Tuesday, April 16, 2013
It was a solid night all around for cable series on the major cable networks. A&E, SyFy, and TNT all had numbers to be proud of and tout in their press releases.
Up first was the finale of Dallas. TNT aired an episode at 9 and 10, although only the 10 o'clock portion is being dubbed the finale. The 9pm episode did 2.82 million viewers and a 0.8 demo, with the 10pm episode pulling in 2.99 million viewers and a 0.9 demo. While not huge numbers, they are still very solid, especially for airing during the non-summer season.
Over on SyFy, the debut of highly-promoted Defiance got off to a strong start. Its premiere brought in 2.73 million viewers and a 1.0 demo - the highest premiere on SyFy since Eureka in 2006. It'll be interesting to see if there is a drop off in week two.
A&E aired a new episode of very steady Bates Motel. The latest episode in the Psycho-prequel was seen by 2.66 million viewers and a 1.1 demo. Those numbers are in line with nearly every episode since its debut. If I'm not mistaken, the show has not fallen out of the 1.0-1.2 demo range.
With the terrible events in Boston yesterday, numerous programs on CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC rated higher than usual. CNN hovered around 2 million viewers all night, more than double its usual performance.
On Sunday, cable was the place to be.
A new episode of Game of Thrones continued to set new series highs. The dramas latest episode totaled 4.72 million viewers and a 2.4 demo, good enough to be one of the highest rated programs on all of television for the night. Will it set a new series high again next week?
HBO debuted season two of Veep behind the record-breaking Game of Thrones to 1.19 million viewers and a 0.6 demo. The retention is pitiful, but it is only a shade lower than what the show had been doing all of last season. Should it fall further, however, it may not get a third season.
Showtime had two season premieres on Sunday. The fifth season premiere of Nurse Jackie returned to 770,000 viewers and a 0.3 demo. It may not sound like much, but it is actually up from last seasons debut. The return of The Borgias did 582,000 viewers and a 0.2 demo, down just a smudge from last seasons premiere. All in all, not a horrible night for the network.
History's Vikings showed for the second week in a row that it did not need mega-hit, The Bible, as a lead in. A new episode performed with 3.42 million viewers and a 1.2 demo - very solid for History. With the success of Vikings, I expect the network to continue pushing their scripted development.
The 2013 MTV Movie Awards were up big from last season: 3.77 million viewers and a 2.0 demo, that is up more than 80% from last years 1.1 demo.
After a solid return last week, Mad Men fell hard (at least in total viewers). Sundays episode amassed 2.66 million viewers and a 1.0 demo, down a harsh 27% among total viewers, but a less-steep 10% in the demographic.
After a solid return last week, Mad Men fell hard (at least in total viewers). Sundays episode amassed 2.66 million viewers and a 1.0 demo, down a harsh 27% among total viewers, but a less-steep 10% in the demographic.
