Steven DeKnight

’Spartacus’ premiere ratings set Starz record

Spartacus Starz new original series "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" got off to a fairly impressive start Friday evening.

The gory drama pulled 553,000 viewers on Starz, then gathered another 460,000 on Encore, according to Nielsen figures provided to the network. Those are modest overall numbers, but in Starz’s brief history as a player in the original series game, it’s easily their most-watched debut yet. It also handily beats the performance of "Crash," whose most recent and final season debuted to 185,000. The folks at Starz expect once all sources of viewership are tallied, such as DVR and repeats this week, the "Spartacus" premiere will clear 2 million viewers.