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Ratings: USA Beats Broadcast With 'Burn Notice', 'Royal Pains'

'Burn Notice' had best season premiere ever with 6 million total viewers

By Alex Weprin -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/5/2009 4:48:43 PM

The third season premiere of Burn Notice and the series premiere of Royal Pains delivered strong ratings for USA Thursday night.

Burn Notice had its best season premiere ever, drawing 2.5 million P18-49 and 6 million total viewers, topping both a rerun of CSI (1.5/4) on CBS and the premiere episode of The Listener (1.5/4) on its broadcast sibling NBC.

The series premiere of Royal Pains at 10 p.m. drew 2.3 million P18-49 and 5.6 million total viewers. That beat the second episode of The Listener (1.4/4).

Royal Pains delivered a better P18-49 rating and more total viewers than both Burn Notice and In Plain Sight did in their series premieres.

Nielsen national data for the broadcast networks has been delayed till Monday morning, due to the NBA playoffs on ABC.

Early overnight data shows that ABC handily beat the competition with basketball, though it looks like viewers in the mood for scripted fare drifted toward cable.

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• Yes, I saw the premier rerun this weekend, and would definitely watch Royal Pains over the broadcast tripe. The pilot show was great, and I almost never use that for TV. I thought it was going to be like Northern Exposure meets Nip-Tuck, but it's got intelligence, character, humor and drama balanced. Cool never before seen views of the Hamptons make it fresh. Thumbs up!

  
  Phil Smith - 6/6/2009 7:41:57 PM EDT
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