Sunday Cable Ratings: NBA Playoffs, + 'Game of Thrones', 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians', 'Ax Men', 'The Client List', 'Sister Wives', + More

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(115) Comments - Add Yours!

1. Robert Seidman

   Posted May 22, 2012 at 9:33 AM

   @KS, either what you read is completely wrong or you misread it.

2. Frank12

   Posted May 22, 2012 at 9:33 AM

   Anyone know what the ratings for Wicked Tuna were on National Geographic Channel? 10pm Sunday night? Thanks.

3. KS

   Posted May 22, 2012 at 9:33 AM

   Did I get the numbers wrong? Wait I will check the interview again.

4. Freddy Arrow

   Posted May 22, 2012 at 9:35 AM

   @KS

   “How are HBO able to produce, one of the most costliest shows, without earning anything from ads, which are supposed to be the highest money earners?”

   HBO (like Showtime and Starz) is a premium channel. Their subscribers pay around $180 a year to get HBO. Multiple that by 25M subscribers, and that’s a lot of money they’re making.

   Even if Game of Thrones costs $100M a year to make, they only need about 550,000 people to subscribe for Game Of Thrones to cover the cost. This assumes they make most of the $15 a month that it costs to get HBO, which I have no idea if that’s correct.

5. Weez

   Posted May 22, 2012 at 9:38 AM

   @ KS

   http://videonuze.com/article/video-interview-hbo-co-president-eric-kessler-at-videoschmooze

   Watch the video at the link for information on how HBO operates. It’s a pretty great interview, if you’re interested in that sort of thing.

   As for the ratings: Girls & Veep both seem to be doing well for HBO comedies, and both should see some increased recognition come awards season, so I’m glad they’ve been renewed for a second season. I’ve also been pleasantly surprised at how much I’ve enjoyed them, for that matter.

   Game of Thrones continues to be the best thing on television, second only to Breaking Bad (which AMC has decided to screw over by airing only half of the 16 episode “final” season this summer, with the “second half” airing in the summer of 2013), and while Mad Men has been just as good as it’s ever been this season, it all feels so familiar that I’m not finding myself as involved as I was with the third and fourth seasons.

   Showtime… Well, they’re hanging in there (sort of). And I may have missed it, but does anyone know how Magic City is doing on Starz? I just recently caught up on it, and despite a shaky pilot and second episode, it’s been pretty damned good so I hope it gets renewed.

   @ L.L. I Love the Farm

   Your commitment is admirable, however Breaking Bad should in no way be included among AMC’s blunders. Hell on Wheels, The Killing, and The Walking Dead are all pretty bad shows, but at least latter brings in the numbers and is entertaining enough for what it is. Breaking Bad, on the other hand, is boss-mode and deserves every bit of praise it receives, even if it doesn’t pull in the best ratings.

6. KS

   Posted May 22, 2012 at 9:38 AM

   http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/05/20/game-of-thrones-blackwater/

   This is the interview from the producers from EW.com. But, I can’t find the amount of Money spent on Episode, in this three page long interview. But, I certainly remember seeing a very huge figure yesterday.

7. Anthony

   Posted May 22, 2012 at 9:38 AM

   I heard from a producer of the show that, next episode “Blackwater” costed about $200 million to produce.

   Now I believe, CBS gets more income than HBO, looking at the scenario.

   It’s been documented, that the pilot cost between 5 and 10 million to produce, and the ENTIRE first season cost between 50 and 60 million. There is no way that they are spending anywhere close to 200 million on one episode. That would make it almost as expensive as The Avengers. Your source is wrong.

8. KS

   Posted May 22, 2012 at 9:45 AM

   @Weez

   Thanks for the link.

   Game of Thrones is truly awesome now. Its rich and great action, especially from the sexy lady playing Cersei Lannister and the guy playing Tyrion Lannister. But I want all this king fight to end soon and the real “magic” begin and come to Westros. Want to know more about Wildlings, Dead Walkers. Can’t really wait to see what happens when dragons grow up.

   Am I the only one wishing for more magic and action on Game of Thrones or are there many out there?

9. Anthony

   Posted May 22, 2012 at 9:46 AM

   @KS

   I found the part you were talking about.

   As we’ve mentioned before, we went pleading to HBO for more money. We made our case why we needed the battle and they obliged. That allowed us to do a battle. It did not allow us to do the battle from A Clash of Kings. It would be difficult for a $200 million feature to do justice to the battle from the book. We didn’t have a chance; there just wasn’t enough time on the schedule or money in the budget (even after our Blackwater bonus).

   They said they had to drop a part of the scene they wanted due to budget and gave an example that it would be difficult to film that scene properly without a 200 million dollar budget.

10. Harpo

    Posted May 22, 2012 at 9:47 AM

    Oprah’s next chapter ratings! Someone.

11. KS

    Posted May 22, 2012 at 9:47 AM

    @Anthony

    I believe it’s wrong.

    Just check this link, in the third page, they used something about $200. I didn’t really get what he is trying to say. Check the third page. May be I misread that.

    http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/05/20/game-of-thrones-blackwater/

12. KS

    Posted May 22, 2012 at 9:49 AM

    @Anthony

    Excuse my poor English understanding skills. English is not my native language.

13. SV

    Posted May 22, 2012 at 9:50 AM

    @Nick
    Thanks so much as always, Nick for your great info!!! Great deal of appreciation!!!

14. Sue

    Posted May 22, 2012 at 10:05 AM

    The Killing jumped quite a bit this week. It’s such a well-acted show, but maybe not one for the masses.

15. RJ

    Posted May 22, 2012 at 10:06 AM

    Mrs. Eastwood and Company BOMBED. Pull the plug early, E!.

16. John

    Posted May 22, 2012 at 10:17 AM

    Yah! Young Justice ROCKS!

17. Mark Wilkins

    Posted May 22, 2012 at 10:22 AM

    I love Game of Thrones, its too bad its ratings are close to the kind of garbage that put up 1.5 and 1.3

18. L.L. I Love the Farm

    Posted May 22, 2012 at 10:40 AM

    @ Weez

    I will VERY GLADLY take back including Breaking Bad in my criticism of AMC. We are actually looking forward to catching up on the entire series on Netflix. I merely included BB for ranting effect.

    And to be clear, I do not think television should be managed strictly by the numbers. Truly great shows deserve to be on, however little their audience might be. Television is an art form as well as a business. But I really despise those POS Mad Man fans who look down on the zombie genre or the vast majority of mankind who are not so impressionable as to be taken in by POS Mad Man superficiality and hype.

    PS: Special thanks to KS for making today’s TVBTN comments lively, and for the heads-up on a reliable illegal streaming Web site, TVPC.com. It’s amazing how HBO can possibly make money on GoT when you can watch it illegally for free!

19. lando

    Posted May 22, 2012 at 10:45 AM

    Everyone needs to stop with Breaking Bad/Walking Dead vs Mad Men. Remember AMC’s tagline: Story Matters Here! Mad Men is a great show with great story lines, winning the Primetime Emmy four times in a row. They are all amazing shows with fantastic characters and stories. They are on the same network. That is all!

20. L.L. I Love the Farm

    Posted May 22, 2012 at 11:04 AM

    @ lando

    “They are on the same network” is EXACTLY the problem. AMC is a relatively small independent media company (market cap < $3B) with a very limited pool of capital. When AMC hamstrings Breaking Bad and TWD for the benefit of the POS Mad Man, and the POS Mad Man cannot carry its own jock and fails to deliver economic results, as we have seen the last ten weeks, then it is not only a horrible business decision but something that literally takes away from BB and TWD fans.

    BB, TWD, and the POS Mad Man are not on the "same team". Get that out of your head. They compete for resources and one of the three has robbed from the other two. It's FAIL for AMC and FAIL for extended basic cable subscribers. The only ones who benefitted are Matt Weiner, Jon Hamm, and a dozen diehard POS Mad Man fans.