Cable ratings: ‘Suits’ season 5, ‘Mr. Robot’ premiere numbers

USA is a network right now in need of a huge hit. “Royal Pains” and “Graceland” are not generating huge totals these days, and “White Collar,” “Burn Notice,” and others are long gone. They have shifted away from some of their breezier summer shows, but with that they have programs that can appeal to slightly less mainstream audiences.

Let’s start here with the premiere of what is the network’s biggest hit among dramas at the moment in “Suits.” Season 5 premiered on Wednesday night to a 0.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic to go along with over 2.1 million viewers. These do mark a slight drop from the 2.5 million and the 0.8 the show drew in the premiere last year, but it is also a much better rating than anything that the show drew in the winter. Like many other summer cable shows, “Suits” loses some live-viewer momentum with their batch of episodes that air in January and February when there is more competition.

Meanwhile, the premiere of “Mr. Robot” on the network (which was rather outstanding, by the way) drew 1.8 million viewers and a 0.5 rating. These aren’t huge totals, but the details are somewhat misleading here given that USA has already renewed the show for a second season, and they have said via press release that more than 2 million viewers saw the pilot early across multiple mediums. It will face a better test next week.

With that said, don’t expect “Mr. Robot” next week to suddenly have 3.8 million viewers or anything. It is often very hard to convince viewers to check out a show on live TV after they’ve gotten to see it through another medium.

For now, our advice to you is to stay tuned for some further TV updates soon enough! For now, sign up here to get some additional scoop on all we cover, courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: USA.)