Sunday nights on cable

Cable Hit Parade Stealing the Spotlight on Sunday Nights
by Adam Buckman
Oct 23rd, 2011 | 11:50 AM | Comments 0

Feeling overwhelmed on Sunday nights? You should be, because more than any other night of TV, Sunday night, right now, is over-saturated with great shows. And it’s all because of cable.

There have been inklings of this trend in past seasons, particularly due to HBO – with shows such as “The Sopranos” – and, to a lesser extent, Showtime, thanks mainly to “Dexter.”

Some years back, “The Sopranos” emerged as perhaps the first prime-time drama on a cable network to pose a serious threat to the dominance of the broadcast networks at 9 p.m. Sunday. Despite the “Sopranos” inroads in drawing healthy audiences, though, network TV remained on top.

But not any more. Cable has crowded its best shows into one evening – and three of its best into the same time period, 9/8c. And sure, one of the benefits of living in 2011 is that we possess ways to see all of them if we want to – through the time-shifting technologies of on-demand, DVRs or, for some shows, watching them on-line (on Web sites such as this one).

But still, all of that takes effort, as you make plans to watch the Sunday shows at other times. And that’s a risk too, because these are shows people talk about after they first air, which means that, if you’re planning on watching them later, you’d better find a way to cut yourself off from the chatter on the morning after these four key cable shows air:

“The Walking Dead” (9/8c on AMC): This is the one having the most impact — the runaway zombie hit that just started its second season Oct. 16 and scored broadcast-network-sized ratings — 7.3 million total viewers. That was huge for a cable series, and big enough to beat the audience tallies for several shows on the networks that night — including “Pan Am” on ABC. Episode Two of “The Walking Dead” is tonight.

“Boardwalk Empire” (9/8c on HBO): This series about New Jersey gangsters (interesting how HBO keeps returning to the Garden State for this sort of thing, isn’t it?) is gaining steam in its second season. The fifth episode (of 13) is tonight (Oct. 23) — still not too late to climb aboard the “Boardwalk Empire” bandwagon.

“Dexter” (9/8c on Showtime): Now in its sixth season (it started Oct. 2), “Dexter” shows no sign of slowing down either as Michael C. Hall continues to mesmerize with his portrayal of a serial killer who works as a forensic tech for the Miami Police homicide squad, while secretly dispatching other serial killers to the hereafter. The whole thing makes for the most discomfiting scenario on TV, but we can’t stop watching.

“Homeland” (10/9c on Showtime): This newcomer — starring Claire Danes as a secretive CIA operative (well, aren’t they all? In her case, she’s hiding a mental illness that even the Agency doesn’t know about) — has already gotten under our skin after three episodes (the fourth is tonight). It’s about her quest to prove that a U.S. marine sergeant (Damian Lewis), who was held captive by al-Qaeda for eight years and then freed by Navy Seals, is now an al-Qaeda agent. The only one of our four cable shows that’s not bunched with the others at 9 o’clock, this one is the easiest to catch at 10/9c.

Still, it should be noted that mainstream network fare such as “The Good Wife” Sundays at 9/8c still draw bigger audiences than these cable faves.


Or more likely smaller audiences if more people had cable. The Good Wife is one of those shows that I can't grasp the concept of, so I've never watched it. Also he doesn't mention that The Amazing Race and now Once Upon a Time complicate our viewing scheds. I have it figured out, but it's not for the faint of heart. :lol:

I'm missing Mad Men...darn those contract issues.