Ratings Clack – True Blood is back

CABLE - I’m sure all the awards are great, as are the years of great press from critics that HBO has enjoyed. Also great though, are actual numbers. It’s been four years since The Sopranos was knocking both of those balls out of the park on a weekly basis. And since that time, far and away, the most popular show the network has offered has been True Blood (5.42m/3). The numbers for the premiere put the show right on pace with where things finished up last season, which is very good news for HBO. Also worth noting… as good as the True Blood premiere was, it was eclipsed by the BET Awards Show (7.7m/3.3).

Basic

• Falling Skies (4.2m/1.5)
• Leverage (3.42m/1)
• In Plain Sight (3.6m/1)
• Criminal Intent (3.75m/.9)
• Drop Dead Diva (2.38m/.8)
• The Glades (2.53m/.8)
• Secret Life of the American Teenager (2.81m/1.2)
• Switched at Birth (2.8m/1.2)
• Teen Wolf (1.68m/.7)
• Nine Lives of Chloe King (1.43m/.5)
• Covert Affairs (4.01m/1.1)
• White Collar (3.72m/1.1)
• Pretty Little Liars (2.78m/1)
• Hawthorne (2.42m/.7)
• Memphis Beat (2.88m/.7)
• Royal Pains (5m/1.4)
• Necessary Roughness (4.67m/1.4)
• Franklin & Bash (2.54m/.8)
• Men of a Certain Age (1.5m/.3)
• Burn Notice (4.67m/1.3)
• Suits (3.89m/1.2)
• Wilfred (2.04m/1)
• Futurama (1.92m/.9)
• Louie (1.28m/.7)

Premium

• Weeds (1.19m/.6)
• The Big C (.89m/.4)

NBC - The peacock led the way again this week, thanks to America’s Got Talent (12.46m/3.3 – 13.71m/4.1) and The Voice (12.7m/4.4 – 11.05m/3.7). Both are having great runs over the summer. The other programming didn’t quite live up to that frantic pace. Marriage Ref (4.69m/1.7), apparently not as dead as most had assumed, returned to reasonable summer numbers, while Love In The Wild (6.48m/2.2) was ok as well. The only real failure of the week was Love Bites (1.86m/.7), which just never gained any traction. Friday Night Lights (2.62m/.6) wrapped things up.

ABC - Monday’s lineup of The Bachelorette (8.27m/2.6) and Extreme Makeover Weight Loss (6.3m/2.2) remain the high point of the ABC summer schedule. The all new Tuesday, with Wipeout (5.56m/1.8), 101 Ways To Leave A Game Show (5.33m/1.9), and Combat Hospital (4.63m/1.1), hasn’t been as successful. Likewise for the all new Thursday, featuring Wipeout (6.58m/2), Expedition Impossible (6.16m/1.8), and Rookie Blue (5.45m/1.4).

FOX – The whole week comes down to two episodes each from MasterChef (5.13m/2.1 – 4.26m/1.8) and So You Think You Can Dance (5.56m/2 – 5.22m/1.6).  I’m growing just a bit concerned about the SYTYCD numbers. Granted, this week did face the Voice finale, and AGT, but it’s well off the pace. It will be interesting to see what happens next week.

Clacked by Brett Love
on Jul 05, 2011 @ 10:00 EST5EDT