The move from Miami to Beverly Hills evidently served the practice of McNamara/Troy well.
The live-window fifth season premiere of FX’s plastic surgery series Nip/Tuck on Oct. 30 produced cable-leading numbers Tuesday of 4.3 million total viewers, 3.5 million persons 18 to 49 and 2.2 million persons 18 to 34, according to Nielsen Media Research data.
The performance among the 18-to-34 set, the best in the network’s history lifted Nip/Tuck, starring Dylan Walsh as Dr. Sean McNamara and Julian McMahon as Dr. Christian Troy, to the top of the demo in all TV during its 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. timeslot, beating NBC’s Law & Order: SVU by 41%, according to FX officials. For the night, Nip/Tuck trailed only Fox’s House with that group.
In its time slot, Nip/Tuck ranked third nationally among adults 18 to 49, behind ABC’s Boston Legal and Law & Order: SVU, but ahead of CBS’s Cane. The 3.5 million demo delivery is tops with that group in all of scripted cable thus far in 2007 and was the fourth-highest mark with Madison Avenue's most-coveted group for the show’s 59 installments to date, according to FX executives. The series has been cable’s top performer with that demo three years running.
Gauged against its fourth season-average, which reflect live + 7-day data, the fifth-season premiere also shined: ahead 25% from 2.8 million last season with adults 18 to 49; and up 10% over 3.9 million total viewers for season four.
Compared to the season four premiere propped by live + 7 data, the initial season-five installment (live + same day) was up 10% from the 2 million adults 18 to 34 last season; down 5% from 3.7 million adults 18 to 49; and off 16% from 5.1 million total viewers.
FX officials expressed confidence that when the live + 7 data is calculated the season-five opener “should easily outperform” the season-four premiere in all categories.
