'Downton' draws rich audience for season premiere

Lifestyle January 07, 2013

'Downton' draws rich audience for season premiere

Photo: AP Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess, left, and Shirley MacLaine as Martha Levinson from the TV series, "Downton Abbey." Where once the post-holiday schedule was a blizzard of chilly reruns, January is aburst with premieres and finales. Already, the much-adored British miniseries "Downton Abbey" has made its much-awaited season return Sundays on PBS. On IFC on Fridays, the hilarious "Portlandia" is back for its third season of sketch comedy poking fun at the peculiarities of Portland, Ore., starring Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein. And NBC's mystery melodrama "Deception" has arrived on Mondays.

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NEW YORK (AP) — "Downton Abbey" drew nearly 8 million viewers for Sunday's much-anticipated season premiere.

PBS and WGBH announced Monday that the third-season premiere of the lush British miniseries attracted 7.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen Fast National data. This audience doubled the viewership of the series' second-season premiere, and it quadrupled PBS' average prime-time audience.

"Downton Abbey" airs on the "Masterpiece Classic" anthology, which is presented on PBS by WGBH Boston. It has won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for outstanding miniseries. The third season picks up the story of the Crawley family at the end of World War I. Stars include Hugh Bonneville, Dan Stevens and Michelle Dockery.

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- Dan Stevens,
- Michelle Dockery

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