May 13th, 2004 - After months of intense national marketing campaigns, HBO’s western drama Deadwood debuted to 5.8 million viewers on March 21, making it the most-watched initial episode of any HBO series. The show was quickly renewed by the network for a second season, and since then it has drawn a regular audience of about five million, making it one of the highest-rated programs on cable television.
The success of Deadwood has clearly been seen in the real Deadwood, where telephone calls and website traffic have increased dramatically. The Deadwood Chamber of Commerce reported a jump of over 300% in both website visitation and brochure requests for April over the same month last year. Impressive numbers have also been reported by the Adams Museum and House and private businesses owners across town.
