THE SKED’S SAT-MON CABLE SCORECARD: 8/17-19

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SATURDAY

STARZ:  Starz would be pleased if THE WHITE QUEEN can continue where it landed with its second episode.  Although its 800K total viewers and 0.3 in 18-49s were below the total of the many airings Starz and its sister networks gave the premiere the week before, it was above any single one of those airings, which suggests that some viewers did seek it out the next week.  It’s also scoring better than recent Starz projects like Boss and Magic City.

AMC:  HELL ON WHEELS fell in total viewers from last week’s season premiere, 2.5M to 1.9M, but it was impressively steady in 18-49s, holding at 0.5.  That’s not at all a bad number for a Saturday (it was the 2d highest cable rating of the night, below a Lifetime original movie), and if it can hold at that level, it should easily earn a renewal.

SUNDAY

HBO:  The season finale of TRUE BLOOD was up a bit from last week (4.1M total viewers and 2.3 in 18-49s, compared to 4M/2.2), but significantly down from last year’s finale, which had 5M total viewers and a 2.8 demo rating.   The show may be starting to show its age, but it also faced much stronger competition this year from AMC.  (It added 900K/0.5 with its 11PM re-broadcast.)  THE NEWSROOM was almost exactly even with last week, up a few thousand viewers to 1.9M and steady at 0.8 among 18-49s.

AMC:  BREAKING BAD couldn’t keep up its scorching numbers from last week, but it was still well above last year’s ratings and ahead of the True Blood finale.  Bad had 4.8M total viewers and a 2.4 in the demo, compared to 5.9M/2.9 last week.  (The 11:30PM re-airing added 1.3M additional viewers and 0.5 in the demo.)  Things were less rosy, however, for the second episode of LOW WINTER SUN, which isn’t scoring with Breaking Bad viewers.  Sun plunged from 2.5M viewers and a 1.1 18-49 rating to 1.5M/0.5.  That was the same demo for the bargain-basement talkshow Talking Bad that followed Sun, with 1M total viewers.

LIFETIME:  DEVIOUS MAIDS held steady with 2.6M viewers and 0.9 in the demo.

SHOWTIME:  The strangely underwhelming final season of DEXTER continued at its pace of 1.9M viewers and 0.9 in the demo.  RAY DONOVAN was equally consistent at 1.5M viewers and 0.5 in the demo.

OWN:  The much vaunted Oprah Winfrey/Lindsay Lohan interview did what Lohan’s projects almost invariably do:  fail to live up to its hype.  The show had a mere 900K viewers, and 0.3 in 18-49s (although perhaps it did better in targeted demos).

MONDAY

TNT:  The MAJOR CRIMES season finale had 5.3M total viewers and a 0.8 among 18-49s.  (Plus 1.3M/0.3 at 11PM.)  That was slightly down in the demo from last week, and also from last season’s finale (which aired in October), but overall the show has had amazingly consistent ratings over time.

ABCFAMILY:  SWITCHED AT BIRTH also had its season finale, and it was also at 0.8 in 18-49s.  But of course the show is aimed at a diametrically different demo than Major Crimes, so while it had only 2M total viewers, it had 1.2 and 1.8 ratings in women aged 18-34 and 12-34.

MTV:  TEEN WOLF picked up the rest of the younger audience, with 1.9M total viewers and 0.8 in 18-49s.

A&E:  Both LONGMIRE and THE GLADES increased their elder audiences for the week (4.1M up from 3.6M and 2.7M up from 2.3M, respectively), while Longmire stayed even among 18-49s at 0.8 and Glades actually slipped a bit to 0.6.  (Longmire added 1.3M/0.3 at 11PM.)

TLC:  Is it a good or bad sign for humanity that THE MAN WITH THE 132 LB SCROTUM had 1.3M viewers and an 0.5 in 18-49s?