TNT's 'Rizzoli & Isles' Hits Season High

2:10 PM PDT 8/15/2012 by Philiana Ng

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UPDATED: The summer finale of the Angie Harmon-Sasha Alexander drama draws 6 million viewers to close out the first batch of season three episodes; "Franklin & Bash" averages nearly 3 million.

Rizzoli and Isles Summer Finale - H 2012

Darren Michaels/TNT

"Rizzoli & Isles"

Two days after The Closer capped off its seven-season run with a monstrous audience, TNT's Rizzoli & Isles hit a season high in the ratings.

TNT Renews 'Rizzoli & Isles' for Fourth Season

The summer finale of the Angie Harmon-Sasha Alexander crime procedural drew a season-high 6 million total viewers Tuesday night, up 36 percent from the penultimate summer episode and a 7 percent improvement from last year's summer finale. Rizzoli & Isles led into Franklin & Bash's season two finale, which averaged 2.9 million.

In the advertiser-coveted adult demographics, Rizzoli & Isles grew 55 percent among adults 18-49 (1.6 million) and 49 percent among adults 25-54 (2 million) from the most recent episode. From last summer's finale, that's a 21 percent and 10 percent improvement in the respective demos.

This puts Rizzoli & Isles as the third most-watched basic cable scripted show of the summer, behind cablemates The Closer and spinoff Major Crimes.

TNT renewed Rizzoli & Isles for a fourth season in June. New episodes of season three return in November.

Elsewhere on the dial, the season three premiere of History's Top Gear attracted 1.7 million at 9 p.m., while the debut of lead-out Counting Cars drew 2.4 million on Tuesday.

E-mail: Philiana.Ng@thr.com