'Newsroom' Hits Series High With Season Finale

1:19 PM PDT 8/27/2012 by Philiana Ng

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HBO's "True Blood" closes out season five with 5 million viewers Sunday.

HBO

"The Newsroom"

HBO's The Newsroom hit a series high with its season closer Sunday night.

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The Aaron Sorkin drama about the inner workings of a cable news network drew 2.3 million total viewers in the initial 10 p.m. viewing, beating the previous high set by the third episode "112th Congress" that aired in July. Counting the midnight encore, Newsroom attracted 2.8 million for the night.

STORY: 6 Big Reveals From the 'Newsroom' Season Finale

At 9 p.m., the season five closer of True Blood averaged 5 million viewers, a slight improvement from the previous episode and just below the opener. Add in the 11 p.m. encore, True Blood lured a season high 6.3 million viewers.

In July, HBO renewed Newsroom for a second season and True Blood for a sixth. At Television Critics Assoc. summer press tour, Newsroom creator Sorkin defended his show's female characters and denied that the writing staff had been "fired" after reports surfaced that several writers had been let go.

E-mail: Philiana.Ng@thr.com