Despite featuring a group of A-list actors, including Oscar winner Russell Crowe, the debut of Showtime’s critical drama about the late Fox News chief Roger Ailes was a huge ratings flop.

The first episode of Showtime’s The Loudest Voice, a project purportedly based on the life of Fox News mastermind Roger Ailes, debuted on Sunday to paltry numbers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The heavily hyped show was unable to move the dial for Showtime and figured in as the worst series debut of the year for the cable network.

The ratings show that the series’ debut episode earned only 299,000 total viewers in the important age 25-54 demographic. It performed even worse in the younger demos earning only 8,000 viewers in the 18-34 age demo and 29,000 in the 18-49 group.

The series starring big names such as Russell Crowe, Naomi Watts, Sienna Miller, and Seth Macfarlane debuted at 87 percent below the audience of Showtime’s Billions which premiered in March. Indeed, The Loudest Voice underperformed compared to the debut of every other heavily promoted Showtime series including The Affair, Big Little Lies, and Homeland.

Crow recently raised eyebrows when he stalked out of an interview panel after the host went on a tirade against Roger Ailes calling a “sick person.” Crowe later said that he didn’t want to do an interview with someone who was set on attacking Ailes instead of just talking about the project.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.