Celebrations are in order for High Potential and its continued success! Kaitlin Olson's procedural comedy-drama series was an instant favorite upon its premiere on ABC last fall, and following its surge in popularity thanks to streaming on Hulu, the series remains a heavy hitter after airing only a third of its second season. In fact, the show made an achievement 25 years in the making.
According to Variety's exclusive report, ABC revealed that High Potential season 2 secure the show the bragging rights of becoming the first 10 p.m. drama series to rank as the No. 1 broadcast entertainment series in total viewers within the live+7 day viewing measure since NBC's long-running medical drama ER scored the same feat back in 1999.
For those who just read that and thought "Huh?!," it's a long-winded way of saying that High Potential season 2 has grown on season 1's ratings success and achieved something for a 10 p.m. show that hasn't been done since before the millennium. The show is unstoppable and deserves every bit of acclaim and record-breaking ratings it's receiving.
High Potential season 2 ratings success matches a record held by ER
It's almost unbelievable that it's taken 25 years for a show airing at 10 p.m. on broadcast television to rise to the No. 1 position in ratings. There have been so many hit show over the years, even if broadcast has been a more difficult space to crack in the years since ER's reign and the advent of streamings dominance. How did it take this long for a show breakthrough like this?!
Per Variety's report, High Potential managed to overtake season 1's ratings in just four episodes as the series displayed a 29% increase in viewership from 5.91 million to 7.62 million. What's more, that's the biggest ratings increase for a broadcast series overall this season. Season 2 hit season highs with its Oct. 7 episode when factoring in streaming numbers from Hulu and Disney+.
The episode reached 12.5 million multiplatform viewers, though its linear viewership of 8.09 million viewers were also among a feat in themselves. High Potential has frequently been Tuesday night's No. 1 show, which again seems like a rarity as a show that airs at 10 p.m. Leading up to the fall finale, which airs on Oct. 28, there's nowhere to go but up, up, up for the hit series!
Although we weren't expecting High Potential to big us farewell this soon, season 2 episode 7 marks the fall finale and likely the last episode we'll see until 2026. If you thought ratings have been huge in season 2 so far, we haven't seen anything yet. There's no doubt the show has something major planned for the fall finale regarding the Roman mystery that has been slowly mounting.
High Potential airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on ABC, streaming next day on Hulu.