Tuesday night’s winter premiere of “Nip/Tuck” on FX was the most-watched telecast on basic cable for the night, with 3.1 million total viewers.
It also was the top-rated show on cable for the night among viewers 18-49 (1.8 rating/5 share) and households (2.1/4), according to Nielsen Media Research. The episode did 80% better in the demo than the network’s most recent season premiere in the Tuesday 10 p.m. timeslot, which was “The Shield’s” final-season premiere (1.0/3) in September.
According to Nielsen live-plus-same-day information, exclusive of last night’s DVR information, “Nip/Tuck” is averaging 2.7 million viewers in the 18-49 demographic for the current 15-episode season to date, down 3% from season four. The show has averaged 3.5 million total viewers for the season to date, down 10% from season four.
Among adult viewers 18-49, last night’s episode of “Nip/Tuck” attracted 2.4 million viewers, up 41% from last year’s first post-holiday original episode in the live-plus-same-day numbers.
Premiere episodes against “Nip/Tuck” in the hour included TNT’s “Leverage,” which showed a 25% drop to match its lowest telecast to date with a 0.9/2, and Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Orange County,” which remained on par with the previous week’s rating of 0.8/2.
On Oxygen, a new episode of “Bad Girls Club” was the series’ most-watched telecast of the season with 862,000 total viewers.
“Girls’” third season to date has outperformed season two to date with triple-digit increases across several demographics, including viewers 18-49 (566,000 viewers, up 123% from season two), women 18-49 (417,000 viewers, up 132%), women 18-34 (329,000 viewers, up 184%) and total viewers (787,000 viewers, up 105%).