HBO's 'Girls,' 'Enlightened' Deliver Solid Sophomore Season Debuts

Fresh off its two Golden Globe wins last night, HBO’s Girls Sundaypremiered its second season to 1.6 million viewers across several plays, the network said.

The series, which won Globes for best comedy series and best actress (for series star/producer Lena Dunham), drew 886,000 viewers for its 9 p.m. premiere – which was on par with its freshman season debut last year – as well a combined 727,000 viewers for a 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. airing, said network officials.

HBO’s Enlightened drew 609,000 viewers across three plays in its sophomore debut Sunday night. The 9:30 premiere episode drew 300,000 viewers, a 43% improvement over its  Monday night series debut last year.

Cinemax’s new original series Banshee delivered 483,000 viewers in its Jan. 11 debut, the best performance for a Cinemax original series debut since Strike Back drew 567,000 in its Aug. 12 debut, said network officials. Overall the series drew nearly 1 million viewers over three airings.

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.