The Hollywood Reporter

August 24th 2005

August 24, 2005 Wednesday

BYLINE: Andrew Wallenstein

“Six Feet Under” was laid to rest Sunday in front of 3.9 million viewers, amassing HBO’s highest rating in 14 months.

The fifth and final season of the HBO drama scored an 8.9 rating/ 13 share in HBO homes, eclipsing the network’s previous best: “Six Feet Under’s” Season 4 debut (9.4/14, 4.1 million) in June 2004. The series finale also was strong enough to top last season’s finale, which drew 3.7 million.

A ratings surge during the past few episodes helped “Six Feet” overcome a weak start to the season, which HBO started on Monday nights only to relocate it back to Sunday after tepid ratings. HBO averaged 2.5 million in the premiere time slot over the course of the fifth season.

Despite the strength of the finale, “Six Feet’s” last season paled in comparison to the previous, which averaged 3.7 million. The first three seasons of “Six Feet” don’t offer a direct comparison because HBO didn’t distinguish ratings on its primary linear channel from its digital offshoots before 2004, but the third season averaged 4.8 million and the first two seasons scored well over 5 million.

Elsewhere in cable, National Geographic Channel set a personal best this week with its “Inside 9/11” two-part special. Sunday saw NGC shatter its biggest audience mark, with 2.1 million tuning in from the opening berth at 9-11 p.m.; the program drew a cumulative 6 million that night, a total the network exceeded with the second installment Monday.

In the same time slot, the Lifetime original movie “Fighting the Odds: The Marilyn Gambrell Story” grabbed 3.6 million, making it the highest-rated original movie on cable for the month. Lifetime also saw renewed strength from “Strong Medicine” on Sunday, which drew 3.3 million—its biggest audience in more than two years.

Also Monday, Spike TV drew 2.1 million to the second-season opener of “The Ultimate Fighter” at 11 p.m.

USA looked good over the weekend, with “Monk” grabbing 5.5 million viewers Friday, its best showing since the fourth-season premiere. On Sunday, “The 4400” and “The Dead Zone” attracted 3.9 million and 3.4 million, respectively.

Also Friday, Disney Channel scored with “The Proud Family Movie,” collecting 3.6 million.

TNT’s “NASCAR Nextel Cup” on Sunday was cable’s No. 1 program for the week, drawing 6.9 million.