Just How Successful is ‘Sister Wives’ Season 18 so Far?

Sister Wives season 18 is officially back. It looks like some serious drama will be covered over the next few months. While the show about the polygamist Brown family premiered in 2010, season 18 is proving that there is plenty more story to tell. According to recent reports, the season 18 premiere of Sister Wives was its most-watched premiere in a decade. High viewer numbers could mean good things for the show’s future. Will there be more after Meri and Janelle’s journey out of polygamy?

‘Sister Wives’ season 18 pulls in the viewers and surpasses expectations

Sister Wives premiere numbers are in, and it looks like season 18 of the series is a success, at least for now. According to Deadline, when delayed viewing was accounted for, Sister Wives season 18 was the most-watched and highest-rated premiere since the show’s third season.

Sister Wives season 18 wasn’t just a success when measured against itself. It beat out plenty of competition, too. According to the publication, the Sister Wives premiere garnered 4 million viewers when accounting for delayed viewing. That made it the most-watched cable show among women aged 25-54. Women in the 25-54 category are the series’ target demographic.

While Sister Wives is a massive success for TLC this season, that wasn’t always the case

Sister Wives might enjoy renewed interest now that the Brown family is falling apart, but that wasn’t always the case. For several years, fans criticized the series, insisting the content was recycled and boring. Between moving content and Meri Brown’s catfishing scandal, it felt like viewers watched the same thing for about three seasons.

Rumors even swirled that TLC considered axing the show before Kody Brown returned to the negotiating table and agreed to take a lesser salary to keep the show running. While neither TLC nor the Browns have confirmed that, the viewership numbers for several seasons were abysmally low, and reviews were similarly bad.

Streaming subscribers stripped of early access privileges

While season 18 has been a success thus far, some Sister Wives fans are feeling a bit lost. Discovery+ subscribers were given early access to episodes in previous seasons. While each new episode aired on TLC on Sundays at 10 p.m., discovery+ subscribers could access the latest episodes at midnight instead.

When season 18 premiered, fans awoke on the morning of Aug. 20 to find no new episode available. Some theorized that only the season premiere would be withheld until it aired on TLC. That doesn’t seem to be the case. Episode 2 was also unavailable at midnight. It became available to streaming subscribers at 10 p.m. instead. While no announcements were made regarding pulling back on early access viewing, most people assume the merger between discovery+ and HBO Max is likely to blame.