• by Wayne Friedman , July 13, 2010

TNT's new drama "Rizzoli & Isles" rocketed to eye-popping numbers in its series debut.

The show, starring Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander, took in 7.6 million viewers during its July 12 debut at 10 p.m., according to Nielsen.

Helping out big-time was the sixth season-debut of TNT's longtime drama "The Closer," which offered a mighty 7.7 million viewers -- 7% more than its fifth season start.

TNT has used "The Closer" in recent years to jump-start new dramas. In September 2008, "Raising the Bar" grabbed the biggest start of any series for any ad-supported cable network: 7.7 million viewers.

Although "Rizzoli & Isles" did not outnumber overall viewers of "The Closer," it outperformed the older show in key demographics. "Rizzoli" took in 2.08 million adult 18-49 viewers and 2.72 million adult 25-54 viewers. "The Closer" scored 1,995,000 adults 18-49 and 2,680,000 adults 25-54.

While TNT's shows were very competitive with broadcast networks for the night, three broadcast network shows did better.

The second week of ABC's "The Bachelorette" took in 9.5 million viewers and a 3.1 rating/9 share among 18-49 viewers, which was an 11% rating gain versus a week ago.

Two comedy repeats -- CBS' "Two and a Half Men" and "Big Bang Theory" -- also scored higher than the TNT shows. "Men" earned a 2.3/7 among 18-49 viewers, while "Bang" took a 2.3/6. Both shows pulled in 7.7 million viewers each.

Two Fox shows with original episodes -- "Lie to Me" and "The Good Guys" -- continued to drift backwards from their recent original episodes. "Lie to Me" earned a 1.7/6; "Guys" came in with a 1.1/3.