Winners and losers: A last look back at summer TV
There’s no mention of my favorite new find: Leverage, but I highly recommend it to all.
Here’s our rundown of the summer’s winners and losers:
Winner: Women with badges. The female crime-fighters of TNT’s “Rizzoli & Isles” and “The Closer” packed a stupendous one-two ratings punch, attracting nearly 16 million viewers per week between them. They were easily the most popular scripted series of the season.
Loser: Fans of “Mad Men.” For the first time in five years, the Emmy-winning period drama was a no-show, because of lengthy contract negotiations that pushed back production. We sorely missed Don Draper-and the highballs.
Winner: “Jersey Shore.” Defying all sense of logic, a show pegged to juicers, lunkheads and spray-on tans continues to keep viewers enthralled. The MTV reality series is averaging 8.6 million viewers to reign as the No. 1 cable show of the summer.
Loser: Florence. The beautiful Italian city had the misfortune to play host to the “Jersey Shore” lunkheads. It may take years to recover.
Winner: The USA Network. Behind new hits such as “Suits” and “Necessary Roughness,” and established favorites such as “Burn Notice” and “Royal Pains,” USA rolled to its sixth straight summer ratings victory among cable channels. Blue skies, indeed.
Loser: Nick at Nite. Reruns of “My Wife and Kids” and “That ’70s Show” apparently just don’t cut it. Prime-time ratings are down 22 percent from a year ago.