Freeform’s comedy series Single Drunk Female got off a promising ratings start. The January 20 launch has amassed over 2.4 million multiplatform viewers in Live+7, according to Nielsen and Freeform, marking the network’s biggest comedy premiere since the Jan. 3, 2018 debut of grown-ish more than four years ago.
The opening episode also was the most-watched Freeform comedy series premiere on Hulu, and the second-best performance overall for a Freeform series premiere on the platform, behind only Cruel Summer, which averaged 3.81 million multi-platform viewers in its first week.
There is a caveat. Freeform has only launched one comedy series since grown-ish, Everything’s Gonna Be Okay, plus the pandemic-themed 2020 entry Love in the Time of Corona. Still, Single Drunk Female‘s performance is respectable for a comedy on basic cable which traditionally are hard to launch. It complements the show’s critical success with 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Written and created by Simone Finch (The Conners), Single Drunk Female sees 20-something alcoholic Samantha Fink, played by Sofia Black-D’Elia, seize the only chance she has to sober up and avoid jail time: moving back home with her overbearing mother, Carol (Ally Sheedy). Back in Greater Boston, Samantha restarts her life, working at the local grocery store while surrounded by all of the triggers that made her drink in the first place. Confronted with remnants of her old life, including run-ins with her perfect former best friend, who is now dating her ex, Samantha sets out on a path to move past her worst self and figure out her best self. Kinda.
In addition to Black-D’Elia and Sheedy, Rebecca Henderson, Sasha Compère, Lily Mae Harrington and Garrick Bernard also star.
In tonight’s episode, Sam faces her hardest challenge yet: avoiding alcohol on St. Patrick’s Day when Brit (Compère) gives her the chance to rekindle a friendship. James (Bernard) teams up with Mindy (Jojo Brown) to track down his lost keys while battling his own St. Patrick’s Day temptations.
Finch executive produces along with Jenni Konner, Daisy Gardner, Phil Traill, Nora Silver and Leslye Headland, who directed the pilot.
New episodes of Single Drunk Female air Thursdays at 10:30 PM on Freeform, and are available the next day on Hulu.