Good numbers for Justified's premiere, and it's worth scrolling down for the historical best premieres on FX, as some of those started better than they finished. A show like Sons Of Anarchy, FX's current biggest hit (with even better 18-49 numbers than Justified's premiere) isn't among FX's best premieres. Justified scored a 1.5 rating with adults 18-49, measurably less than SOA was typically doing on Tuesdays at 10p last fall.
It will be interesting to see the ongoing numbers.
via press release:
Justified SEIZES BIG RATINGS
Justified Scores Second-Highest Series Premiere Ever for FX
Critically Acclaimed Drama Delivers 4.16 Million Viewers and 1.42 Million Men 18-49
Marking Highest Delivery in Those Categories Since The Shield Premiere 3/12/2002
Second Highest Delivery of Men 18-49 Ever for a Basic Cable Scripted Series Premiere
Basic Cable’s #1 Program Tuesday in Total Viewers, A18-49, M18-49, M18-34, A25-54 and M25-54
And Was TV’s #1 Program in M18-49 and M18-34 in the 10 PM Time Period
LOS ANGELES, March 17, 2010 – FX’s critically acclaimed new drama Justified got off to a great start Tuesday (10-11:10 PM, 3/16/10) as the series premiere episode posted 4.16 million Total Viewers and 2.04 million Adults 18-49. Justified recorded 1.42 million Men 18-49, which was the second-highest delivery in that demo ever for a scripted series premiere on basic cable.
Justified’s delivery of Total Viewers and Men 18-49 ranks second all-time for an original series on FX just behind the Emmy® and Golden Globe® award-winning drama The Shield (4.83 million Total Viewers and 1.74 million Men 18-49; 3/12/02, which pre-dates DVR data).
Justified ranked #1 for the night in basic cable in Total Viewers, Adults 18-49, Men 18-49, Men 18-34 (694,000), Adults 25-54 (2.19 million), and Men 25-54 (1.42 million). Justified also ranked #1 in all of television in the 10 PM time period in delivery of Men 18-49 and Men 18-34, broadcast or cable.
The combination of Justified and its lead-in movie, Live Free or Die Hard, led FX to the top spot in basic cable prime (8-11 PM) in Adults 18-49 (1.33 million), Adults 18-34 (654,000) and Men 18-49 (902,000). The encore airing of the premiere episode (11:10 PM-12:23 AM) notched an additional 1.85 million total viewers and 1.01 million Adults 18-49.
(*Data prior to series premieres of 12/26/05 is based on Live viewing; post 12/27/05 data is Live+Same Day)
FX will run encores of the premiere episode of Justified on Friday, March 19 at 11pm e/p and on Sunday, March 21 at 11:30 pm e/p. Episode 2, “Riverbrook”, airs next Tuesday, March 23 at 10pm e/p. Raylan hunts an escaped prisoner who is determined to reunite with his ex-wife…and his stashed fortune.
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI as dated, Live+Same Day (000s) unless otherwise noted
Developed for television by Graham Yost and starring Timothy Olyphant , Justified (TV-MA) is based on the popular Elmore Leonard character “Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens” featured in several Leonard novels and his short story Fire in the Hole.
Olyphant stars in the lead role of Givens, a true-blue hero born and reared in the hill country of eastern Kentucky, who left at age 19 to become a U.S. Marshal. Now, years later, after shooting a gun thug in a Miami hotel and thereby incurring the wrath of his Marshals Service superiors, Raylan has been sent in punishment (and by fate?) to the one place to which he vowed he would never return – Kentucky. But, being back in Kentucky, Raylan will also have to confront a past crowded with enough skeletons to choke a graveyard.
The series co-stars Nick Searcy as Givens longtime friend and boss “Chief Deputy Art Mullen”; Jacob Pitts as “Deputy Marshal Tim Gutterson”; Erica Tazel as “Deputy Marshal Rachel Brooks”; Joelle Carter as “Ava Crowder,” Boyd’s sister-in-law; and Natalie Zea as Raylan’s ex-wife “Winona Hawkins.” Walton Goggins guest stars as “Boyd Crowder,” who worked with Raylan in the coal mines as teenagers and has now chosen a criminal path.
Yost wrote the pilot and serves as Executive Producer/Writer on the series. Leonard is an Executive Producer on the series along with Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly and Michael Dinner, who directed the pilot episode. Justified is produced by Sony Pictures Television and FX Productions.
FX is the flagship general entertainment basic cable network from Fox. Launched in June of 1994, FX is carried in more than 96 million homes. The diverse schedule includes a growing roster of critically acclaimed and award-winning original series, an established film library of acquired box-office hit movies, and an impressive lineup of acquired hit series
My main thing with this show is that I hope it looks like it may not have a contiguous, connected plot from week to week. The best shows build upon each other and allow for cliff-hangers and really storylines.
I hope this series won't be just “Raylan has one adventure each week” or I will lose interest.
In theory a straight procedural would help FX at this point when it comes to growing the overall audience of the network just because right now they are very serial heavy and have very little that casual/first time viewers can just jump right into.
My thoughts exactly! I loved the pilot and I LOVE Timothy Olyphant and I love the main characters. There is so much awesome in this episode that I hope they won't go to the old and boring episodic route… a good long-running plot to keep us interested, please. I really want to follow this show, but I know that if it remains episodic, I will end up being bored and I will give up on this show.
I don't want to lose Tim Olyphant from my TV schedule again! (Deadwood :S)
In theory I agree. In practice I'm of a more mixed mind. True Blood and Sons of Anarchy are serialized, and have higher 18-49 ratings than the Closer, Burn Notice (which I view as MUCH more procedural than serialized), White Collar, and every other scripted show on cable. True Blood I can chalk up to vampire craze and airing in the summer, but that doesn't explain SOA.
That said, USA and TNT can and do run Burn Notice and Closer reruns a LOT and that's not something that FX can (or does) do w/SOA. Though it doesn't come into play with primetime 18-49 ratings tunnel vision, I'm sure the ability to burn hours like that is highly prized by the cable networks.
Robert you're quite correct when it comes to Sons of Anarchy's popularity kind of bucking the procedural for growth theory however let me expand on/completely change my initial comment a and say that FX specifically needs a something to start connecting the dots of their programming together and I think that has to be a procedural that audiences can just jump into. At this stage I don't know how an FX viewer gets from Sons of Anarchy for example to Damages because they just feel like such contrasting shows.
What FX desperately needs is a show (or shows) that can start tying their brand together so that those 18-49 viewers don't just tune in for Sons of Anarchy but for everything else. What USA in particularly has done a fantastic job of in recent years is picking up shows that all basically feed into one another and feel like they belong together. FX on the other hand feels like it just a group of random utterly unconnected shows that appeal to hugely different audiences.
Impressive numbers, now surely next week the ratings will drop, and in two weeks when V returns it will probably drop a bit again, but thought it was a great premiere, and looks to be a solid show. Don't know if it will have an overall plot each season, can't really see that after only one episode. Timothy Olyphant shows his acting chops again. Now as far as SOA, don't think you can compare the two just yet, still to early, it could even become a hit the way SOA has, starting slow the first season then breaking out in the second.
Very good for Justified and I'm sure if it can get around 3m then it's renewed but it wouldn't surprise if it was renewed already, it fits the FX brand like a glove.
FX also has Terriers, Lights Out and Louie coming up, I like the sound of Lights Out although not too sure on Terriers although it is by Shawn Ryan who created The Shield.
Interestingly, ased on the chart, it seems like very few women 18-49 watched it since it was second in men 18-49 but not on the list for adults 18-49… If they can sell ads based on the male demo, they might not mind the lower overall demo.
There's no doubt FX Targets male viewers (both 18-34 and 18-49). The premiere was a bit below SOA's average w/M18-49 in season two, but much higher than SOA's average for season 1. All around it was higher than SOA's premiere back in Sept. 2008, which pulled a 1.2 w/18-49 and 2.5 million.
I stand by pre-premiere prediction that Justified is a lock for renewal!
FX has targets the male demographic almost exclusively, the only show that isn't is Damages and that's struggling. FX tend not to have female leads for their shows, the only one apart from Damages and ensemble shows like Sunny is Dirt which only lasted two seasons. TNT seems to have a lot of female led shows with The Closer, Hawthorne, Saving Grace and the upcoming Rizzoli and Isles and USA has In Plain Sight, Covert Affairs and Facing Kate.
Damages had alot to do with Glen Close bumping up The Shield ratings in season #4, because of thet they courted Glen, she left The Shield after one season because she wanted to work in NY, she also demanded a quality show, this show being a lawyer show made since, since FX hadn't tried that field yet.
Dirt was Courtney Cox's idea and was probably 2 seasons to early, with TMZ just becoming popular in the last season or so, the writers strike killed all momentum that weird show had.
I agree. The show is good but I like the “serialized” format as well.
Liked this show a lot. Looking forward to next week.
Seems too procedural so far.
So like no women watched this…which I imagine is OK with FX.
I think that F/X should expect to see more females watching the show. Though I'm not a huge fan of Westerns generally, I AM a huge fan of Timothy Olyphant. He has a lot of female fans from his short stay on Samantha Who? and for that movie Catch and Release with Jennifer Garner. I definitely watched the show because of him and likely wouldn't have bothered even though I love grittier shows like SOA. I will add to the chorus that would prefer the show to be serialized. Especially for this type of genre, ultimately it's going to be much more interesting storyline if its serialized. The cast has good chemistry though so I will give it a try even if its going to be episodic.
I am female and loved the show, already have it set on my DVR.
I'm female and plan to watch it as well (it's recorded, just no time yet), but the data shows that we are in the minority.
Am I the only one who watched last night's first airing of Justified and noticed Raylon wears his hat backwards in the first scene, then switches back and forth throughout the show. The buckle on the hatband is always on the left. Check it out.
The show is terrific. But Raylon MUST wear the hat like the true cool man he is.
Timothy O. is great. Haahahahha i think the show got off to a great start. Even though i recorded it and watched it in the morning i should still count as a viewer! Haha good show . . . cant wait for more.