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HBO’s True Blood held steady with its third episode Sunday, while the season premieres of Hung and Entourage were down from last year. True Blood averaged 4.5 million viewers at 9 PM, up from the 4.3 million who tuned in for episode 2 the week before. However, the total audience when the 11PM airing is factored in was 5.1 million, down 9% from the week before.
At 10PM, the second season premiere of Hung averaged 2.5 million viewers, down 11% from the show’s series debut last year. The show’s ratings were down despite the fact that the show had a stronger lead-in this year. Last year’s episode of True Blood, which opened for the Hung premiere, drew 3.7 million viewers. But for the night, Hung’s cume viewership, 3.5 million, was close to last year’s total, 3.7 million. At 10:30PM, the season opener of veteran Entourage logged 2.5 million viewers, down 26% from last year’s season debut. On the bright side, Entourage held onto 100% of its Hung lead-in in total viewers, while dropping 6% last year.
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
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True Blood is definitely one of the best shows on tv right now. HBO is definitely back with shows like True Blood, Boardwalk Empire, A Game of Thrones, Treme and Bored to Death. That sex scene on True Blood will be talked about for some time to come because it was so disturbing. The special effects on that scene were great. True Blood should be nominated for best drama. Hung and Entourage suck.
I agree with you Thomas. True Blood is one of the best series on tv right now.
I am a big fan of Entourage but had absolutely no idea it was premiering this past Sunday. I didn’t see a single ad for it – anywhere.
I’m hoping my Tivo picked up the series recording I had set from last year!!
Same here. Love Entourage but totally missed the episode. The only thing that reminded me was Nikki’s site!!!! Now I’m searching for a replay! What’s up promo dept???????
Entourage is unwatchable. It shouldn’t have come back for another season. Trying to turn these characters into more mature, soulful men has backfired. As actors they can’t pull it off. This series is fresh out of stories to tell.
Entourage is now painful to watch.
We erased the series recording from our DVR last night.
We’re done. I suspect this will be the case across the country.
PARTY DOWN is better than Entourage ever was.
Why THIS show isn’t the talk of the town amazes me.
Starz needs to blow out a PR campaign for season three.
Completely agree with you on “Party Down”. HBO wishes it could do a comedy as good right now.
I definitely agree with you.
Entourage is the same old crap while Party Down is always fresh and entertaining. I hope its brought back even with some cast members exiting.
Party Down is great, but the show had less than 100K viewers for it’s second season finale. No way to spin how bad those numbers are. Also no Jane Lynch, Adam Scott or Ryan Hansen (and probably no Lizzie Caplan).
No one was watching this show, which is sad because it’s definitely entertaining. Starz needs to do a better job marketing their product (they have 17 million subscribers, they should be able to get at least half a mill to tune in).
Party Down is simply The Office centered on caterers. The deadpan humor has been exhausted elsewhere and is only refreshing to those who only watch Modern Family (yes, I said it!) and Biggest Loser. At least Hung is trying to do something different. It’s a dark comedy and its subtle humor is geared towards a more mature, sophisticated audience. And Bored to Death is a super refreshing, witty, sharp piece of GENIUS.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. The day that entourage is put out of its misery is the day we can all breathe a sigh of relief. Next time a show comes on with a character named after an animal change the channel fast! Let this be a lesson
I LOVE “Hung”!! The premiere was great!! “Entourage” sucks and is so unrealistic. The woman characters are terrible. Whereas, “Hung” has brilliantly complex women in it’s show. Bring on the Emmys. “True Blood” is fun but campy. “Hung” is realistic and complex-genius writing!
I guess I’m one of the few people who doesn’t really get True Blood. I’m not sure why either. I have loved everything Alan Ball has done. I thought 6 ft under was incredible. But people seem to respond to it, so maybe its just me. plus i’m probably not the target audience, 30.
As far as entourage goes, this p.o.s. should have ended 3 years ago. The characters suck, the actors seem bored, and the story lines are stupid. I know this isn’t just me either, most everyone I know has either quit on the show or say they watch it when nothing else is on.
Treme is the best thing on HBO right now, far and away.
Vince wrestles with whether or not to perform his own stunts. The cupboard is bare, friends. The cupboard is bare.
Perhaps someone will take pity on the uninitiated here and explain how these numbers are gathered? I know inthe olden days Nielsen placed boxes in houses to track viewership. With so many touchpoints now with digital delivery, there must be some much more sophisticated and precising method of tracking. ut my real question is this…I TiVo everything and watch it on my time. Now that DVRs are so widespread, are these viewers counted? Those who record a show and watch it a week later? Something in the line from the above article…when the 11PM airing is factored in was 5.1 million, down 9% from the week before…suggests that only those watching on the night a show airs are being counted. And if that’s the case, it seems to me these numbers are worthless.
HUNG was really good. Not the greatest show in the world, but I love how they examine relationships. It’s not the usual true love BS.
Plus, Alexander Payne is the coolest guy in Hollywood. He let me hold his Oscar, and I’m a complete punter!
Both were amazing tv shows but Entourage is the best for me. It is entertaining and it also gives people outside the industry and opportunity to see what goes on behind the scenes!
Entourage stopped showing behind the scenes a long time ago. Now it’s mostly made-up crap. If Entourage really wanted to be realistic, then they would show Vince in a downward spiral career-wise as nobody should want to work with him. His Medellin movie tanked, he was the reason why Smoke Jumpers got canceled and he was fired from Aquaman II. Vincent Chase should be the equivalent of Vin Diesel; a flavor of the month that nobody cares about anymore.
HUNG may be one of the worst written/acted shows on TV these days. I can only imagine how painful it must be for all of the out-of-work TV writers to sit through.
Entourage is spent. It was amusing (at best) for a year or two. It’s a sit-com with paper thin characters and maybe the worst lead actor in all of TV. I don’t believe a word of it and I’m surprised when people in the industry seem to. Real life in the industry could be shown so much more interesting, funny and complicated than what they show. Zzzzzz.
The only good comedy on HBO right now is Bored to Death.
The reason Entourage fell off so hard is that the show fell off last year when a certain someone’s assistant became an unqualified exec producer on the show that she is currently ruining…lesson to everyone out there to think with your head (the one on your shoulders) when making staffing decisions.
Seems like Doug Elin got pussy whipped. E’s love life last year with an anorexic twit was so badly written. Turtle and Jamie Lyn Sigler?
Sounds like Doug got the seven year itch with his own love life and the whole show became about him. I miss the old writing staff. The show is unwatchable. He is thinking with his…
The most clear cut case of sleeping your way to the top!! I know EXACTLY who your talking about and Doug seems to hang on her every word when it comes to advice about the show which is why it’s gone down the drain! Personal Assistant to Executive Producer/Writer?!!
Doug even got his girl/ assistant now exec producer a deal to write a pilot at HBO. For a damn good price. His agent Ari Emanuel pushed that through. Got a keep her happy.
Doug hires young, hot female assistants to give him access to a world that as a pasty faced, middle aged, married father he can’t get to. They do lots of favors for him and he moves them up. The show is a reflection of what little is going on inside his head. He hazes smart writers by the way. It’s disgusting. He must be worth a lot to HBO to bury his mess and pay his girl.
ya’ll have no idea what you’re talking about, dumbest conspiracy theories ever… go pontificate on your own sad little lives.
Haven’t you ever noticed how Doug is always trying to be “one of the guys” His ego is one of the biggest in L.A which is a pretty difficult task in itself. He’ll be riding the coattails of the characters he writes for forever. Cheating on his wife and children with the personal assistant who used not only be an assistant but one of her job requirements was a BABYSITTER to his kids!!
Bored to Death is really good, Hung is good. But Eastbound and Down is far beyond these two combined. Easily the best comedy on TV in a few seasons, and overlooked by everyone last year.
I love Bored To Death. Jason Schwartzman is finally cast in a role where he doesn’t annoy the crap out of me.
Entourage’s problem was and will always be it’s leading man. It started with the writing where Vince didn’t seem to have the kind of passion, determination (or talent or charisma) that a movie star should and does have and then the bigger truth became apparent. Adrien Grenier while I am sure is a very nice guy and is a serviceable actor, is simply not a good enough actor to convince me that he is both the size movie star and acclaim worthy actor the show wants us to believe.
The actors all seem OK but none of their characterizations or acting rises to the level of anything above serviceable. Arri started out great and was something different for formerly always side kick nice guy Jeremy Piven but the mean joke got old and we are left with a shell of a character hurling insults at everyone. At some point we are bound to stop caring.
Indeed, True Blood is about as good as cable t.v. gets. This is one show that won’t be picked up by TBS and censored for mainstream viewing following its HBO run. Such was the fate of Sex and The City.
Season 1 remains the best season thus far. Season 2′s dominance by Mary Ann and the Church of the Sun nonsense was not compelling television. Season 3 is showing a lot of promise with its outstanding writing and acting. If Alan Ball continues on this path the ratings will soar and he’ll have another multi-season winner on his hands. If however Ball insists on balancing True Blood’s major story lines with mundane filler material like the Tara/Tara’s Mother characters, he’ll detract from the overall enjoyment of True Blood.
I have to say I’ve loved ENTOURAGE…but last night’s premiere was a big MEH. I mean who cares if Vince doesn’t want to do his own stunt? Drama can’t get a job? Turtle starts a limo company? That’s the best you can do? TRUE BLOOD is fun. But HUNG is so depressing and boring. HBO needs to get a clue and give us stories and characters we actually CARE about. They need another Sopranos or (better yet) another Sex & The City. These new shows like HUNG and TREME are boring and you can’t get behind any of the characters. You still need to root for somebody!
Obvious so glad someone had the balls to point that out. Nikki should do a story on her rise to glory. She is not qualified and is a horrible person who is despised by the entire crew.
Entourage was a once great show that became unwatchable two seasons ago. Every story beat we’ve seen 8 times before in more imaginative ways and with better writing. (Drama having a career crisis, Oh no!!). They should stop before they ruin their legacy. Hung is a (pardon the pun) one trick pony and HBO should shoot it. It’s neither believable, funny or fun. It’s the downside of having a high concept idea that has few workable storylines.
Entourage was horrible. It really didn’t need to come back. I only watched it (I as well didn’t know it returned) because someone in my family happened to record it.
Ally Musika is the downfall of the show. She’s a really bad person and not a writer.
She’s awful. Too bad he gives her the world.
Carolyn, Treme is a great show. HBO has another The Sopranos coming up. It’s called Boardwalk Empire and stars Steve Buscemi who was on The Sopranos and is created by Terence Winters, a writer on The Sopranos. And Treme is liked by a lot of the critics. Sure, it didn’t start out great, but the last few episodes were heartbreaking.
Miss “Unqualified Executive Producer” never struck me as having a P so good that you’d make stupid career decisions over.
Guess I was wrong.
So sad and sick that she will continue to flourish living off of her nasty personality and slut ways. Guess Sleeping your way to the top does pay off. Glad more people are aware of what actually goes on over there.
Memo to Alan Ball:
You’re not “edgy” or “hip” or cutting edge when you do the same thing Edgar Allen Poe was doing in the 1830′s — shock the bourgeoisie. “Shocking” sex scenes are already boring. There is no taboo left for you to try and break, save one, which you lack the courage to do.
Trying to be shocking is a crutch for creative bankruptcy. Rand Ravich and Far Shariat did a far better job in “Life” for two seasons in making real cutting edge TV. Without cheap tricks of nudity or sex.
You do have an opportunity to be shocking. You can cover the one taboo that no one in Hollywood dears to tread on: Islam and Muslims. Perhaps you could criticize the polygamy, repression of women, and violence that go hand in hand in an ugly marriage producing uglier children. You don’t have to call them Muslims. Call them … vampires. Or Demons. Or gargoyles, or what have you. Its fantasy. Use your imagination. If someone calls you on criticizing Islam, say it’s just Elves or Vampires or what have you.
Christians will write polite letters. Not even Penn and Teller will take on Islam. They’re afraid.
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Hung: about a guy with a large penis working in porn. How really, really avante garde! Entourage: Hollywood is slimy! How ground breaking. Ho hum. I’ve not seen anything really original since Life went off the air, or perhaps Chuck’s second season.
I don’t see these as ratings triumphs either. What, 4 million at best. That’s Smallville territory. No one considers that show groundbreaking.
Treme is completely original.
Showtime. Californication.