Ratings Clack – Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Jaycee Dugard?

by Brett Love

The big surprise on the networks came from the numbers for ABC's Jaycee Dugard special, which easily outscored the MLB All-Star Game. Over on cable, another huge helping of summer premieres, including 'Curb', 'Alphas', 'Warehouse 13', 'Eureka', and 'The Closer'.

CABLE - It was another huge week for premieres on cable. HBO got things started on Sunday with Curb Your Enthusiasm (1.71m/.9). That’s a pretty run-of-the-mill number. More interesting was the Monday result for Syfy’s new night featuring Eureka (2.02m/.7), Warehouse 13 (2.34m/.8), and Alphas (2.52m/.9). Those all seem a little low, given history and the decided lack of network competition. Also interesting is the fact that the numbers grew throughout the night. I’ll be curious to see how Alphas holds up moving forward.

Also premiering on Monday, TNT brought back The Closer (7.23m/1.4) and Rizzoli & Isles (6.38m/1.2). It seems that Brenda still commands quite an audience, but it’s also worth noting that Falling Skies (3.9m/1.4) tied The Closer in the demo. FX got in on the game as well, with the latest season of Rescue Me (1.65m/.7). There were a couple of interesting non-scripted premieres to note as well. Discovery kicked off the new season of Sons of Guns (2.41m/.7), while Lifetime premiered Rosanne’s Nuts (1.64m/.7).

Basic
In Plain Sight (3.35m/1) The Glades (2.8m/.7) Teen Wolf (1.66m/.6) Nine Lives of Chloe King (1.29m/.4) Covert Affairs (4.3m/1.2) Hawthorne (2.42m/.7) Melissa & Joey (1.03m/.4) Royal Pains (4.92m/1.3) Franklin & Bash (2.55m/.7) Suits (4.38m/1.3) Futurama (1.41m/.7)	Leverage (3.24m/.8) Drop Dead Diva (2.01m/.7) Secret Life of the American Teenager (2.69m/1.1) White Collar (3.84m/1.2) Pretty Little Liars (2.42m/.9) Memphis Beat (2.94m/.6) State of Georgia (.65m/.2) Necessary Roughness (3.99m/1.1) Burn Notice (5.39m/1.5) Wilfred (1.56m/.8) Louie (1.12m/.6)
Premium
True Blood (5.04m/2.8) Weeds (.78m/.4) The Big C (.53m/.2)

ABC - It was, for the most part, a pretty basic summer week. The Bachelorette (8.12m/2.6) looked solid, while Extreme Makeover Weight Loss (5.48m/1.9) was off just a bit. There were also no real surprises from 101 Ways To Leave A Game Show (4.56m/1.6), Combat Hospital (3.71m/.8), Wipeout (6.55m/1.8), Expedition Impossible (4.82m/1.4), or Rookie Blue (5.33m/1.4). The one thing that nobody saw coming was the result of the two hour Primetime special on Jaycee Dugard (14.78m/3.7). Almost four million more viewers than the All-Star game? I didn’t think that many people would remember who Jaycee Dugard was, let alone tune in.

NBC - After a slow start from The Marriage Ref (2.04m/.8) and L&O LA (4.7m/1), things picked up with America’s Got Talent (14.07m/4 – 11.43m/3). The Tuesday night edition was the only show on the networks to top ABC’s Dugard interview. The rest of the week was rather uneventful, bringing the expected results for Minute To Win It (4.83m/1.2), Love In The Wild (4.98m/1.6), Love Bites (2m/.7), and Friday Night Lights (3.48m/.9).

FOX - It’s not the biggest of sports telecasts, but the MLB All-Star Game (10.97m/3.1) did make for the number one program on FOX last week. Elsewhere, MasterChef (5.13m/2.3) continued on pace, and So You Think You Can Dance (5.64m/1.9 – 6.36m/1.6) had another stumble.

CBS - Three episodes of Big Brother (7.16m/2.5 – 7.31m/2.6 – 6.61m/2.3) delivered the usual numbers. They were joined by 48 Hours Mystery (5.53m/1.3) and Flashpoint (6m/1.2).

Photo Credit: TNT