TV Ratings: Ryan Lochte Premiere Sinks on E!, 'Mad Men' Tumble Continues

11:41 AM PDT 4/23/2013 by Michael O'Connell

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While HBO's "Game of Thrones" draws more record highs, not all cable series see a strong Sunday night.

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The E! reality series scored a paltry 807,000 viewers during its first outing at 10 p.m. Sunday, according to Nielsen. The heavily promoted vehicle for the Olympic swimmer did see a sizable chunk of its audience in the targeted adults 18-to-49 demographic with 528,000 viewers, but that still only cranks out to a 0.4 rating.

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Another 551,000 tuned in for the 11 p.m. encore, which saw 381,000 viewers in the demo.

The premiere numbers look particularly bad next to its lead-in. An E! News special featuring Ryan Seacrest interviewing the Kardashian family pulled a strong 1.5 million viewers and 882,000 in the demo.

Lochte was not cable's only ratings disappointment Sunday night. The third episode of Mad Men saw further drops on AMC. After last week's sharp 20 percent decline from its 3.4 million-viewer premiere, the latest episode averaged just 2.4 million viewers.

That downward trend is not something HBO's Game of Thrones needs to be concerned with. Growing for the second straight week, the original 9 p.m. broadcast of the fantasy drama pulled a new record of 4.9 million viewers.

Another Sunday grower is Bravo's Watch What Happens Live (2 million viewers and 1.1 million in 18-to-49), up double digits for its highest-rated broadcast of the season. Bravo's 10 p.m. encore of Bravo's Real Housewives of Atlanta also doubled E!'s Lochte showing in the same time slot.

Email: Michael.OConnell@THR.com; Twitter: @MikeyLikesTV