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UPDATED: This past weekend offered a flurry of cable premieres, including The Killing on AMC, The Borgias on Showtime, Camelot on Starz and miniseries The Kennedys on ReelzChannel. The ratings for all four came in strong, with two, The Kennedys and Camelot, setting all-time records for their netw
orks.
The Killing averaged 2.7 million viewers in its original 9 PM airing, 891,000 of them in the 18-49 demographic. For the night, the murder mystery drama averaged 4.7 million total viewers, including encores at 11PM and 1 AM, 1.5 million in 18-49. The Killing was the second-most-watched series premiere for AMC behind The Walking Dead, which is No. 1 by a wide margin with the 5.3 million viewers (3.6 million in 18-49) it drew in October.
Showtime’s premiere of The Borgias posted the pay cable network’s largest premiere audience for a drama series in seven years. The costume drama starring Jeremy Irons averaged 1.06 million viewers at 9 PM (vs. 1.11 million for record holder Dead Like Me seven years ago) and 1.49 million for the 9 PM and 11 PM airings combined. The Borgias‘ debut was up 22% from the premiere of Showtime’s first big period drama, The Tudors, which The Borgias succeeded. It also surpassed the January premiere of Shameless (982,000), which at the time was Showtime’s most-watched drama series premiere since Dead Like Me.
The two-hour premiere of another costume drama, Starz’s Camelot, drew 1.125 million viewers in its Friday premiere (1.573 million for the night). The series starring Joseph Fiennes, Jamie Campbell Bower and Eva Green posted a new record for a most watched Starz series premiere, edging last year’s debut of Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, which averaged 1.098 million viewers.
Meanwhile, the debut of the controversial miniseries The Kennedys, originally produced for History before the cable network dropped it in January, opened with a respectable 1.9 million viewers on ReelzChannel for its original and encore airings combined, a record in the fledgling network’s five-year history. The network did not release the audience breakdown for the premiere and repeat run like its more established counterparts.
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
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EPIC.
EPIC WITH JUDICIOUS APPLICATION OF DÉCOLLETAGE.
I WOULD PARTICULARLY NOTE EVA GREEN.
DÉCOLLETAGE, SCINTILLATING FEMININITY, GREAT ACTING: EVA GREEN.
EVA GREEN.
oh, eva.
THE KILLING killed. Why can’t the networks learn from shows like this? And I don’t mean, make shows that are dark and edgy. I mean, make shows that are well-written, and not laden with exposition. Maybe it’s because the network execs keep trying to write the episodes themselves. And they’re not writers. Duh.
I agree it is a incredible show ans I am hooked on it!
you know its a remake of a danish show
yes I know thanks for trying to educate me
thanks for educating me. I didn’t know that. Does that somehow make it more credible? Do Danish people understand complicated murder plots more? Who knows? Who cares? I LOVED it. Awesome show!
but seriously – they’re following it beat for beat – good pick – but it’s nordic work.
It’s also the most painfully blatant “homage” to one of the most compelling TV shows to hit the air: Twin Peaks. “Who killed Rosie Larson?” C’mon!
Game of Thrones is going to blow all of these other shows away in epicness. George RR Martin wrote episode 8.
yes it is mother f’er, yes it is. you’re right.
Concurred.
Does that mean there’s going to be a huge delay between episode 7 and episode 8?
No, but episode 8 will introduce 20 new plot threads while not wrapping up anything that came before.
Was anyone else bored by the Borgias? It was unwatchable! The brother-sister scenes were awful, all that was needed was them shedding their clothes and get it on!
the acting on the killing was really top notch. i love the lead and michelle forbes is always awesome.
I’m so happy the left wasn’t able to completely shut down producer Joel Surnow’s “The Kennedys.” They may have stopped the wimps at the History Channel from airing the miniseries, but I am happy Reelschannel picked it up for broadcast. I watched the first episode and it was well done. According to Surnow, “The Kennedys” fell victim to the same forces that attempted to stop ABC from airing their excellent 2006 miniseries, “The Path to 9/11.” In an recent interview, he stated, “Some of those same people who were involved in that were involved with this.”
Once again, the left-wing demonstrates how dangerous they are to the preservation of free speech in our republic. They engage in the politics of personal destruction and attempt to shut down any discussion of facts or dissenting opinion that run counter to their propaganda.
If you doubt their goals, one need only read the statement made by David Brock, sociopath and founder of the far-left organization Media Matters. He recently told Politico that his organization is gearing up for an all-out campaign of “guerrilla warfare and sabotage” aimed at the Fox News Channel. So much for their mission statement of being “dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.” Much of the funding for this political whore comes from ultra leftist currency manipulator, George Soros. Media Matters should never have qualified for 501(c)(3) tax exempt status. Isn’t it ironic that so many on the left and in Obama’s administration have evaded paying taxes while trying to levy higher tax burdens on the rest of us?
You mean like when conservatives got CBS to drop the Reagan miniseries in ’03?
To act like this stuff is one-sided is moronic.
So tell me, how did you feel about the right wing shutting down “The Reagans”?
Freedom of speech? Just FYI AaronSch, freedom of speech only refers to the government’s laws on the censorship of individuals or institutions. Whether or not a network airs or does not air a mini-series has exactly zero to do with “free speech.” It is simply that organization reacting to various factors and deciding to do what they believe is in their best interest.
Also, the founding fathers did not abolish slavery. Just in case you are Michelle Bachmann in disguise.
Regarding Brock, let me guess: you weren’t outraged at his actions when he was a rightwinger, only when he became a leftwinger?
You can’t explain a variable with a constant. Brock’s tactics have remained the same (indeed, they’ve moderated a bit), which means that your (new) outrage isn’t due to his tactics, but the fact that he’s now fighting for the left instead of the right.
In terms of chilling free speech, in 2007 a 12-year-old made the mistake of talking about how much the CHIP program helped him and his family on the Democratic weekly radio address. In response, Free Republic posted his home address, and the child and his family were subject to a barrage of attacks and smears from the right. Michelle Malkin—who’d previously complained about “lefties invading her privacy”—went to the family’s home, talked to people who knew the family, and wrote about it how they didn’t deserve CHIP on her website.
Considering that Malkin’s previous target (a group of UC Santa Cruz students who objected to military recruitment on campus) had gotten death threats, I can only imagine how scary her actions were to the 12-year-old who had the audacity to believe that he, too, could comment on political issues of the day.
Feel free to link to the post you wrote slamming these vile tactics. It exists, right? Or is it that Hollywood superproducer Joel Surnow is oppressed, but that 12-year-old got what he deserved?
Great spin from Reelz that THE KENNEDYS was “a record”: they only started recording daily Nielsen ratings on April 1 !!
Is that true? That’s hilarious.
Also – The Killing was absolutely top-notch. Word of mouth says The Borgias was ridiculously silly and unwatchable. No one I know watched or cared about “The Kennedys”.
ps
TIVO’d Camelot for tonight since I had no idea it premiered this weekend.
Glenn Beck…er…Aaron Sch-
Um…yeah. The terrifying powers of the left wing almost prevented the proletariat from witnessing a crappy, poorly written, poorly acted and poorly produced, fictional portrayal of Camelot.
Another victory for freedom-loving patriots!
Yeah, well, AMC had to turn to a retread after killing an original, Rubicon.
I caught 40 minutes of the first episode of The Killing. It did not hold my interest like the original Forbrydelsen did.
The breakout star for me is Joel Kinnaman, who plays Holder. I’d never guess he’s Swedish. He plays the ghetto cop perfectly. But the ensemble is pretty amazing.
Kinnaman is a pretty ghetto dude in real life, wasn’t that hard to get into character (his father is also American).
I totally agree with you about Kinnaman. I hated his sleazeball cop at first until I figured where he was coming from. He really added nicely to the mix. Looking forward to more of this series.
LOVED ‘The Killing.’ Veena Sud did an amazing job with the mood, characters, setting, mystery… I couldn’t turn away for one minute. And Patty Jenkins’ direction for the first hour was fearless. How nice to see two high-achieving women in film/television create one of the best new shows of the year. I give AMC lots of credit. Because no major network would have had the guts to produce this kind of show. Why they’re all falling further behind in the creative game.
Sud’s scripts were one of the major reasons COLD CASE was such an excellent series, so no surprise there…
Wanted to watch The Kennedys, but I don’t get Reelz. Neither does anyone else I know, so I guess I’ll wait for the (hopeful) DVD to see how awful it actually is.
I’m watching The Killing right now, just finished the first hour, and I must say that it’s fantastic so far. Brilliantly paced.
Watched Camelot this weekend as well and wasn’t terribly impressed. I’ll record this week’s episode to see if it improves at all. I’m just a little annoyed that Starz seems to think adding in nudity, graphic sex, violence, and profanity somehow makes their telling of a done-to-death story “new.” They did the same thing with Spartacus, which I also didn’t like.
Wonder how Part 3 of “Mildred Pierce” fared…it had me rolling by the “double slap” scene. Little Veda has just about killed it. Don’t care for GP in his role, either. Hell, I just miss Crawford and Arden – Blyth was pretty damn great in ’45, as well.
Let me break it down for you:
*Camelot – just shoddy acting and the directing was sub par. Not enough to pull me in.
*The Killing was what I expected from a remake. Watch the original! Same story.
*The Borgias production is top notch, the acting was good and the story is there to progress. You hated it?
Out of all of them, The Borgias impressed me the most. And, Jeremy Irons, hello?
I watched both Camelot and Borgias on DVR. Camelot was kind of dull, but Eva Green, James Purefoy and Joseph Finnes gave it a playful, mildly enjoyable factor. The Borgias was excellent. It was a pilot that slowly lay the groundwork for what is going to be a dark, twisted period drama. Game of Thrones will blow them both away in a few weeks though, I’m sure.
BTW, TR, I hate to tell you but if you know anything about actual Borgia history, Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia (the brother and sister) most likely did take their clothes off multiple times. So, guess what the pilot was foreshadowing? Be afraid of Game of Thrones too, if the rumors are true.
There’s no other show that I’m looking more forward to than Game of Thrones. It will be a crazy, wild ride. And if it gets to season three, it will be the watercooler show of the decade.
I’m also looking forward to the new season of Doctor Who. Looks really good too, but in a different way. Doctor Who – great family show. Game of Thrones – keep your children away or they will be scarred for life.
The Killing was absolutely the best two hours of television i have seen in a long long time. Lead actress was great. They were all great. Networks take note – THIS is how you make a show….by letting the artists to the art stuff. Execs should stay off the court, off the set and out of everyone’s hair. Congrats to the cast and crew of The Killing. I hope you all win many awards
Do you really think network executives left the makers of The Killing alone to make their show? Come on now. What this is about is the fact that the Creator of the show, and yes I know it was a remake, knew what they wanted to say and do and it reflects that. The fact that they got Patty Jenkins to set an unbelievably eerie mood and Ed Bianchi to follow suit says alot about the talents of those two directors. Sometimes being a good exec is knowing where and how to take your shots. Not over managing the look or the wardrobe and hair or the ‘likeability’ factor for any of the characters is how on this one, they got it right.
Borgais was just Okay, pacing was on the ponderous side. Got to love Jeremy Irons. The Killing was highly entertaining, not the best though, due to the implausability factor being pushed a little too far. I respected JFK, but the rest of this family belonged in circus – will not be watching.
Camelot was so bad it was laughable. A total miscast for Arthur. That alone will kill it way before the HBO series comes out.
Camelot… it’s only a cardboard cut out…
I didnt catch the premiere of THE KILLING..but look forward to catching up with it on demand..this show looks juicy!!..cant wait to watch!..
The writing on The Killing is OK. “Osama gives me the creeps” is circa 2002 and the buddy cop dripped out marginal dreck like the “dropped his wallet while getting his knob…” leftovers. I like the mood and the main actress, though.