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).
