FX's 'Justified' A Ratings Killer

By R. Thomas Umstead
published

The March 16 debut of Fx's new drama series Justified drew 4.16 million viewers, the second most-watched series premiere in network history.
The series, which stars Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood) as no-nonsense U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, also averaged 2 million adults 18-49 and 1.42 million men 18-49, according to FX officials.
Justified's delivery of total viewers and men 18-49 ranks second all-time for an original series on FX just behind the Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning drama The Shield, which drew 4.83 million viewers and 1.74 million in the aforementioned male demo for its March 12, 2002 premiere.
An encore airing of Justified's premiere episode notched an additional 1.85 million total viewers and 1.01 million Adults 18-49. The combination of Justified and its lead-in movie, Live Free or Die Hard topped all basic cable networks during the 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. time period among adults 18-49 (1.33 million), adults 18-34 (654,000) and men 18-49 (902,000), said the network.

R. Thomas Umstead
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.