Showtime is inviting Nurse Jackie back for a fourth season, bidding goodbye to United States of Tara after three seasons and hailing solid numbers for freshman drama The Borgias.
Showtime said Nurse Jackie, starring Edie Falco, is currently averaging 2.8 million weekly viewers (compared to Californication's season 4 average of 2.4 million weekly viewers). The Monday night viewings average 762,000, and the show gets a 71% viewing lift from subscribers tuning on demand, via DVR and other replays, the premium network said.
That number was higher than was being tallied for United States of Tara, for which Collette won an Emmy award playing a housewife with several distinct personalities. (Falco won an Emmy in 2010 for her portrayal of a New York City hospital nurse addicted to painkillers and deception.) Tara creator Diablo Cody tweeted thanks to fans for their support and "I can't believe we lasted three seasons in the lion's den."
Period drama The Borgias, meanwhile, has averaged 3.3 million weekly viewers, Showtime said. The network offered favorable comparisons, including to highly touted The Tudors. The premium channel said The Borgias has outpaced The Tudors' highest-rated season, the fourth, by 20% (it averaged 2.7 million viewers).
The season finale of The Borgias, which stars Jeremy Irons, delivered 810,000 viewers at 10 p.m. and 1.12 million viewers on Sunday night. The Borgias will be back for 10 episodes in 2012.
The four freshmen series under programming chief David Nevins have all been tapped to return.
Shameless (with William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum) averaged 3.8 million weekly viewers and The BIg C averaged 3.5 million, the network said.
