'Succession' Draws Nearly 3 Million Viewers For Finale

The series finale of Succession drew 2.9 million viewers, says HBO.

Eerily titled "With Open Eyes," the finale is the most viewed first-day episode of the series, showing a 68 percent jump over the penultimate finale of 1.7 million.

While strong, Succession fell well short of the previous HBO flagship series Game of Thrones. In 2019, the Thrones series finale set an HBO record of 19.3 million viewers.

Even the season finale of the Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon, drew 9.3 million viewers last October.

The fight for Waystar proved no match for the fight for the Iron Throne. At least not in the minds of viewers.

Though, critically, the end of Succession drew acclaim -- unlike Thrones. The final season of Succession is its best. The final season of Thrones was its worst.

In fact, OutKick ranked the Succession finale as the 10th best.

Here is our list:

12. THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW:

11. NEWHART

10. SUCCESSION

9. RICH MAN, POOR MAN

8. JUSTIFIED

7. THE AMERICANS

6. MAD MEN

"Succession" (Credit: HBO)

5. THE FUGITIVE

4. M*A*S*H

3. BREAKING BAD

2. THE SOPRANOS

1. SIX FEET UNDER

If you hate the list, don't blame me. I was only partly involved. Take up your issues with Glenn Guilbeau. He's waiting for you.

And here are thoughts on the finale:

"The supposed big surprise was goof ball son-in-law Tom Wambsgans, whom his wife Shiv Roy accurately called “an empty suit,” gaining control of just-deceased business/media conglomerate Logan Roy’s empire via a major merger. The reason? He is the father of Logan’s only blood heir as Shiv is recently pregnant.:

Post-Succession, HBO turns to House of the Dragon and The White Lotus to be its tentpole properties. HBO says there are no plans to order any Succession spinoff series.

Of course, fans of Greg will stay optimistic HBO changes its mind.