Rapid Insights: White House Plumbers Plunges Humor Into Watergate Scandal

HBO will revisit Richard Nixon’s 1972 Watergate scandal in its anticipated new five-part limited series premiering in late March. From the showrunner of Veep and a producer of Succession, the show comedically turns the spotlight away from Nixon and onto his core operatives E. Howard Hunt (Woody Harrelson) and G. Gordon Liddy (Justin Theroux), the masterminds behind the ill-conceived plot that accidentally doomed the Presidency they were trying to protect.

Here’s what you need to know about White House Plumbers:

Who will be tuning in for this political dramedy?
Older men. We’re anticipating a male-skewing audience (56%) that leans heavily 35+ (94%, with 69% aged 55+), numbers nearly identical to cable’s other recent Watergate miniseries (Starz’s Gaslit, at 54% male / 93% aged 35+) but considerably more masculine than the creators’ previous efforts for HBO (Veep, at 51% male, and Succession, at 50% male).

What type of story will White House Plumbers be telling?
A humorous take on a real-world felony. Because of its deep dive into the historical record, this series ticks the boxes for Crime (122), History (122), Biography (120), and Drama (115), but both its ratings and watchability will get a considerable boost from its inclusion of Political (160) and Satirical Humor (117) derived from the foolhardy figures at its center.

Which element of the story will most drive ratings?
A new angle on the Watergate scandal. The show’s fusion of sharp comedy with the national drama of Committing a Crime (160) so culturally significant will make the 70’s-set show feel both fresh and modern. The series will revel in the fact that, thanks to their warped and Difficult Workplace (131)–campaign staffers were expected to do anything and everything to get Nixon reelected–Liddy and Hunt thought that breaking into the now-infamous Watergate hotel to spy on the DNC was a good idea.

What will make this limited series bingeworthy?
The audacity of the politics involved. Viewers will lean in to see the insane-but-true reality of Nixon’s 1972 presidential campaign (Political Life, 157) as well as his administration’s spiral into Conspiracy & Cover Ups (133) after the Watergate plot began to unravel. The general fact that the show is Based on a True Story (107) adds to the appeal, but it’s the specific details of the events in question that will really excite audiences.

What will viewers be talking about?
The dynamic duo of absurd political masterminds. The Teamwork (135) between Hunt and Liddy as partners on Nixon’s Special Investigations Unit–a White House team tasked with plugging information leaks that would make the president look bad–and in the planning of the Watergate scheme will be the show’s top driver of social buzz. The stacked cast–featuring names like Judy Greer, Lena Headey, Kiernan Shipka, Domhnall Gleeson, and Kathleen Turner in addition to Harrelson and Theroux–won’t hurt either.

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