The rating for MTV’s “Jersey Shore” surged in week two, indicating that the vast buzz and discussion of its “trainwreck” nature paid off for the reality series.
Up 50% to 2.1 million viewers for the airing Thursday, the show’s viewership value was in line with the most recent season premiere of “The Hills” and thus situates the series as one of MTV’s flagships.
“Shore”‘s viewership actually tops that of CW’s similarly-skewing, scripted “90210,” which averaged less than 2 million viewers on a broadcast network this week.
— Friday marked a return to the demographic season high for “Ugly Betty,” which posted a 1.4 rating in adults 18-49 and averaged 4.8 million viewers. The numbers are still terrible by the standards “Betty” set in its first few seasons, although the increase indicates that those who are watching are enjoying what critics have called a creatively-revitalized “Ugly Betty.” The hope within ABC is that the show can parlay this bit of momentum into more sizable growth when it moves to Wednesday nights.
I have to say, Ugly Betty is fantastic this year and I feel bad for people who arn’t watching! Hopefully it does a lot better on Wednesdays – maybe enough to save the show.