So was “Hard Knocks: Training Camp With the Oakland Raiders” a big hit for HBO — or flop?
It probably depends on who you ask.
The annual fly-on-the-wall series produced by NFL Films finished its five-week run on Tuesday with mixed reviews from fans, TV critics and NFL observers. As for the audience, HBO and Nielsen report that an estimated 749,000 viewers watched the finale — a 13 percent increase over the previous week’s audience of 664,000.
But you have to be careful with ratings reports because broadcast and cable networks always spin things toward the positive.