TNT kicked off its Tuesday night lineup of summer originals in fine
fashion as its newest original drama series Memphis Beat
garnered 4.3 million viewers.
The series, starring Jason Lee as a
quirky Memphis detective, also averaged 1.4 million adults 18-49 and 1.7
million adults 25-54, said the network.
Memphis Beat's lead-in,
sophomore drama series HawthoRNe, drew 3.4 million viewers in
its season premiere. HawthoRNe, which stars Jada Pinkett Smith
as a caring but no-nonsense Chief Nursing Officer at fictitious Richmond
Trinity Hospital, outdelivered its first season average of 3.3 million
viewers but fell just short of the 3.8 million viewers the show
generated for its series premiere last June.
The two series premieres follow the June 20 third season debut of the
Timothy Hutton-starrer Leverage, which averaged 3.1 million
viewers - below the 4.1 million viewer average of the action-drama
series' second season.
"Tuesday looks to be a strong night for
TNT,
anchored by two exceptional, engaging, character-driven dramas," said
Michael Wright, executive vice president and head of programming for
TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies (TCM) in a statement. "The success of
Sunday's Leverage and Tuesday's HawthoRNe and Memphis
Beat have set the stage for another outstanding summer on TNT."
