Cable notes: ‘Duck Dynasty’ finale huge; ‘Snooki & JWoww’ renewed

Throughout most of its run on TV, we’ve compared the ratings trajectory of “Duck Dynasty” to another reality sensation in MTV’s “Jersey Shore.” While the content is very different (one’s a family show, one’s clearly not), both shows hit some huge ratings during their third season.

With that in mind, we almost expected the adventures of the Robertson clan to have hit their peak prior to the season 3 finale on Wednesday. As it turns out, though, there may be some more life in these ducks yet. This episode, which featured Si, Willie, and the rest of the family in Hawaii, drew a staggering (and series high) 4.3 rating in the 18-49 demographic that topped everything else on TV for the day. Not only that, but its total viewership of 9.63 million is higher than “Jersey Shore” ever had.

Will this momentum carry over to season 4? We don’t know. The problem with doing a vacation episode is that it leads people to beg for more fish-out-of-water episodes, and the original take on the show can get diluted. It’s interesting that there has yet to be a season 4 renewal, mostly because the Robertsons and A&E are still in negotiations.

One of the other reasons we brought up “Jersey Shore” was to reference our other cable news story of the day: “Snooki & JWoww” being renewed for a third season. This is hardly the beast that the flagship MTV show was once, but it does show that there is still life for some of the reality stars after they initially hit it big, but they have to make sure they structure their future projects the right way.

How impressed are you by some of these huge “Duck Dynasty” numbers? If you want to read more on how it compares to some other currently-popular shows, you can do so over at the link here.

Photo: A&E