Redneck Island returned Saturday night to the largest season premiere in CMT history.
The Nov. 10 telecast, hosted by Steve Austin, averaged 1.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen data, from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. The episode also scored a CMT-premiere series best 0.75 rating among persons 18 to 49, the demo Madison Avenue prefers.
The return of Redneck Island served as a strong lead-in for the debuts of new series Chainsaw Gang and Big Texas Heat as well on Saturday night. Chainsaw Gang scored with 953,000 viewers in the 10 p.m. half-hour and earned a 0.52 mark against the 18-to-49 set. For its part, Big Texas Heat averaged 693,000 watchers at 10:30 p.m., with a 0.34 mark in the demo.
CMT officials said all three series significantly increased their quarter-to-date time-period averages across all demos, particularly among young males.
