Crunch those numbers, Christopher
“Dallas” experienced another slight increase in the ratings this week. The latest episode, “Like a Bad Penny,” debuted to 1.87 million viewers on April 7, up 3 percent from one week ago. The episode drew 580,000 viewers in the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults between ages 18 and 49, an increase of almost 4 percent.
This is the third week in a row that “Dallas” has grown its audience since March 17, when the show hit a series low of 1.78 million viewers.
Interestingly, “Dallas” faced tougher-than-usual competition on April 7. “Like a Bad Penny” debuted opposite CBS’s coverage of the NCAA basketball championship, which drew 16.7 million viewers from 9 to 10 p.m. Also during this hour, ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” grabbed 14.2 million viewers, followed by NBC’s “The Voice” (11.9 million) and Fox’s “The Following” (4.5 million).
“Dallas’s” previous episode, “Like Father, Like Son,” debuted on March 31 to 1.82 million viewers, including 559,000 adults between ages 18 and 49. However, when DVR users who recorded the episode and watched it a few days later are counted, the “Like Father, Like Son” audience rose to 2.6 million viewers, including 1.2 million adults between ages 25 and 54, an audience TNT targets.
“Dallas” is averaging 1.98 million viewers on Mondays at 9 p.m. this season, down from 2.7 million viewers in this time slot last year. However, when DVR users are included, “Dallas’s” weekly viewership rises to approximately 2.7 million viewers, making it the fourth most-watched original drama on TNT’s winter schedule. “Major Crimes” is the top show with 7.4 million viewers, followed by “Rizzoli & Isles (5.6 million) and “Perception” (3.3 million).
TNT also continues to replay new “Dallas” episodes later on Monday nights, where the show draws hundreds of thousands of additional viewers. On April 7, after “Like a Bad Penny” debuted at 9 p.m., TNT showed the episode again at 10 p.m., where it clocked 703,000 viewers.
Behind the Scenes at ‘Dallas’
The “Dallas” producers hosted an NCAA-themed bash on their Dallas soundstages last week. WSAW, the city’s CBS station, has a behind-the-scenes look at the sets, including a brief chat with executive producer Michael M. Robin.
Return to Forney
Before “Dallas” wrapped production on the third season last week, the crew filmed scenes around Forney, Texas — which also happens to be home of the Southern Cross Ranch, the Farlow family spread seen on the original series. InForney.com has the scoop, although it isn’t clear if the Ewings will be paying another visit to the Southern Cross on the TNT show.
Look Who’s Talking
DVR alert: Patrick Duffy is scheduled to appear on “The Talk” on Thursday, April 10. CBS airs the show at 2 p.m. in most cities.
“Drill Bits,” a roundup of news about TNT’s “Dallas,” is published regularly. Share your comments below.
Dallas Decoder 
The Southern Cross? Please please please let them have Dusty on the show.
What are the economics of the 3rd season of Dallas? How much does TNT pay for each episode? How much commercial revenue does TNT receive for each episode? Is Dallas making money or losing money for TNT?
Why can’t people just enjoy DallasTNT and not worry about the “economics” of Dallas like Art? I doubt anyone looks at anything other than the ratings and whether they went up or down or stayed the same. Some people take this WAY too seriously, I say just watch and enjoy the show and spread the word about DallasTNT! Word of mouth is always helpful(and Tweeting too helps)!
If Dallas is to renewed for another season, it is VITAL that it be “in the black” for TNT! But if the show is losing money for the network, there will be NO more new episodes. How could anyone not understand that?
Art, I wish I knew the answers to your earlier questions about the economics of the show. TNT doesn’t disclose that kind of information. The ratings are probably the best measure of how the show is faring, but as you suggest, those numbers don’t tell us the whole story.
Jennifer, thank you for spreading the word about the show! Keep it up! Social media and good old-fashioned word of mouth help drive ratings, and every little bit helps.
Thank you both for your passion for “Dallas”!
It would be AMAZING if Dusty was there to help Sue Ellen.
Hey Chris
Very happy to see the ratings climb again,
Especially with the NCAA title game being on.
I would anticipate another jump next week being the mid-season finale. In total were getting about 3 million folks per week watching, that should be solid enough for a renewal. Chris, the 700k people That watch at 10pm, they’re counted officially right? What I mean is those viewers are counted into the
2.6 million right?
Unfortunately as fans of the show we need to be concerned with things like this. This determines if we get to keep watching another season.
DALLAS is the best of the best, just as u r the best of the best in terms of DALLAS blogs? Why should the ratings uptick surprise anyone boy?!
I think it also matters how expensive a show is to produce. A more expensive show may have good ratings but needs great ratings if it is costly. I wonder what all those Dallas snow days this winter did to their budget?
I fear the economics for Dallas are not good. The show has a large ensemble cast and each episode probably costs TNT much more money than almost any other series.
To justify the huge cost per episode, very high ratings are necessary. So far, the ratings of Dallas do not appear to have achieved that goal.
But Dallas may do better in the second half of the season after the break. It is very possible TNT may consider moving the show to another night.
If Dallas is renewed for a new season, I think it could be under the condition that production costs be cut to at least match the revenues from advertising. That would necessitate the reduction in the size of the cast and other economies. But a scaled back Dallas would be better than none at all.