UPFRONTS 2013: The Overachievers 
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On the heels of True Blood‘s renewal yesterday for Season 4, HBO released ratings for the Sunday second episode of the vampire drama’s current third season. True Blood drew 4.3 million viewers, down modest 14% from the heavily promoted and highly-rated season premiere the week before. The combined audience for the 9PM and 11PM showings of the episode was 5.6 million viewers. Meanwhile, freshman drama Treme quietly wrapped its first season on Sunday (it has already been picked up for a second season). The New Orleans-based series held only to a fraction of the True Blood audience at 10PM, averaging 931,000 viewers (1.4 million when the midnight rerun is added.) But again, with Treme, which was renewed right after the premiere, ratings were never a factor in the pickup decision. ”This is too good of a show and too important of a show not to invest in a second season,” HBO’s president of programming Michael Lombardo said at the time.
UPDATE: Over at Showtime, the series finale of The Tudors on Sunday drew 682,000 and 900,000 total for the two airings. That was 68% up from the last year’s Season 3 finale. Meanwhile, the debut of The L Word unscripted offshoot The Real L Word, which followed The Tudors finale, averaged a combined 487,000 viewers for its two telecasts.
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
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Sort of off topic, but speaking of ratings, when will the ratings come out with ALL the shows that air at any given time?
It would be interestin to see the REAL top ten with Univision, cable shows, EVERYTHING that airs in primetime. It seems incredibly old-fashioned to see only shows on the regular networks ranked on a daily basis. Is this a network tradition or is there some technological barrier?
Because they are different, broadcast shows are available almost everywhere unlike cable so it’s really not fair to rank them on the same level.
Treme is easily the best series on TV…
Characters you actually care about — who woulda thunk it?
Couldn’t disagree more. Save for the Albert, there isn’t a single likable character in the cast – the great, great majority of them come off as whiney, lazy, and completely self-absorbed. If it really is an accurate portrayal of NOLA living, one wonders if the city might have fared better if the majority of its population hadn’t been wasting most of its time on hobbies.
This series has a serious case of the emperor’s new clothes; its a show about nothing, except this one isn’t funny. Granting it a second season was premature at best and certainly had more to do with the quality of “The Wire” than “Treme.”
I also disagree, the show plods along giving brief glimpses of characters that have pretty much ordinary lives, in the grand scheme of things. Each of the characters is portrayed as a supporting player, but without a strong lead(s) it falls short of holding the audiences interest.
Two exceptions are Antoine Batiste and Toni Bernette, both roles were very good, with Toni nailing the last episode.
Speaking of the last episode, it was written, or so it looked, like the last episode. I would not be surprised to see the show “not” go on.
True Blood has to be one of the most guilty pleasures. It’s a horrible show, but I can’t stop watching it. It’s also super gay this year.
With all due respect to the HBO president (and I will admit to never having watched the show), when a program has the low ratings Treme has (and I am in no way making claim that low ratings= low quality)it is time to axe it on a pay cable station. Your customers have spoken by flipping the channel. This is a problem HBO has had for a while now– not paying attention to their customers’ likes and dislikes (and, again, I am making no judgement on the QUALITY of the show, merely its low ratings).
all due respect to ‘Here in Flyover’ but the customers haven’t spoken until they cancel their HBO. HBO has its own economic model — which of course, includes selling DVD sets at premium prices to non-subscribers — and they’ve always been in the business of cross-collateralization. if they find a spot on their sked for Treme (as they have thankfully) then it means it fits THEIR wants and needs. and believe me, there are people out there who ONLY subscribed to HBO because of The Wire, and now Treme. it’s about quality, not bean-counting, my friend.
…and I cancelled my HBO (along with dozens of my friends) last year. Programming like Treme (or even The Wire) won’t sustain the model.
Because obviously you and your 12 friends are representative of the American population’s views on HBO. Nice.
I canceled a few months after The Sopranos ended, resubscribed a couple years later for John Adams (found it so-so), canceled again then came back for The Pacific (also a little disappointing– probably unfair of me to expect it to be as good as Band of Brothers). I guess Tuesday is correct that HBO gauges its success by how many cancellations it gets. I’d be interested in seeing a chart/graph showing HBO’s subscription rates over the years (along with what programming was aired each month).
That will be a difficult concept to sell to the stockholders. Also remember quality is in the eye of the beholder, in this case the beholder of the remote.
I have watched all 10 episodes and using this and The Wire in the same sentence is comparing apples to oranges. Or a weak attempt to boost Threme on the back of The Wire.
The Wire had endless possibilities for storyline, this show has a very narrow scope and time frame in which to develop the characters.
In my opinion they are/were trying to cover to much ground in too short of a time period. I would have liked to spend more time with each character set. Lacking that I only wound up caring about a couple of characters.
There are people like me who subscribe to the channel specifically for Treme. It doesn’t matter whether the fans of their other shows watch Treme or not. If every subscriber watches only one show — but really really loves it — their business model works.
I don’t watch any other HBO shows, but Treme is worth the extra money to me. I will subscribe as long as it’s on the air.
Um. No.
Most of the greatest shows in the history of television started out with low ratings.
HBO should stick to its guns and, instead of appealing to the current trend of canceling things that don’t take off immediately, appeal to the idea that an intelligent, quality show has an audience and they have the responsibility to produce the best written and best acted shows on TV; it’s why I KEEP HBO.
Treme is fo’ shizzle and authentic in ways most New Orleanians can respect. What an amazing and powerfully written love letter to one of the truly great cities of the world. Actors blend seamlessly with musicians and locals in signature locations. Show has delivered a satisfying, poignant and at times sad experience every week, I guarantee!
Treme is the best show on TV in years.
I am sure the TRUE BLOOD ratings will be boosted after the million repeats it has during the week. People just tuned in immediately last week since it was the start.
The second season of Treme should be all about the oil spill and its effect on the region–except that HBO is engaging in propoganda, not drama, so it’s evil republicans all the way…
I agree. You haven’t seen the show. There’s not a lot of talk about “evil Republicans” on Treme. When it does get political, the characters find both federal, state and local at fault for their handling of the aftermath of the crisis. Mayor Ray Nagin probably takes the biggest beating but the show is really about people and, outside of the opening credits, politics takes a backseat.
The Wire is my favorite show of all time. But I can see how Treme may have lost viewers. The first season of Treme was uneven. I loved the world it presented, the culture, some of the characters and the heart breaking courage it takes to rebuild their lives after such devastation. And the season finale showed us the real promise of the show, as it was incredibly moving, intense, sweet, tragic, and inclusive. It was the first time in the series where I felt like I was being let in, not treated like an unwelcome outsider. Perhaps that was by design but it was an occasionally hard slog to get there.
Too often, the content suffered from a weird know-it-all condescension. There were definitely moments were I turned to my gf and said “I’d love to visit this place, but apparently I’m just not cool enough.” I imagined arriving in New Orleans and Steve Zahn yelling at me for being a tourist.
According to one of my friends who frequents New Orleans, the natives are a lot more welcoming and may not snarl at you if you choose to check out Bourbon street before you venture over to, say, a dark, shabby club in Treme where Kermit has magically decided to show up and play.
So anyway, I am all for the 2nd season if the show can tell more engaging stories about its people. I felt like some characters were in stasis (for example, the Indian Chief seemed like he was sewing, like, most of the time) – and if it can rise to the level of the first and last episodes of the show.
Um. WHAT? You obviously haven’t seen the show. There’s not a single mention of “Republicans” on it – at all – in any show in its season.
“The second season of Treme should be all about the oil spill and its effect on the region–except that HBO is engaging in propoganda, not drama, so it’s evil republicans all the way.”
You clearly haven’t seen a minute of Treme.
Treme is incredible. If Khandi Alexander isn’t nominated for an Emmy, something is wrong.
i think she’s going to win
Well the wire had low ratings and is the best show ever and if HBO had the mentality of broadcast networks we wouldn’t have had the wire. So we should applaud the balls of HBO for giving a good show a chance just because it’s a goodshow and not because of ratings. Balls I say balls!
totally agree – ndally. Wire is the best tv series ever – nothing even comes close. And my favorite moments of Treme are watching Bunk and Lester – and seeing Slim Charles and Mr. Prezbo pop in!
David Simon is a genius. Treme is as epic as The Wire – both are among the best, dramatic, creative, compelling works – ever. Both have made this cinephile realize what can be accomplished on television with a serial – that can not within the time constraints of a feature. All should praise Mr. Simon and HBO.
Dozens? What, you did a poll?
I wanted to love “Treme,” god I wanted to love it.
Just couldn’t. Too slow in the first episode.
I kinda feel like were SUPPOSED to love it because it’s about post-Katrina New Orleans. I hate it when a show doesn’t really have to earn its glory.
Treme is one of the best shows on television. It haunts me and makes me yearn to be in New Orleans and to wish I was not an outsider. I’ve always loved the crescent city, now I feel like I know her better.
I have lived in NOLA.
It may seem “cool adn hip”on TV, but its filled with Crime and corruption. In many ways its an open swere. Remember, remove the French quarter from NOLA and you’re in Mississippi.
I cannot see how a family man could allow his children to be raised there. There are far too many better places to live.