ADJUSTED UPDATE: An assortment of 0.1 adjustments, up for THE AMAZING RACE, down for THE GOOD WIFE, BELIEVE, AMERICAN DREAM BUILDERS and DATELINE.
SATURDAY CABLE: ORPHAN BLACK (BBCAmerica) was at 0.3 in its Season 2 debut. That number doesn’t sound like much, but it roughly triples what the series was doing in most of Season 1 (after its series premiere, which was padded by airing after DOCTOR WHO). ORPHAN’s 620K total viewers also put it above most episodes of the more expensive COPPER, which aired on much more heavily watched Sunday nights, although it was nowhere near DOCTOR WHO, with its 1.5M viewers.
SUNDAY CABLE: GAME OF THRONES was of course on top, up 0.1 to a massive 3.5–higher than anything on broadcast or cable on Sunday or Monday night, despite being available in only 1/3 of US households. (GAME added 0.6 with its 11PM re-airing.) Elsewhere on HBO, the newly-renewed SILICON VALLEY fell 0.2 to 0.8, and VEEP, also renewed, was off 0.1 to 0.4. On AMC, MAD MEN dropped 0.2 from last week’s season debut to 0.6, and TURN also fell 0.2 to 0.4. At Showtime, NURSE JACKIE and CALIFORNICATION were both at 0.2, and YEARS OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY was at a dismal 0.04. WGN America’s debut of SALEM was at 0.5 (WGN is in 2/3 of US households), and Lifetime’s season debut of DEVIOUS MAIDS was at 0.7. Other high-rated shows for the night: 1.8 for Bravo’s REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA, and 1.9/1.6/1.4 for various TNT NBA PLAYOFF games.
Easter Sunday was a slow night for most network fare.
ABC: The network aired a family programming night, and it went badly. A special IT’S THE EASTER BEAGLE, CHARLIE BROWN managed just 0.9, below a typical America’s Funniest Home Videos, then ONCE UPON A TIME fell 0.3 to a new series low 1.7. The rest of the night was preempted for a HALLMARK HALL OF FAME movie that starred Katharine McPhee of Smash infamy, and it scored a dismal 1.0.
NBC: AMERICAN DREAM BUILDERS has been shoved to 7PM, where it fell 0.1 for a new low 0.6. DATELINE, now at 8PM, rose 0.1 to 0.9. With little competition on ABC, BELIEVE was up 0.2 to 1.2, but that didn’t help CRISIS, which dropped 0.2 to 0.9.
CBS: Without last week’s Masters-aided bump, 60 MINUTES was down a sharp 0.5 to 1.1. THE AMAZING RACE fell 0.2 to 1.6, and another dazzling episode of THE GOOD WIFE slipped 0.1 to 1.4. THE MENTALIST fell 0.2 to 1.4.
FOX: As the only new animation in the Sunday night block, BOB’S BURGERS foundered, down 0.2 to 0.6. (The reruns that followed were highlighted by 1.1 for FAMILY GUY.) COSMOS also appreciated the helping hand from ABC, up 0.1 to 1.4.
All the networks are new tonight, except CBS filling in the 9:30-11PM holes where its regular series are done for the season with reruns of THE BIG BANG THEORY and NCIS LA. It’s a busy night for adult animation on cable, where FX has the season finale of ARCHER and Adult Swim premieres the controversial 4th season (without creator Aaron McGruder) of THE BOONDOCKS.
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