I'm back with another monthly look at the cable TV
landscape! As always, I'll note that I mostly traffic in
adults 18-49 ratings below. (That's always what I mean by
"demo.") However, these should be taken with some grain of
salt. I use A18-49 ratings because of availability and because
they're a reasonable way of making comparisons across
networks, but be advised that it is not necessarily the
be-all-end-all number it is on broadcast. Not all of these
networks target that demographic specifically. In this edition, all these numbers are up to date through Thursday, August 2. I'm putting all shows that just started a season (in other words, weren't on last month's guide) in blue.
With so many shows in the summer editions, I'm splitting this into two parts to try to make it
somewhat feasible to get through each part in one sitting. Part two to
come tomorrow!
The Glades (A&E):
A&E's always decently-rated procedural turned in a solid July,
hitting a 0.8 in the demo each of its last three weeks (before sitting
out the first Olympic Sunday). That puts the average at a 0.73 demo through eight episodes, down just 1% year-to-year. Unlike its lead-out (see below), it hasn’t been renewed yet, but I’m pretty sure it will be.
Longmire (A&E): The new A&E Sunday drama has averaged a 0.75 demo
through its first eight episodes and also picked up some momentum in
July, hitting total viewer highs in each of its last two episodes. It’s
already scored a renewal for season two.
The Secret Life of the American Teenager: As last summer, ABC Family is airing a massive string of Secret Life
episodes in a row and combining eps from what are technically two
different seasons. Though the show had aired for the previous 11 weeks, a
new season technically began on June 11. And Secret Life continues to
prove a mere shadow of its former self, down more than almost anything
on TV. The 0.67 average through seven summer season episodes is down a whooping 41% year-to-year.
Bunheads: We talked about the underwhelming premiere from Bunheads
last month, but the good news is that it’s mostly held pretty close to
that number in the subsequent weeks. It premiered to a 0.57 demo and
through seven weeks is averaging a 0.55 demo. Considering The Lying Game
had an even weaker start with a much better lead-in last summer and got
renewed, I think this show has a shot to stick around.
Pretty Little Liars: With Secret Life on the speedy decline, that means Pretty Little Liars
is now definitely the face of ABC Family’s original programming, and
it’s held up quite well as the dead of summer has hit. Its 0.98 average through eight episodes is now up by 1% year-to-year.
Jane By Design: The great Pretty Little Liars lead-in still isn’t really boosting Jane By Design that much. Its 0.49 demo average
means it’s losing exactly half of its PLL demo lead-in on average, plus
it’s the weakest of the six originals ABC Family is airing right now.
If anything out of ABC Family’s summer scripted slate is getting
cancelled, it’s almost certainly this show.
Melissa & Joey: The big story on ABC Family this summer is that they're having something of a comedy renaissance, led off by veteran Melissa & Joey.
The show has been substantially up year-to-year all season, though that
growth did slow down a bit in July as the show mostly hung between a
0.5 and 0.6 demo. The season average to date is 0.58, still up 29% vs. the first eleven of last season.
Breaking Bad (AMC): Those acclaimed AMC dramas just keep picking up demo audience year in and year out. Breaking Bad
is the latest AMC show for which the “critically acclaimed show that
nobody watches” narrative is fast losing steam, as it’s off to a
fantastic start in its final season. The show premiered to a 1.5 demo on
July 15, which was fourth tenths above any result in the first four
seasons. It’s dropped in the subsequent two weeks, to 1.2 and then 1.1,
but the 1.27 average is still up a massive 41% on the first three of last season.
Tosh.0 (Comedy Central): Comedy Central’s biggest original program had a bit of a rough season thanks to heavy competition from the male-skewing NBA Finals and then from the Olympics. It averaged a 1.32 demo for the summer, down 19% year-to-year, but it dropped to 1.2 in its two against-Finals eps in June and then faded to a series low 1.0 for the season finale against the Olympics.
Workaholics (Comedy Central): Though Workaholics
mostly followed its lead-in downward against the NBA Finals, it did
hold up a lot better against the Olympics, holding nearly all the Tosh
lead-in in hitting a 0.9 for the season finale. But the season as a
whole was down 21% from last year and averaged a 0.89.
Futurama (Comedy Central): Like with the Tosh/Workaholics block, Futurama is having a significantly down summer. Its 0.66 average through eight episodes is down by 23% year-to-year. Also like with that Tuesday block, Futurama got slammed against the Olympics, hitting a season/series low 0.51 last week.
Wilfred: Wilfred premiered well (1.2 demo) leading out of that huge Anger Management premiere, but it’s since followed Anger
down the drain, settling at around a 0.65 demo for the last few weeks.
Throwing out the preview episode on June 21, the show is averaging a 0.71 demo this summer, down by 17% from last year.
Louie: FX announced a season four renewal for Louie
at last week’s press tour, and it’s a good thing, because the ratings
have been tanking. Since premiering with a 0.71 demo five weeks ago,
it’s dropped each of the last five weeks and managed just a 0.3 against
the Olympics! The season is averaging a 0.50 demo, down by 16% from last season’s first six.
True Blood (HBO): HBO’s True Blood
quietly continues to dominate the cable landscape this summer, and it’s
now as big as nearly any entertainment options on broadcast TV as well.
Its Sunday night demo audience has been unbelievably consistent,
falling between a 2.56 and a 2.67 for each of the last seven weeks. The season average is 2.65, down by 2% from the first eight of last season.
The Newsroom (HBO): Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom
premiered with a 1.0 demo, dropped to a 0.7 in week two, then got back
to 0.9 and seemed to stabilize there (before the Olympics entered the
mix last week and knocked it down to 0.7). The show is averaging a 0.85 demo, still only about a third of what its True Blood lead-in is pulling, but season two is secure.
Drop Dead Diva (Lifetime): Lifetime’s Drop Dead Diva has bounced around a lot this season, with a few 0.8+ episodes and a few 0.6 or worse, but it all adds up to a 0.73 average through eight episodes. That’s down by just 4% year-to-year. Expect another renewal.
Army Wives (Lifetime): The return to the 10:00 hour has benefited Army Wives somewhat, as it’s averaging a little over a 1.0 demo since the return. The season as a whole is now averaging a 0.98 demo through 18 episodes, down by 17% vs. the year-ago 13-episode season.
Teen Wolf (MTV): MTV’s Teen Wolf just continues to turn in solid results and is now averaging a 0.67 demo through 10 episodes. That’s up by 1% vs. the year-ago first ten, so the show scored a super-sized renewal last month. Season three will have 24 episodes.
Awkward. (MTV): As expected, Awkward.
has taken a ratings step backward in season two simply because it’s in a
much worse timeslot than last summer, when it aired after the then-huge
hit Teen Mom. It’s averaging a 0.77 demo and has steadied right around that number almost every week. That’s down by 13%
from the first six post-Teen Mom eps last year, and that year-to-year
number will probably worsen as the season progresses since Awkward.
really broke out in the first half of last season. Still, the show
comfortably scored a 20-episode season three renewal last month.
Warehouse 13: We
may have to wait awhile till we can really gauge Syfy’s Powerful
Mondays block, since the shows have both aired just two episodes and one
went up against the Olympics. The premiere of Warehouse 13 on
July 23 (0.8 demo) was close to even with last year’s premiere, but the
show dropped over 25% in week two against the Olympics. Through two
weeks, the 0.66 average is down by 23% from last year.
WWE Friday Night Smackdown!: It was a good month for Syfy’s wrestling franchise. The 0.82 demo average was stronger than all their scripted shows, a bit stronger than the 0.78 June average, and also up a good bit from the July 2011 average.
Lost Girl: In mid-July, Syfy moved Lost Girl over to Friday night to make room for Alphas on Monday. Usually, that’d be a bad thing, but Lost Girl does have a much larger lead-in on Friday with Smackdown! So far, the smaller viewing levels and the bigger lead-in on Friday have basically been a wash, as Lost Girl has turned in a 0.4 demo in each of its two Friday airings to date. (Though the total viewer count has been a bit higher.) The season is averaging a 0.42 demo through 15 episodes, still just a bit behind the season one average.
END PART ONE - Part two covering shows on TBS, TNT, TV Land and USA coming tomorrow!
For more, check out the previous cable guides here at SpoilerTV:
June part 1 | June part 2
September/October | November | December | January | February | March | April | May
For more in-depth TV ratings coverage every day, check out my blog at SpottedRatings.com or follow me on Twitter: @spotupj.
