With the summer months now behind us, it's a great time to be an avid TV fan. Because every week contains a new fall premiere, once again bringing small screen adventures back to the weekly schedule. One series that just returned is Comedy Central's irreverent Broad City, which just began its fourth season after a long hiatus. The season premiere was a take on the 90's classic movie Sliding Doors, showing what could happen over the course of the day when Ilana and Abbi first met. And it turns out that the long wait in between seasons helped out in regards to viewership, as a ton of fans tuned in for the Season 4 premiere.
Because Broad City's Season 4 premiere killed it, especially regarding the show's usual numbers. The episode, also titled "Sliding Doors", was up 14% from Season 3's first episode. Furthermore, the ratings for "Sliding Doors" was a whopping 42% more popular than last season's average per episode. Furthermore, the episode has a 0.72 over key demographics, making it the second highest rated episode in Broad City's history.
Overall, it looks like Broad City is in for a hell of a Season 4, and this vast increase in viewership may have occurred for a few reasons. To start, the nearly year and a half gap between seasons has increased the anticipation for new episodes. Fans of the series have been forced to re-watch the first three seasons ad nauseam. Furthermore, the cast has been booking a fair amount of outside work lately from Time Traveling Bong, to Rough Night, to Arturo Castro's role in Narcos Season 3.
But perhaps nothing is more helpful toward Broad City's ratings than its viral internet popularity. The dialogue and scenes from the show have become iconic gifs and memes, allowing the series to remain in the pop culture lexicon, despite its long hiatus. And there was plenty of time in the last year and a half for new viewers to binge watch the first three seasons, likely resulting in its increase in viewership for Season 4.
And Broad City definitely kicked off its fourth season with a bang. "Sliding Doors" was set back in 2011, on the day that Abbi and Ilana met for the first time. It was one of the show's most ambitious episodes, as the narrative consistently pivoted from one reality to another. And in addition to seeing how Abbi and Ilana first became friends, the episode explained some of the tertiary characters as well. A super fit Bevers was introduced, Ilana ruined the day of her future co-worker Nicole, and Jaime and Ilana made out in class.
Broad City airs Wednesdays at 10:30 on Comedy Central. Be sure to check out our fall premiere list to plan your next binge watch.
