Everyone is 'Stone'd at ViacomCBS headquarters in West Hollywood today, and they're loving every minute of it. 

Yellowstone, the steadily growing Paramount Network series starring Kevin Costner as a wealthy but embattled Montana ranch owner, has exploded into a rare water-cooler linear TV hit, with ViacomCBS announcing Friday that the show's Season 4 premiere drew a linear TV audience of 14.3 million viewers in its first three days (aka "L+3"), according to Nielsen. 

Not for nothing, but in its press note today, ViacomCBS said that Yellowstone is on a "trajectory higher" than HBO's mega-popular Game of Thrones, which had a 8.1 million L+3 viewers in for its fourth season debut in HBO's premium cable universe back in April 2014. 

OK, as Vincent Vega might say, that's a bold statement. GOT ended its eight-season run in 2019 with a Live+Same Day audience of 19.3 million viewers. 

But ViacomCBS isn't wrong to get excited about a series that has seen audience growth of 135%, higher than any other top 15 scripted show over the last five years. The Yellowstone Season 4 premiere, which was simulcasts across ViacomCBS channels Paramount Network, CMT, Pop and TV Land,  bested the L+3 debut of Season 3 (9.3 million viewers) by 58%. 

Yellowstone debuted to a Live+Same Day audience of 8.3 million viewers, making it the second most watched show on broadcast, basic cable and premium cable so far in the 2021-22 TV season. The L+3 audience was the biggest performance in basic cable since AMC's premiere of The Walking Dead in 2017. 

Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan has already been given green lights by ViacomCBS for two new shows, Mayor of Kingstown and Yellowstone spinoff series 1883.

“Over 14 million viewers tuned in for our Yellowstone premiere which will now serve as massive launch pad as we sneak episodes of Taylor Sheridan’s new series Mayor of Kingstown, whose full season will be rolling out exclusively on Paramount Plus starting Sunday,” said Chris McCarthy, president and CEO of MTV Entertainment Group. “Taylor has created a cinematic experience that our remarkable cast led by Kevin Costner brings to life in a way audiences can’t get enough of and we are excited to deepen our relationship with him and capitalize on this tremendous momentum by building out the Yellowstone franchise together.”

Showtime’s The Affair has some legs – not to mention other body parts.

The premium network’s new original show registered the best-ever live + 3-day bump for a series debut.  

Starring Dominic West, Maura Tierney and Ruth Wilson, The Affair’s Oct. 12 premiere at 10 p.m. garnered 507,000 live+same-day viewers, according to Nielsen. Gauged on a live+3 basis, the bow tacked on another 285,000 watchers to reach 792,000, a 56% jump. Showtime officials said that was the live+3 lift for any of its series’ debuts.

Similarly, The Affair improved significantly on its premiere night: the 809,000 for live+same-day rose 51% on live+3 measure, tacking on 412,000 watchers, bringing Sunday-night total to 1.22 million. The live+3 edge was tops for a Showtime series debut, according to network officials.

The amelioration by The Affair underscores the nation's predilection toward more delayed viewing: the fifth season live + same-day premiere of AMC's The Walking Dead scored the largest audience for a cable drama in history with some 17.3 million watchers, before another 5 million were counted via the live+ 3 measurement.  

Counting the live+3 adds, The Affair accumulated 1.68 million linear viewers for the show’s Sunday-night opening.  However, when on-demand and Showtime Anywhere views from authenticated platforms are accounted for, the tally reaches 2.5 million – and counting.  

Through Thursday, Oct. 16, The Affair’s on-demand action had already surpassed that of Penny Dreadful by 6%, Masters of Sex by 9% and Ray Donovan by 24% to become Showtime’s rookie series performer in that regard.

Gauged on authenticated platforms only, Showtime said The Affair’s pilot was 90%, 130% and 140% greater than the bows of Penny Dreadful, Ray Donovan and Masters of Sex, respectively.