The second-season premiere of vampire series True Blood bit down hard on the Nielsens Sunday night, becoming the most-watched Home Box Office program since the finale of The Sopranos more than two years ago.
Starring Anna Pacquin and Stephen Moyer, True Blood's sophomore season opened with 3.7 million viewers in the 9 p.m. hour, according to Nielsen Media Research data, the most since David Chase's acclaimed mob series faded to black on June 10, 2007.
The second-season opener of the series, based on the Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse book series, rose 157% over the series premiere and jumped 51% over the rookie campaign's finale.
Adding in watchers from the 11 p.m. encore, True Blood sucked in 5.1 million viewers, its largest gross audience to date.
