A&E continues to mine ratings gold from OPP– other people’s problems.
The network of "Intervention" and "Obsessed" has apparently launched another hit with "Hoarders." Monday’s debut of the People Who Can’t Throw Crap Away series gave A&E its best premiere numbers ever in adults 18-49.
Overall, episode one of "Hoarders," airing at 10 p.m., drew 2.5 million viewers, 1.8 million of them aged 18-49 or 25-54. In the latter category, "Hoarders" matched the 2004 series premieres of "Dog the Bounty Hunter" and "Growing Up Gotti."
"Hoarders" got a boost from a first-run episode of "Intervention," which scored a season high among adults 18-49, averaging 1.6 million in the demo at 9 p.m.
The success of "Hoarders" has to kinda irk the folks at OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. After all, Winfrey has been scoring big ratings for a couple years now with special episodes focusing on People Who Can’t Throw Crap Away.
In a perfect world, Winfrey would have greenlit her own hoarders series after seeing how viewers reacted to the topic when it was explored on "Oprah."
But that would mean OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network would have to become a real network, as opposed to what it is now: A "planned" network forever stuck in "development mode." (Seriously, I’m pretty sure Phil Donahue was still on the air when Oprah first announced this channel).
