Season 3 Premiere of TNT's The Closer and Series Premiere of Heartland Score Big

[Pavan]

TNT’s Hit Original Series THE CLOSER Once Again Smashes Record

With Ad-Supported Cable’s Top Series Telecast of All Time

HEARTLAND Scores with 4.3 Million Viewers,

Making It Ad-Supported Cable’s #2 New Original Series for the Year to Date

TNT’s hit series THE CLOSER continues to rewrite the record books with each season premiere, last night once again setting a new record for ad supported cable’s top series telecast of all time. With more than 8.8 million viewers and 6.3 million households, THE CLOSER bested its own record-setting performance from last year, according to preliminary data from Nielsen Media Research. Meanwhile, HEARTLAND, TNT’s powerful new drama starring Treat Williams and Kari Matchett, was watched by 4.3 million viewers and ranks as ad-supported cable’s #2 new original series for the year to date among persons 2+ and households. THE CLOSER, starring Golden Globe® winner Kyra Sedgwick, premiered uninterrupted and commercial-free, sponsored by Toyota.

“With the third-season premiere of THE CLOSER shattering another record and a strong debut performance from our new series HEARTLAND, TNT continues to raise the bar when it comes to original programming,” said Steve Koonin, president of Turner Entertainment Networks. “With SAVING GRACE and THE COMPANY still to come, this is shaping up to be a truly spectacular summer for TNT.”

Ratings highlights for the third-season premiere of THE CLOSER and the debut of HEARTLAND:

· With 8,812,000 viewers and 6,376,000 households watching, THE CLOSER once again broke the record by scoring ad-supported cable’s best delivery of all time for a series telecast. In doing so, the series topped the record it set with its season 2 premiere last year.

· THE CLOSER showed strong growth across the board when compared to last year’s season 2 premiere:

Demo Season 3 Premiere Season 2 Premiere Growth
Adults 18-49 2,909,000 2,630,000 +11%
Adults 25-54 3,799,000 3,571,000 +6%
Persons 2+ 8,812,000 8,278,000 +6%
Households 6,376,000 6,039,000 +6%


· In addition to scoring an all-time series telecast record, THE CLOSER’s season 3 premiere episode also ranks as ad-supported cable’s #1 telecast for the year to date among adults 25-54, persons 2+ and households.

· THE CLOSER beat all broadcast programming in its time period among households and viewers.

· THE CLOSER’s season 3 premiere scored an extremely strong 6.8 household coverage rating/5.7 national rating, outperforming the season 2 premiere’s 6.7 coverage rating/5.5 national rating.

· The premiere of TNT’s powerful new drama HEARTLAND ranks it ad-supported cable’s #2 new original series for the year to date among persons 2+ (4,297,000) and households (3,166,000).

· HEARTLAND delivered 1,204,000 adults 18-49 and 1,619,000 adults 25-54. It also earned a 3.4 household coverage rating/2.8 national rating.

THE CLOSER stars Kyra Sedgwick, who took home this year’s Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Series for her performance as the feminine yet forceful, offbeat yet indomitable CIA-trained Deputy Police Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, a former Atlanta detective brought to Los Angeles to head a special LAPD unit charged with cracking sensitive, high-profile murder cases. She is an expert at digging into a person’s secrets and obtaining confessions, despite constantly struggling with her own imperfections and neuroses. In addition to Sedgwick, THE CLOSER’s Screen Actors Guild Award®-nominated ensemble cast is back, including Jon Tenney, J.K. Simmons, Corey Reynolds, Robert Gossett, G.W. Bailey, Tony Denison, Raymond Cruz, Michael Paul Chan and Gina Ravera. THE CLOSER comes to TNT from The Shephard/Robin Company in association with Warner Bros. Television and is executive-produced by Greer Shephard (Nip/Tuck, The D.A.), Michael M. Robin (Nip/Tuck, The D.A., NYPD Blue) and James Duff (The D.A., The Agency) and produced by Andrew J. Sacks (The D.A, Adaptation, Two Soliders) with Kyra Sedgwick also serving as producer. Gil Garcetti, Los Angeles district attorney from 1992 to 2000, is a consulting producer.

HEARTLAND is set in the high-tension world of the organ donors and features a recently divorced couple - played by Treat Williams (Everwood) and Kari Matchett (Invasion) - working both sides of the industry. As an organ-recovery coordinator, she convinces survivors to donate body parts of their recently departed loved ones; as a top organ-transplant surgeon, he harvests and implants the valuable organs into needy patients. The series is about second chances, for not only the patients being treated but also the doctor who helps put their lives together. HEARTLAND comes to TNT from Warner Bros. Television, with creator/executive producer David Hollander writing and directing the pilot.