Cablemetrics: The Walking Dead, Vinyl, Better Call Saul, Vikings

These numbers are current through Thursday, February 18.

WHAT MATTERS:

• The Walking Dead opened the back half of season six with a 6.75 demo rating, which is still unthinkably high in today's landscape... and yet down by 15% from the last spring premiere, and nearly 10% from the fall 2015 premiere. It's the lowest TWD half-season premiere in three years. (For perspective, only one non-Walking Dead regularly-scheduled scripted episode has done a higher number in that three-year span: the Empire season one finale.)

• Opening opposite Dead was HBO's classic rock drama Vinyl, which had Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger pedigree but could only muster up a 0.25 same-day demo rating and was more than doubled up by Showtime's Shameless (0.60) head-to-head. HBO still renewed the show this week, which seems almost inevitable for big-name premium cable shows. But the ratings are still worth following, because renewals beyond season two seem to be less automatic. (Or, in the case of Tell Me You Love Me and Luck, even following through on the renewal for season two isn't automatic.)

• AMC had a second big opening this week with Monday's return of Better Call Saul (1.06). 1.06 was a new series low, 0.07 behind the penultimate episode of season one, and it's going to take a long time for the y2y trend below to normalize since it previewed after The Walking Dead last year. But 1.06 is still very much an elite number by cable standards. (One thing to look out for in the Sunday cable ratings tomorrow is how Sunday's 11:00 BCS encore after Talking Dead compares to the rating for the original telecast.)

• And History brought back veteran drama Vikings (0.82) for season four, at another number that is near the top of the cable chart for now. It was down a relatively healthy 15% from last year's premiere. 

• TNT got back in original business with the returns of procedurals Major Crimes (0.43) and Rizzoli and Isles (0.41/0.40). These shows always do worse against regular season competition than they do in the summer, but this was a fairly sour start for Rizzoli; 0.41 was barely half of its 0.76 February 2015 premiere.

• A couple other notables among the non-premieres:
• American Crime Story shed another 11% in week three, but still looks very solid at 1.35.
• And Shameless (0.60) and Billions (0.33) both made up most (but not quite all) of their Super Bowl drops last Sunday. 

FULL TABLE:

Show	Net	This Week			This Season
		Ep#	A18-49	Last	Seas	Avg	y2y	Proj	Proj +	Skew
The Walking Dead Spring	AMC	9	6.75	n/a	6	6.75	-15%	6.18	410	62%
American Crime Story	FX	3	1.35	-11%	1	1.61	n/a	1.43	95	50%
Better Call Saul	AMC	1	1.06	n/a	2	1.06	-69%	0.48	32	52%
Vikings	HIST	1	0.82	n/a	4	0.82	-15%	0.68	45	43%
The Haves and the Have Nots	OWN	7	0.80	+5%	4	0.82	-11%	0.83	55	35%
Pretty Little Liars	FREE	16	0.69	+17%	6	0.77	-12%	0.77	51	61%
Shameless	SHO	6	0.60	+28%	6	0.63	-13%	0.61	41	52%
American Dad!	TBS	4	0.56	+4%	1	0.54	-11%	0.52	35	68%
Girl Meets World	DISN	28	0.39	-24%	2	0.53	-9%	0.53	32	29%
Suits	USA	14	0.46	-10%	5	0.50	-1%	0.52	34	39%
Shadowhunters	FREE	6	0.43	-4%	1	0.49	n/a	0.46	31	55%
Major Crimes	TNT	19	0.43	-10%	4	0.42	-28%	0.42	28	18%
Teen Wolf	MTV	17	0.42	+11%	5	0.42	-20%	0.40	26	56%
The Shannara Chronicles	MTV	8	0.32	-9%	1	0.41	n/a	0.39	26	56%
Rizzoli and Isles	TNT	14	0.41	n/a	6	0.41	-39%	0.38	25	21%
Colony	USA	6	0.30	-23%	1	0.40	n/a	0.36	24	43%
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia	FXX	7	0.32	-3%	6	0.35	-4%	0.34	22	78%
The Magicians	Syfy	5	0.27	-4%	1	0.34	n/a	0.30	20	47%
Angie Tribeca	TBS	10	n/a	n/a	1	0.34	n/a	0.34	22	55%
The Fosters	FREE	4	0.29	+0%	1	0.33	-31%	0.35	23	48%
Baskets	FX	5	0.31	+15%	1	0.33	n/a	0.32	21	60%
Billions	SHO	5	0.33	+32%	1	0.29	n/a	0.31	21	37%
Young and Hungry	FREE	3	0.27	+4%	3	0.28	-25%	0.26	17	60%
Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce	BRAV	12	0.27	+4%	2	0.27	-25%	0.27	18	51%
Baby Daddy	FREE	3	0.27	+13%	5	0.26	-41%	0.22	14	59%
Vinyl	HBO	1	0.25	n/a	1	0.25	n/a	0.25	17	42%
Recovery Road	FREE	4	0.17	-6%	1	0.17	n/a	0.17	11	49%
Man Seeking Woman	FXX	7	0.11	+10%	2	0.13	+1%	0.12	8	70%
The Walking Dead	AMC				6	6.72	-10%	6.72	446	65%
Fear the Walking Dead	AMC				1	3.88	n/a	3.88	231	65%
Into the Badlands	AMC				1	1.79	n/a	1.79	119	59%
American Horror Story	FX				5	1.49	-23%	1.49	99	66%
True Detective	HBO				2	1.15	+17%	1.15	68	56%
Rick and Morty	ADSM				2	1.00	+57%	1.00	60	64%
The Haves and the Have Nots Summer	OWN				2	0.93	+0%	0.93	55	37%
Pretty Little Liars Summer	FREE				6	0.89	-7%	0.89	53	56%
South Park	Com				19	0.89	-18%	0.89	59	77%
Ballers	HBO				1	0.84	n/a	0.84	50	63%
Being Mary Jane	BET				3	0.74	-16%	0.74	49	57%
The Last Ship	TNT				2	0.72	-32%	0.72	43	31%
Rizzoli and Isles Summer	TNT				6	0.70	-27%	0.70	42	21%
The Game	BET				9	0.63	-24%	0.63	42	56%
Suits Summer	USA				5	0.61	-21%	0.61	36	35%
Major Crimes Summer	TNT				4	0.60	-29%	0.60	36	18%
The Strain	FX				2	0.60	-41%	0.60	36	57%
Power	STRZ				2	0.57	+78%	0.57	34	57%
The Librarians	TNT				2	0.53	-42%	0.53	35	32%
Homeland	SHO				5	0.50	-9%	0.50	33	42%
Teen Wolf Summer	MTV				5	0.50	-30%	0.50	30	54%
Falling Skies	TNT				5	0.49	-35%	0.49	29	31%
The Fosters Summer	FREE				3	0.48	-18%	0.48	29	51%
Mr. Robot	USA				1	0.48	n/a	0.48	28	44%
Devious Maids	Life				3	0.46	-24%	0.46	28	44%
The Brink	HBO				1	0.46	n/a	0.46	27	54%
Clipped	TBS				1	0.45	n/a	0.45	26	46%
Ray Donovan	SHO				3	0.44	-15%	0.44	29	41%
The Bastard Executioner	FX				1	0.44	n/a	0.44	29	46%
Humans	AMC				1	0.39	n/a	0.39	23	42%
Awkward	MTV				5	0.38	-26%	0.38	25	66%
Tyrant	FX				2	0.37	-31%	0.37	22	40%
Switched at Birth Summer	FREE				4	0.37	-33%	0.37	22	55%
Fargo	FX				2	0.37	-39%	0.37	25	36%
Melissa and Joey	FREE				4	0.36	-21%	0.36	22	62%
Doctor Who	BBCA				10	0.36	-14%	0.36	24	48%
Complications	USA				1	0.35	n/a	0.35	21	31%
Royal Pains Summer	USA				7	0.35	-35%	0.35	21	31%
Scream	MTV				1	0.34	n/a	0.34	20	57%
The Royals	E				2	0.34	-33%	0.34	22	59%
The Leftovers	HBO				2	0.33	-57%	0.33	22	60%
Stitchers	FREE				1	0.33	n/a	0.33	20	51%
Z Nation	Syfy				2	0.33	-31%	0.33	22	48%
Murder in the First	TNT				2	0.31	-30%	0.31	19	19%
Proof	TNT				1	0.31	n/a	0.31	19	19%
Hell on Wheels	AMC				5	0.30	-22%	0.30	18	21%
The League	FXX				7	0.29	-2%	0.29	19	82%
Graceland	USA				3	0.29	-39%	0.29	17	43%
UnREAL	Life				1	0.27	n/a	0.27	16	49%
SexDrugsRockRoll	FX				1	0.26	n/a	0.26	16	54%
Dominion	Syfy				2	0.25	-47%	0.25	15	36%
Chasing Life Summer	FREE				2	0.25	-49%	0.25	15	48%
Defiance	Syfy				3	0.25	-46%	0.25	15	28%
Dark Matter	Syfy				1	0.24	n/a	0.24	14	30%
Faking It	MTV				2	0.24	-36%	0.24	16	59%
The Affair	SHO				2	0.24	+24%	0.24	16	36%
Agent X	TNT				1	0.23	n/a	0.23	15	27%
Killjoys	Syfy				1	0.23	n/a	0.23	14	31%
The Expanse	Syfy				1	0.22	n/a	0.22	14	39%
Finding Carter	MTV				2	0.22	-41%	0.22	14	66%
Donny!	USA				1	0.20	n/a	0.20	13	48%
Satisfaction	USA				2	0.19	-52%	0.19	13	38%
Married	FX				2	0.19	-46%	0.19	11	60%
Haven	Syfy				6	0.19	-12%	0.19	12	35%
Playing House	USA				2	0.18	-56%	0.18	11	54%
Halt and Catch Fire	AMC				2	0.16	-35%	0.16	10	39%
Public Morals	TNT				1	0.15	n/a	0.15	9	22%
Masters of Sex	SHO				3	0.13	-48%	0.13	9	29%
Kevin from Work	FREE				1	0.13	n/a	0.13	8	53%
Legends	TNT				2	0.13	-60%	0.13	9	29%
You're the Worst	FXX				2	0.13	-56%	0.13	9	74%
Unforgettable	A&E				4	0.12	-86%	0.12	8	21%
Becoming Us	FREE				1	0.11	n/a	0.11	6	46%

The Cablemetrics table can be sorted by clicking any of the categories at the top (and a second click will sort in the other direction.) After having sorted by a category, you can hold SHIFT and click another category to sort by the second category within the first.