Season 2 Premiere For Showtime Lakers Series "Winning Time" Posts Lackluster Ratings

Not off to the best start!

When season one of HBO Max's 'Winning Time' first hit the streaming service back in 2022, viewers instantly fell in love with the unique and graphic storytelling of how the Showtime Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980's came to be. The creators of the show did not hesitate to push boundaries as they did their best to recreate all of the major events within the franchise during that time period while also making sure they did so in an entertaining manner.

Magic Johnson, played by Quincy Isaiah, easily stole the show from the jump as he was able to fully capture the essence of the former Lakers superstar both on and off the court. John C.Reilly also was able to play the role of former Lakers owner Jerry Buss to the best of his own abilities as his job was to break down how he built the organization into one of the most successful sports teams ever.

Season 2 of 'Winning Time' made its return to Max on Sunday, August 6 as the first episode came out with the rest to follow every Sunday moving forward. Viewers were super excited to see how the creators would continue telling the story of the Lakers following their first championship under this group and what other classic moments would be shown on the big screen.

However, it does not look like the original audience was prioritizing the new season just yet upon release of the first episode.

"

Winning Time

: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty

returned to

HBO

on Sunday with 629,000 total viewers tuning in for the Season 2 premiere across Max and linear telecasts. That’s a bit of a fall from grace, considering the 901,000 people who tuned in for the Season 1 debut in March 2022. By May of that year, Season 1 managed to amass 1.6M same-day viewers for the finale. (Although, it might be worth nothing that Season 1 also most likely benefitted from the buzz of March Madness, when basketball is already top of mind for audiences.)"

(Via Deadline)

We do hope that these numbers only grow as the rest of the episodes continue on as 'Winning Time' serves as a project that should bring the Lakers community together!

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