Brian Damage
04-10-2007, 05:17 PM
Viewers didn't flock to Sunday's "Sopranos" premiere the way they have in the past, but HBO got some of its best ratings ever for "Entourage."
The first of "The Sopranos'" final nine episodes drew an audience of 7.66 million people Sunday night, making it the most-watched show on cable last week by a fairly wide margin. However, that figure is a good deal smaller than the 9.5 million who watched the show's sixth-season premiere in March 2006.
The decline continues a downward trend for the show, which hit a high mark of 13 million-plus viewers for the season four premiere in September 2002, then dipped to 12.1 million for the start of season five in March 2004. (Sunday's episode was technically a continuation of season six, ten months after the last original episode aired.)
On the plus side for HBO, though, having "The Sopranos" as a lead-in helped "Entourage" to its biggest premiere audience ever. About 3.77 million people hung around after "The Sopranos" to watch the Hollywood comedy's return (again, for a continuation of a season that left off last summer) -- an improvement of about a million viewers over last June's previous best.
Whatever ratings malaise affected "The Sopranos" wasn't confined to HBO; whether it was Easter Sunday putting a dent in viewing or extra daylight or what, TV-watching was down across the board Sunday night.
ABC's "Desperate Housewives" was the night's top show with 15.9 million viewers, well off its season average of 17.5 million. CBS' "Cold Case" (11.33 million) was off by more than 3 million from its usual figure, and "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (12.1 million) was down about 1.8 million viewers from its average.
The first of "The Sopranos'" final nine episodes drew an audience of 7.66 million people Sunday night, making it the most-watched show on cable last week by a fairly wide margin. However, that figure is a good deal smaller than the 9.5 million who watched the show's sixth-season premiere in March 2006.
The decline continues a downward trend for the show, which hit a high mark of 13 million-plus viewers for the season four premiere in September 2002, then dipped to 12.1 million for the start of season five in March 2004. (Sunday's episode was technically a continuation of season six, ten months after the last original episode aired.)
On the plus side for HBO, though, having "The Sopranos" as a lead-in helped "Entourage" to its biggest premiere audience ever. About 3.77 million people hung around after "The Sopranos" to watch the Hollywood comedy's return (again, for a continuation of a season that left off last summer) -- an improvement of about a million viewers over last June's previous best.
Whatever ratings malaise affected "The Sopranos" wasn't confined to HBO; whether it was Easter Sunday putting a dent in viewing or extra daylight or what, TV-watching was down across the board Sunday night.
ABC's "Desperate Housewives" was the night's top show with 15.9 million viewers, well off its season average of 17.5 million. CBS' "Cold Case" (11.33 million) was off by more than 3 million from its usual figure, and "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (12.1 million) was down about 1.8 million viewers from its average.