It seems that no amount of violence in GAME OF THRONES will make anyone change the channel.
HBO: GAME OF THRONES continued its ratings ascension with a gripping episode that could have been called A Tale of Two Beheadings (not to mention some guttings, throat-slittings, a dismemberment, a massacre, and a side of Nymphadora Tonks that Harry never got to see). Thrones climbed for the 2d consecutive week, up to 2.0 (as always, remember that HBO is only in 25% of households, so what looks like a decent rating is actually a smash hit). The only thing on cable that (barely) outrated it was an NBA Playoff game. VEEP climbed back to its premiere-level 0.6, while GIRLS, startlingly funny in a “did they really say/do that?” way, couldn’t have a more loyal audience, as it maintained a 0.4 rating for the 4th consecutive week.
AMC: This season of MAD MAN so far lacks a central narrative throughline that previous seasons (Don’s secret identity, the start-up of the new agency) have had, but on an episode-by-episode basis, the show has never been better. This week’s reverie on marriage, yearning, change, resistance and (of course) death–plus Rory Gilmore! and an honest-to-god $250K Beatles song, the veritable unicorn of licensed music!–remained at last week’s 0.7. THE KILLING, though, with its mix of endlessly red herrings and circular revelations, continued slumping to a 0.3, making it increasingly unlikely the show will survive the reveal of Rosie Larsen’s killer.
LIFETIME: The newly-renewed THE CLIENT LIST did what it does, tying stablemate ARMY WIVES with a strong 0.9 (and a much younger core audience), for an episode in which Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Breasts went on a date. Wives, meanwhile, took a turn for the dark with a story about children killed in a war zone thanks to US army policy.
SHOWTIME: The Sunday night trio of NURSE JACKIE, THE BIG C (someone please stop this show before it adds a baby to the cast) and THE BORGIAS is nothing if not consistent, all 3 shows at 18-49 ratings of 0.16-0.18, and a variation of only about 80,000 total viewers.
STARZ: A Friday night MAGIC CITY update. For an episode that finally featured an eruption by Ike Evans (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), the ratings remained sedate, 0.17 for the initial showing and a total of 0.29 when the following hour’s repeat was added.
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