Thursday, December 26, 2024

Ratings: “Game of Thrones” Back Over 10 Mil, “Twin Peaks” Picks Up 40K, “Ray Donovan” Strong

Sunday cable race: “Game of Thrones” came in at 10.1 million viewers, adding almost 1 million from the prior two weeks. A great episode, and the West Coast no doubt got the word of mouth as news of Dany’s battle, the dragon dragoon and Jaime Lannister’s peril spread. This Sunday should be higher, and then the conclusion of this mini season.

Moving “Twin Peaks” to 8pm helped Showtime gain around 40,000 viewers. But how many of them lasted the whole hour, and who will return, remains to be seen. Drollest announcement of the week: no plans for more of this. Showtime probably wants to strangle David Lynch for 13 weeks of paint drying. Five more to go and this bizarre exercise will end no doubt without answers.

“Ray Donovan” (a great, underrated show) came back strong with 1.25 million audience. And “Sharknado 5” managed to attract almost 1.9 million. LOL.

A really big hit that doesn’t get much press attention: “Ballers.” They’re scoring over 2.2 million peeps a week. That’s huge for scripted TV on cable. The Rock is really a draw, you can’t deny it. Football helps, too.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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