FX's Damages - Solid Debut

By Anne Becker -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/25/2007 5:02:00 PM

FX’s Glenn Close drama Damages premiered to a healthy 3.7 million total viewers Tuesday night (July 24), 1.2 million of them adults 18-49 and 1.5 million adults 25-54, according to Nielsen Media Research.

 That put it on par with the series premiere of the network’s Nip/Tuck, which drew about the same total audience for its July, 2003 premiere. FX led into the 10 p.m. Damages debut with the feature film Flight Plan, and said the show bettered the movie’s audience draw by 131% in total viewers and 71% in adults 18-49.

 The show’s solid start was good news for FX, which started the summer off a little rough. The fourth-season premiere of the Denis Leary’s firefighter drama Rescue Me, on a new night, was off 18% in total viewers (2.79 million) and 20% in adults 18-49 (1.77 million) from last year’s opener.