‘Game of Thrones’ Soars, ‘Man Men’ Sinks in Epic Sunday Night Heavyweight Showdown

When did Sunday night become best night on television? When I was a kid, Sunday night was for crappy made-for-TV movies and mini-series. But these days, if your show isn't on Sunday night, it probably sucks.

The top tier, of course, is (or rather, was) Breaking Bad, Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, and Mad Men. Then comes a strong second tier of The Good Wife (which your mom loves) and Californication, plus a premium cable comedies Veep and Silicon Valley. And let's not forget The Amazing Race or Sunday Night Football, which has basically supplanted Monday Night Football. 

So yeah, Sunday night is now TV's ultimate battle royale, and last night saw two heavyweights in action—one in its prime, and one on the decline.

The Sunday night heavyweight in its prime, of course, is Game of Thrones. The second episode of Season 4—the Purple Wedding episode—drew a whopping 6.3 million viewers for the first airing and another 1.7 million for the 11pm encore, bringing the total up to 8 million. Meanwhile, over on AMC, the premier of the seventh and final season of Mad Men failed to get the kind of "final season" bump Breaking Bad got. Don't get me wrong, 2.3 million viewers ins't terrible, but it is more than a million shy of last year's premier.

Sorry, Don Draper. Game of Thrones is the king of Sunday night right now.

[via]