July 25, 2007

TNT's Saving Grace #1 Cable Premiere of '07

By Shirley Brady

Cable Ratings: July 16-22

GRACE UNDER FIRE: Holly Hunter in TNT's Saving Grace.

TNT's premiere of Saving Grace Monday night (July 23) attracted 6.42 million total viewers and 4.86 million households, becoming 2007's top new ad-supported cable series premiere. Besides the lure of Holly Hunter in the lead role, Saving Grace benefited from a strong lead-in: The Closer, which averaged 7.29 million total viewers and 5.37 million households Monday night.

TNT's back-to-back female cop-based dramas also scored well in demos: Saving Grace nabbed 1.94 million adults 18-49 and 2.47 million A25-54, while The Closer collared more than 2 million A18-49 and 2.82 million A25-54.

Saving Grace's debut now stands as the #3 ad-supported cable series premiere of all time in household delivery, behind The Closer's premiere (5.26 million households, June 13, 2005) and USA's The 4400 (4.99 million households, July 11, 2004).

The Closer also topped cable ratings for the week of July 16-22. Other highlights for that week (scroll down for the top 15 ad-supported cable shows of the week):

• Disney Channel attracted the most viewers for the week, averaging 3.55 million total viewers in primetime; USA was #2 (2.38 million total viewers); TNT #3 (2.18 million); and TBS #4 (1.55 million).

• AMC's Mad Men premiere (Thursday, July 19) averaged 1.6 million total viewers, of which 1.07 million (65%) were 50+. With a median age of 54.4, AMC's first original series' premiere attracted 510,00 A18-49 and 731,000 A25-54. The series premiere outperformed AMC's second quarter primetime average (927,000) by 77%.

• Disney Channel—helped by its 16th repeat of High School Musical, which attracted 5.8 million total viewers—was TV's #1 network in Kids 6-11 for the second consecutive week and #1 in Tweens 9-14 for its 8th consecutive week. The channel was the #5 TV network for the week, beating broadcast networks, the CW and Univision.

• ESPN averaged 1.5 million viewers on July 21 for David Beckham's debut with the Los Angeles Galaxy, become the most-watched Major League Soccer telecast in the history of ESPN or ESPN2.

• Food Network's July 22nd finale of The Next Food Network Star was the channel's highest-rated telecast ever, landing a 2.6 HH rating and a 1.7 HH rating in A25-54, the #1 telecast for the night in that demo.

• Hallmark Channel, TBS, Cartoon Network, Lifetime, Fox News Channel and Nick at Nite ranked #4 in primetime for the week, with a 1.2 HH rating.

• Lifetime's Army Wives (Sunday, July 22) was #1 for the night for household delivery, W18-49, W25-54 and W18+. The episode delivered a 3.0 HH rating, 3.5 million total viewers, and 1.4 million W18-49 and 1.4 million W25-54. The episode beat broadcast networks in its key female demos. Sophomore episodes of new series State of Mind (1.6 HH rating, 1.9 million total viewers) increased 11% in W18-34 (279,570 viewers) and 8% in W18-49 (766,660 viewers), while Side Order of Life (1.5 HH rating, 1.7 million total viewers) was #1 among W18-49 (608,059) and #1 among W25-54 in its timeslot.

• VH1's Sunday (July 22nd) premieres fared well: Hogan Knows Best 4 averaged 1.6 million total viewers and a 1.0 HH rating in P18-49; Rock of Love with Bret Michaels attraced 1.5 million total viewers and 1.1 million A18-49; Scott Baio is 45...And Single averaged 1.4 million total viewers and 1.2 million A18-49.

Source: Nielsen Media Research (based on live and same-day DVR ratings); all times EDT.