USA’s newest detective show White Collar, which stars Matthew Bomer (Chuck) as a con man who takes a job as an FBI consultant to avoid going back to jail got off to a strong start on Friday, even beating some network television programming.
The cable show averaged a 1.4 rating/5 share in adults 18-49 and 5.4 million viewers overall in its expanded premiere (10-11:15 p.m.), which was presented with limited commercial interruptions, standing as television’s top-rated program for the male 18-49 and 25-54 in the 10pm timeslot.
Compare that to some broadcast offerings, and White Collar beat out Ugly Betty, Dollhouse and Smallville in the ratings. In its final episode before its November sweeps hiatus, Dollhouse had another ratings blow (2.1 million, o.7 rating), down 20% from its last episode two weeks ago. Meanwhile genre favourite Smallville managed to maintain it’s (meagre) audience over on the CW of 2.5 million/1.1 rating.
