HBO’s ‘Entourage’ Slips in Season Premiere as ‘True Blood’ Betters Time Slot Rating
September 9, 2008 3:45 PM
Viewers didn’t return to hug it out with “Entourage” on Sunday, as the show hit a three-year low for Sunday’s fifth season premiere, while “Monday Night Football” grabbed a cable viewership high on ESPN.
Racking in a 1.0 rating/2 share in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic, “Entourage” slipped 29% from last June’s premiere, a low not seen since July 2005. The episode brought in 1.6 million viewers.
Meanwhile, HBO’s launch of “True Blood” increased 75% over the previous show in its Sunday 9 p.m. time period, “Generation Kill,” with a 0.7/2. “Blood” hooked 1.4 million viewers.
On MTV, the Video Music Awards posted strong increases with a 4.2/10, the highest score the show has pulled in since 2005. A towering 9.2/33 in female teens showed a 56% increase from last year’s VMAs.
For Saturday, the series premiere of “The Locator” on WE tv set a network premiere record with a 0.98 household rating. Two episodes of “Locator” aired, pulling in 1.2 million viewers, another record for WE tv.
“Monday Night Football” dominated its night with a double-header featuring the Minnesota Vikings versus the Green Bay Packers (5.1/15) and the Denver Broncos against the Oakland Raiders (4.3/15).
The Packers-Vikings contest also drove in the largest audience on cable this year, drawing 12.5 million viewers, surpassing the previous record of the 2008 Home Run Derby’s 9.1 million viewers.
The prime-time average of “MNF” was a 5.9/16, an increase of 7% from last year’s season-opening double-header, which featured Cincinnati/Baltimore and San Francisco/Arizona.
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Comments (8)
What does HBO expect? - it's been over one year since any new episodes - people lose interest, duh?!
Posted by Riley | September 10, 2008 7:08 PM
I don't think this is so much the fault of HBO, there was just very strong competition that night with the week 1 football games and the highly rated VMA's. Not to mention that a lot of people that watch HBO watch the shows OnDemand and don't necessarily feel they have to catch them as they air. I'm sure entourage will have much better ratings over the next couple of weeks.
Posted by Joey | September 11, 2008 8:29 AM
The interesting story here is that a new WE reality show did about as well as these big guns...
Posted by Toby Hansen | September 12, 2008 1:39 PM
just rented the first episode from Blockbuster, the show still has an original feel overall at least
Posted by roberts | September 16, 2008 2:01 AM
I love entourage but the first two episodes were weak. Who cares about drama's long distance relationship? The show is at it's best when the guys are having fun and living large. I really don't want to see Vince struggling. Johnny is great when he is not the focus. Also, too much Ari.
Episode #3 was much better.
If they revert to the lame story line in the first two episodes the boys will be back in Queens.
Waited too long to start the season. As Ari would say "you got cold"
Posted by kelcul1 | September 22, 2008 8:21 PM
With such a low viewer count in the past two episodes with sunday night football, I personally think that it is a remarkable series on HBO and it has won a grammy. I think once everyone adjusts to it again im sure we will see results.
Posted by spartymike | September 28, 2008 11:33 PM
While HBO did recently slate all of its programming to OnDemand, I think (as others said) waiting until Fall to restart the new Entourage season was a mistake.
To begin, the show has lost a lot of steam over the past two to three seasons. They are clearly running out of ideas. They had a hit movie, then a flop, and now they're just bumming around, bankrupt and constantly trying to get laid. The social 'living the good life' scenes are cool in moderation, but in the past two seasons, that's all the show has been about.
Waiting until Fall was a mistake, too. Even with Ondemand, only avid fans are going to utilise this service. Entourage will loose to Sunday Night Football every week. On top of that, other fantastic Cable TV shows (like MadMen) have been building up all summer and have a steady, high viewership.
I bet this show will go back to summer, either midway through this season, or next season.
Posted by Jupshaw | October 6, 2008 3:20 PM
My boyfriend and I absolutely love this show we call Sunday nights "Entourage night" we have our wine and watch "our" show. We will be devistated when this show is cancelled!
Posted by meggers | November 21, 2008 8:21 AM