HBO: Another wacko episode of TRUE BLOOD (Lilith!) topped the night in cable (and beat everything on broadcast TV except the Bachelorette finale/epilogue) with a 2.6 (a splendid 75% of the viewers under 50), down just slightly from last week. And as much as THE NEWSROOM seems to infuriate at least half the people who watch it, they’re still watching, as its rating held almost exactly even at 0.9, with around 60% of those viewers under 50.
AMC: BREAKING BAD provided a spectacular showcase episode for Jonathan Banks’ Mike, as smart and engaging a ruthless killer as you’ll ever meet (kudos, too, for the episode’s taut direction by Michelle McLaren), as the show fell off 20% from its season premiere to a 1.2 demo rating and 2.3M viewers (around 2/3 of them under 50).
TNT: FALLING SKIES has been a much more interesting show this season, with both humans and aliens that may or may not be trustworthy and an increasing variety of creepy-crawly things not of this world. Its rating held at 1.2 (a bit less than 50% in the 18-49 demo). The rest of the night was less successful, with lead-in LEVERAGE down a bit at 0.7 and THE GREAT ESCAPE seeming unlikely to survive at 0.4.
A&E: LONGMIRE and THE GLADES continue to hold very well, albeit old skewing. LONGMIRE was watched by 4.5M people and scored a 0.9 in the demo (a bit more than 25% of the total audience), and THE GLADES was at a 0.8 and 3.4M total viewers (about a third of the viewers under 50).
LIFETIME: ARMY WIVES was significantly down (probably due to the Bachelorette competition on ABC), with a 0.9 in the demo that was 0.2 below last week and a similarly reduced 2.9M total viewers. DROP DEAD DIVA was also hit, down to a 0.6 in the demo and 2.1M viewers.
USA: POLITICAL ANIMALS was down about 10% in total viewers and demo (although due to rounding, the demo number stayed at 0.5). That isn’t a bad decline for Week 2 of a heavily promoted show, but this series didn’t have much room to fall. Even if it holds even for the rest of its 6-week run, it’s hard to see much of an argument for bringing the show back.
