UPDATE: ONCE UPON A TIME gained 0.2 in final numbers, increasing its lead over RESURRECTION even though the latter inched up 0.1 (still down 0.2 from the previous week). Also up 0.1: AMERICAN HOME BUILDERS and AMERICA’S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS.
SUNDAY CABLE: HBO gave GAME OF THRONES a 2-year renewal today (bringing it through Season 6), and here’s why: its 3.6 rating in 18-49s on Sunday didn’t just set a record for the show (up 50% from the Season 3 premiere) but outrated everything on television, broadcast or cable–even though, as can’t be noted often enough, HBO is only available in 1/3 of US households. (It also outrated THE VOICE on Monday.) It’s simplistic to just triple the number to gauge its popularity, but nonetheless, if we do that just for fun, the result is an NFL-playoff level blockbuster. (Just for good measure, GAME added 0.6 for its 11PM re-airing.) SILICON VALLEY wasn’t close to its lead-in, but still launched with a very solid 1.1. VEEP was somewhat less impressive, dropping to 0.5 at 10:30PM. The massive competition didn’t dent the SHAMELESS season finale on Showtime, which rose 0.1 to 0.9. The HOUSE OF LIES season finale, though, stumbled down 0.1 to 0.3. On AMC, TURN debuted at an OK 0.5, although it scored an additional 0.35 for the 10:30PM re-airing, reflecting a decent number of GAME OF THRONES fans who wanted to give it a try. (Unfortunately for TURN, next week MAD MEN takes over the post-GAMES slot.) The Bravo doubleheader of REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA and MARRIED TO MEDICINE were at 1.6/1.1, which was down 0.1 for HOUSEWIVES.
Resurrection no longer looks like a game-changer.
ABC: RESURRECTION fell again last night, this time by 0.3 to 2.1, and for the first time since its debut it wasn’t the highest-rated show on ABC’s Sunday. That was ONCE UPON A TIME, which climbed 0.1 to 2.2. At 10PM, REVENGE slipped 0.1 to 1.3.
CBS: The ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS won the night for CBS, but it was down a full point from last year to 3.3. The night started with 60 MINUTES, which was at 1.3 (comparisons to last week, which was inflated by a NCAA basketball overrun, aren’t relevant).
NBC: An ANN CURRY REPORTS news special kicked things off at 0.6, and then everything was down to new lows: AMERICAN DREAM BUILDERS by 0.2 to 0.6, BELIEVE by 0.1 to 1.0, and CRISIS also by 0.1 to 1.0.
FOX: Even without facing a major event like last week’s basketball overrun, BOB’S BURGERS fell 0.1 to 0.9, and then AMERICAN DAD was down 0.2 to 1.2. The 8PM hour went better, as THE SIMPSONS was steady at 1.9, and FAMILY GUY rose 0.2 to 2.3. COSMOS held even at 1.5.
Tonight will belong to CBS’s coverage of the NCAA TOURNAMENT FINALS. Nevertheless, all the networks will air new competition, with the only reruns CASTLE on ABC and THE TOMORROW PEOPLE on CW. However, NBC will give the 10PM slot to a fresh episode of AMERICAN DREAM BUILDERS rather than put a Blacklist against the game.
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