• by Wayne Friedman , July 16, 2008

Two of Turner Broadcasting's TNT's big original series debuted on Monday night to strong numbers--albeit down from their respective season debuts of a year ago.

"The Closer" grabbed 7.8 million viewers--down 3% from last year's 8 million viewers, which are live-plus-same-day DVR playback Nielsen ratings. The highly rated cable drama, now in its fourth season, also recorded 2.5 million adult 18-49 viewers and 3.3 million adult 25-54 viewers.

In 2006, the show grabbed 8.3 million viewers in its season debut. In 2005--its series debut--it took in 7.0 million.

"Saving Grace" was hit harder, sinking 19% to 5.2 million viewers. Last year it grabbed 6.4 million viewers--the best cable series debut of 2007, and the third-best cable series debut ever. For its second season premiere, "Saving Grace" also grabbed 1.6 million adult 18-49 viewers and 2.3 million adult 25-54 viewers.

While down versus its last summer season debut, "The Closer" beat its viewer averages of a year ago, which stood at 7.4 million total viewers; 2.2 million adult 18-49 viewers and 2.9 million adult 25-54 viewers. The same was true for "Grace"--the show averaged 4.2 million total viewers, 1.3 million viewers among adults 18-49, and 1.7 million among viewers 25-54.

Turner Broadcasting said last year, "The Closer" was the most DVR-watched ad-supported series on cable.