Recapping some recent ratings highlights:
• On Saturday night, NBC's Kings returned to an audience of 1.59 million total viewers, CBS' Harper's Island (3.17 mil) dropped 12 percent, and the series finale of ABC's Pushing Daisies delivered 2.24 mil. Coming this Saturday: The first of the last Eli Stone episodes!
• ABC's coverage of Sunday's NBA Finals drew 10.12 million viewers, the biggest audience for a Game 5 since 2004. On average, this year's Magic-Lakers series retained 95 percent of 2008's Celtics-Lakers finals.
• The CW's timely broadcast of the original The Taking of Pelham One Two Three scored 2.15 mil.
Crave scoop on your favorite TV shows, from this summer or the upcoming fall season? E-mail senior editors Matt, Mickey and Tim at mega_scoop@tvguide.com. Also, follow TV Guide on Twitter.
read more
Thursday's ratings recap:
8 pm/ET
ABC's coverage of Game 1 of the NBA Finals — which was kicked off by a Jimmy Kimmel special — topped every hour and was the night's most watched program, averaging 9.4 million viewers from 8 to 11 pm.
In the 8 o'clock hour, NBC's I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! placed fourth (behind repeats of Bones and CBS comedies) with 5.18 mil. That is, however, an 8 percent gain from the night prior. Speidi wants to take credit for ...
read more
Burn Notice
9 pm/ET USA
Michael and Co. are back to kick off the third season of Burn Notice, which has moved to a new 9 pm/ET time slot. After ending last season by jumping out of a helicopter and into the ocean, Michael finally freed himself from the people who burned him. But that also means that he's no longer under their protection, a fact that becomes clearer when the police begin investigating him. Never one to turn down a side job, Michael also helps extradite a criminal to Latin America.
Read on for previews of NBA Finals, Royal Pains, So You Think You Can Dance and The Listener.
read more
The Boston Celtics won their first NBA title in 22 years, so where are they going to celebrate? No, not Disney World. Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen are heading to New York to sit down with David Letterman on Wednesday's Late Show (June 18, 11:35 pm/ET, CBS).The Celtics wrapped things up in Game 6 on Tuesday night with a 131-92 victory at the TD Banknorth Garden, the largest margin of victory ever in an NBA Finals series clinching game.UPDATE: Ratings are in, and the game scored 16.88 million viewers, the most watched Game 6 since 2000. Led by Sunday's Game 5 (17.39 million), the 2008 Finals make up the six most-watched programs in June (to date), averaging 15 million viewers. That's a 61 percent jump from last year's dead-boring Spurs rout of the Cavaliers.
read more
The NBA Finals are living up to the hype. Tuesday night's Game 3 scored 14.51 million viewers for ABC, the most-watched of the series so far. It's also a 53 percent increase over 2007's Game 3 (9.49 million) — which isn't that surprising given how much more interest there is in the Celtics/Lakers series than last year's Spurs/Cavaliers snoozer.Games 1 (13.38 million) and 2 (13.50) were the most-watched television programs of last week. The Celtics lead the series 2-1 and Game 4 is Thursday in Los Angeles (June 12, 9 pm/ET, ABC).
read more
