Crushed under the weight of last week’s “SNL 40” broadcast, HBO’s comedies “Girls,” “Togetherness” and “Looking” all enjoyed rebounds this week despite again facing an intimidating competitive slate.
This week’s special competition came in the form of ABC’s mammoth (albeit deflated) 87th Annual Academy Awards broadcast. “Girls” and “Togetherness” also found themselves opposite an improved edition of AMC’s “The Walking Dead.”
Indicative of the extent to which “SNL 40” evidently cut into their audiences, the three series enjoyed gains in their adults 18-49 and total viewership marks this week.
Up from last week’s 0.17 adults 18-49 rating with 385,000 viewers, “Girls” posted a 0.22 adults 18-49 rating with 477,000 audience members. Lead-out “Togetherness” scored a 0.20 rating with 367,000 viewers (up from last week’s 0.10 with 231,000) at 9:30PM, while “Looking” registered a 0.10 with 204,000.
Last week’s “Looking” managed a mere 0.04 rating with 150,000 viewers.
11PM entry “Last Week Tonight” posted a 0.24 adults 18-49 rating with a series low 469,000 viewership average.
While “Girls,” “Togetherness” and “Looking” all drew more viewers against the 2/22 Oscars than they did against 2/15 “SNL 40” and 2/8 Grammy Awards, none performed especially well. Prior to this season, the “Girls” performance would have represented the weakest for a regularly scheduled telecast.
As the competitive slate finally eases next week, the three HBO comedies will be expected to enjoy gains. If they fail to do so, one would be justified in suggesting lost interest — not simply competitive forces — played a role in driving the recent ratings woes.
