Viewers buy into ‘Mad Men’

Viewers didn’t need the hard sell as AMC’s “Mad Men” returned with record ratings on Sunday.

The acclaimed ‘60s ad industry drama, which scored 16 Emmy nominations earlier this month, drew 2.1 million total viewers for the Season 2 premiere, according to figures released Tuesday from Nielsen Media Research. That was the series’ highest tally, besting the 1.8 million logged for the premiere last July.

“Mad Men,” however, will face tougher challenges in the weeks ahead. Last season, the show’s ratings drooped in September, once the broadcast networks returned with their fall series.

The week’s most-watched program on ad-supported cable was TNT’s “The Closer” (7.1 million).

With network schedules headed into the dog days, the broadcasters at the moment offer little in the way of competition for cable outlets. For the week ending July 28, CBS’ repeat-heavy schedule dominated among total viewers (6.1 million total), trailed by Fox (5.5 million), NBC (5.4 million) and ABC (4.3 million).

The week’s most-watched program was NBC’s Tuesday airing of “America’s Got Talent” (13.2 million).

Among the advertiser-friendly demographic of adults aged 18 to 49, Fox dominated, thanks to “So You Think You Can Dance” and repeats of “House” and “Family Guy.” The week’s top-rated program in the “demo” was ABC’s obstacle-course game “Wipeout” (3.7 rating/12 share).

Otherwise, network schedules were stacked with tepid summer performers, including ABC’s game “Wanna Bet?” (3.1 million total viewers), NBC’s “The Baby Borrowers” (3.2 million) and CBS’ drama “Swingtown” (4.2 million).

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (July 21-27) as compiled by Nielsen Media Research. They are based on the average number of people who watched a program from start to finish. Nielsen estimates there are 286 million potential viewers in the U.S. ages 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* Program Network Viewers 1 America’s Got Talent (Tue.) NBC 13.24 2 Wipeout ABC 9.98 3 Two and a Half Men CBS 9.76 4 60 Minutes CBS 9.52 5 So You Think You Can Dance? (Wed.) FOX 8.60 *--*

*--* 6 NCIS CBS 8.52 7 Criminal Minds CBS 8.44 8 So You Think You Can Dance? (Thu.) FOX 8.38 9 CSI: Miami CBS 8.13 10 House (Mon.) FOX 7.90 *--*

*--* 11 Dateline: NBC (Sun.) NBC 7.63 12 CSI CBS 7.56 13 CSI: NY CBS 7.53 14 Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? FOX 7.42 15 Old Christine CBS 7.40 *--*

*--* 16 Celebrity Family Feud NBC 7.28 17 Primetime: Family Secrets ABC 6.72 18 Flashpoint (Thu.) CBS 6.69 19 Law & Order: SVU NBC 6.60 20 Bones FOX 6.48 *--*

*--* 21 Primetime: Crime ABC 6.35 22 Big Brother 10 (Wed.) CBS 6.22 23 Numb3rs CBS 6.21 24 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 6.12 25 Big Brother 10 (Tue.) CBS 6.07 *--*

*--* Greatest American Dog CBS 6.07 27 Nashville Star NBC 5.85 28 Big Brother 10 (Sun.) CBS 5.84 29 How I Met Your Mother CBS 5.75 30 Without a Trace CBS 5.69 *--*

*--* 31 I Survived Japanese Game Show ABC 5.55 32 The Big Bang Theory CBS 5.47 33 America’s Got Talent (Sun.) NBC 5.45 34 Hopkins ABC 5.32 35 America’s Funniest Home Videos (Sun.) ABC 5.27 *--*

*--* 36 American Gladiators NBC 5.21 37 House (Tue.) FOX 5.20 38 Ghost Whisperer CBS 5.17 39 Cold Case CBS 5.16 40 Dateline: NBC (Mon.) NBC 5.14 *--*

*--* 41 Family Guy FOX 5.12 42 The Simpsons (8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.00 43 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 4.90 44 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Sat.) NBC 4.87 45 America’s Most Wanted FOX 4.75 *--*

*--* 46 Baby Borrowers (9 p.m.) NBC 4.73 47 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Tue.) UNI 4.72 48 20/20 ABC 4.69 49 America’s Funniest Home Videos (Fri.) ABC 4.64 50 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Wed.) UNI 4.63 *--*

*--* 51 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Mon.) UNI 4.62 52 Law & Order (Wed.) NBC 4.57 53 American Dad FOX 4.41 54 Fuego en la Sangre (Wed.) UNI 4.39 55 Most Outrageous Moments (Fri., 8:30 p.m.) NBC 4.36 *--*

*--* 56 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 4.35 57 Last Comic Standing 6 NBC 4.25 58 Fuego en la Sangre (Mon.) UNI 4.23 59 Swingtown CBS 4.20 60 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Fri.) UNI 4.17 *--*

*--* 61 Fuego en la Sangre (Tue.) UNI 4.13 62 Fuego en la Sangre (Thu.) UNI 4.12 63 Most Outrageous Moments (Fri., 8 p.m.) NBC 3.97 64 The Simpsons (8 p.m.) FOX 3.96 65 Cops (8 p.m.) FOX 3.95 *--*

*--* 66 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Thu.) UNI 3.94 67 Friday Night Smackdown CW 3.92 68 Flashpoint (Sun.) CBS 3.91 69 Supernanny ABC 3.90 70 48 Hours Mystery CBS 3.89 *--*

*--* 71 Wife Swap ABC 3.85 72 Law & Order (Sat.) NBC 3.82 73 Fuego en la Sangre (Fri.) UNI 3.78 Most Outrageous Moments (Sun., 7:30 p.m.) NBC 3.78 75 Kitchen Nightmares FOX 3.75 *--*

*--* 76 Grey’s Anatomy ABC 3.60 77 Most Outrageous Moments (Sun., 7 p.m. NBC 3.51 78 Don Francisco Presenta UNI 3.42 79 The Mole ABC 3.35 80 Aqui y Ahora UNI 3.33 *--*

*--* 81 “Viva la Familia” UNI 3.25 Ugly Betty ABC 3.25 83 Baby Borrowers (8 p.m.) NBC 3.21 84 Fear Itself NBC 3.19 Cristina UNI 3.19 *--*

*--* 86 “Anger Management” FOX 3.15 *--*

Network averages

Here is the number of viewers (in millions) that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season.

*--* Network Last week Season to date CBS 6.10 9.33

FOX 5.53 9.85

NBC 5.39 7.33

ABC 4.33 8.11

UNI 3.32 3.50

CW 1.56 2.29 *--*