The Landman Season 2 premiere pulled in massive numbers on Paramount+, but viewer reaction is a completely different story.
Despite becoming the most-watched premiere in Paramount+ history, the episode landed with a thud among fans and dragged down the show’s overall ratings.
Record-Breaking Viewership on Paramount+
Paramount+ announced huge numbers for the premiere. Landman Season 2 Episode 1 delivered 9.2 million global streaming views in its first two days — a 262% increase over Season 1.
Additional highlights from the platform:
- Most-watched premiere for any original series on Paramount+.
- +320% increase in Season 1 sampling after the new episode dropped.
- #1 streaming premiere on social for 11/16/25 with 255.6K interactions (+489% vs. Season 1).
The release also claimed the critics were positive, with outlets praising Billy Bob Thornton, Demi Moore, and the show’s bigger Season 2 scope.
But fans? Not so much.
Rotten Tomatoes Scores Plunge
The premiere received a rotten 37% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. For comparison:
- Season 1’s fan score sits at 64%
- The overall audience score for the show dropped to 51% after the Season 2 opener
That’s a steep fall—and lines up with the complaints from social media, Reddit threads, and early reactions calling the episode “filler,” “boring,” and “the worst opener of the series.”
IMDB Ratings Also Take a Hit
The premiere didn’t fare much better on IMDB.
Season 2 Episode 1 scored a 7.7, making it the second-lowest rated episode of the entire series.
The only episode rated lower is Season 1 Episode 7 (7.5), which—similar to the Season 2 opener—focused on Angela and Ainsley at the gym and Ariana picking up Cooper from the hospital.
Fans clearly aren’t responding to these character-focused detours, especially when the season opener usually needs to land harder.
In our review, we gave the episode a 2/10.
The Disconnect
So what happened?
Viewership exploded, proving the fanbase was hungry for Season 2. But the premiere didn’t match expectations. The episode’s pacing, tone, and focus left viewers feeling like they sat through a placeholder instead of a proper kickoff.
Even with huge streaming success and glowing media coverage, fan sentiment is at odds with the official hype.
