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March 17, 2015
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY’s Top 25 Sunday Cable Originals (& Network Update): 3.15.2015

 

NETWORK UPDATE:  All of Sunday’s newest shows gained 0.1 in final numbers, with increases for BATTLE CREEK, SECRETS AND LIES and THE LAST MAN ON EARTH.  In addition, 60 MINUTES and the reruns of THE VOICE and THE SIMPSONS were up 0.1.

Ratings in key demos for the Top 25 original cable telecasts (plus a few other lower-rated but noteworthy programs):

E! entered the scripted world much as other networks recently have:  THE ROYALS debuted with a 0.50 that wasn’t a bad number by itself, but was down a huge 0.74 from its 1.24 KEEPING UP WITH THE KARDASHIANS lead-in, losing almost 60%.  I hadn’t realized when I wrote yesterday’s Nielsenwar piece that E! has already renewed THE ROYALS for a 2d season, so in a way the ratings aren’t relevant, but if the number falls from there (and history suggests it will), we may find out just how much the network wants that 2d season order. Meanwhile, the top of the chart was of course taken up with AMC’s powerhouse combo of THE WALKING DEAD and TALKING DEAD, although WALKING was down 0.28 from last week (to 6.99), even though TALKING was up 0.12 (to 2.98). Later in the night, COMIC BOOK MEN was up 0.15 to 0.63.  On Bravo, REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA fell 0.38 to 1.36, THICKER THAN WATER dropped 0.17 to 0.62, MILLIONAIRE MATCHMAKER was up 0.01 to 0.60, and FASHION QUEENS dropped 0.12 to 0.25.  An ESPN documentary called “I Hate Christian Laettner” did unusually well, scoring 1.08.  SHAMELESS once again topped pay cable, up 0.09 to 0.77 on Showtime, with HOUSE OF LIES steady at 0.31 and EPISODES up 0.05 to 0.21. HBO’s JINX finale had an incredible amount of publicity because of the real-life arrest of its documentary protagonist Robert Durst earlier that day, and it doubled its rating to 0.28.  GIRLS  lost 0.05 to 0.30, LOOKING held at 0.14, and LAST WEEK TONIGHT gained a tick to 0.33.  LEGEND OF SUPERSTITIOUS MOUNTAIN (History) climbed 0.21 to 0.55, while AX MEN was up 0.04 to 0.51.  On Spike, BAR RESCUE rose 0.09 to 0.58, and COACHING BAD was steady at 0.18.

Top 25 Cable SUN.15 Mar 2015



About the Author

Mitch Metcalf
MITCH METCALF has been tracking every US film release of over 500 screens (over 2300 movies and counting) since the storied weekend of May 20, 1994, when Maverick and Beverly Hills Cop 3 inspired countless aficionados to devote their lives to the art of cinema. Prior to that, he studied Politics and Economics at Princeton in order to prepare for his dream of working in television. He has been Head of West Coast Research at ABC, then moved to NBC in 2000 and became Head of Scheduling for 11 years.