QUICK TAKES - June 6, 2009

The broadcasters showed up Thursday night, but USA really took the prize.

The cable outlet used the Season 3 premiere of its spy caper “Burn Notice” to boost the series launch of “Royal Pains,” its new drama about a handsome young doctor (Mark Feuerstein) in the Hamptons.

“Burn Notice” delivered its best season premiere ever, with an average of 6 million viewers, according to early data from Nielsen Media Research. That was up 11% compared with the Season 2 launch last July. “Royal Pains” held up well at 10 p.m., with 5.6 million viewers.

The USA block’s performance was impressive considering the competition on the broadcast networks. ABC averaged about 9.4 million for its coverage of Game 1 of the NBA Finals. In head-to-head competition, “Royal Pains” also beat the premiere of NBC’s new telepathy drama, “The Listener” (5.3 million).

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Scott Collins