Saturday, July 4, 2026

Ratings: Downton Abbey Shock Episode: Up 22% Over Last Year

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The second episode of “Downton Abbey” was a shocker: Anna was raped, a situation that caused a scandal in Britain when the show aired this fall. But that didn’t deter viewers. “Downton” was up 22% over last season’s second episode. The Crawleys scored  7.94 million viewers. Their household rating was a very healthy 4.7. This means that the PBS Masterpiece drama finished third in narrative TV to “The Good Wife” and “The  Mentalist.” ABC and NBC would love to have the “Downton” numbers. Bravo!

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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