million fans tuning in to see the first eposide. Salem marks the first original series for WGN.
Variety reported that that out of the 1.5 million viewers, 650,000 of those were adults between the ages of 18 and 49. This is seven times the average ratings numbers that WGN receives in that time slot during an average week.
The premiere eposide was shown four times, which in total brought in 2.3 million viewers to the network.
Deadline added that this was the highest-rated telecast for WGN since 2007.
Salem is a creative retelling of what took place during the Salem witch trials. The show stars, stars Janet Montgomery, Seth Gabel, Ashley Madekwe, Xander Berkeley, Tamzin Merchant, Elise Eberle, Shane West and Iddo Goldberg. The show was created and written by Brannon Braga and Adam Simon.
WGN is moving forward with more original programing and will premiere another new series in July titled Manhattan.