TV 101: They're Not TV Numbers. They're HBO Numbers.

Important point, though - HBO doesn't have to worry about viewers "missing" commercial advertisements, etc. The entire model is built around subscribers - if they get a "cumulative" audience during a whole week of 3.2 million, it matters little to HBO when those viewers tune in, so long as they do, in fact, tune in.

In Demand, rebroadcasts, live broadcasts - it's all the same to HBO, because unless you HAVE HBO to begin with (i.e. subscribe) you won't be seeing those shows - having good audience numbers then for within a week of a show is all that matters.

Other non-pay networks can't get away with this - TiVo allows viewers to skip past the people paying the bills (advertisers), and thus the initial broadcast viewers (which more fully measures eyeballs in front of ads, arguably) becomes more important. A cumulative number might include viewers who watched A) commercial-less TiVo versions, or B) rebroadcasts on a different night with cheaper advertisers.

@chaddogg: really, it doesn't really matter if you watch at all, as long as you subscribe.

Or put another way: the amount of people watch is less important than the people who get HBO in order to watch *that show.* So the cumulative audience doesn't even matter so much as the number of people who might drop HBO if HBO dropped show X (or show X, Y and Z). Which is hard, if not impossible, to quantify and makes its programming decisions (and Showtime's) as much art as science.

I, for instance, will be dropping HBO the day after The Wire finale. The other shows I'll be content to catch up with on DVD.

I think this pretty much confirms HBO was bullshiting JFC fans when they proclaimed the series was cancelled due to "low ratings". Thank you for exposing their lies.

I have never watched TMYLM on Sunday at 9:00. It is a busy time slot. I watch the episodes ON Demand. So those stats make some sense to me. I would point out that for some of those shows, viewers might be watching more than once (Entourage for me). I have a hard time believing people would watch TMYLM more than once. So it sounds like those are realistic figures.

John From Cincinnati was worth every dollar HBO invested in it and every dollar I have invested in HBO. However, it is time for me to reconsider my investments. Attention: HBO, No JFC, no money from me!

I agree HBO has been bullshitting the fans long enought! HBO consider this if "ALL JFC FANS drop their HBO on the same day." Will our opinions have value in your eyes then? HBO can only tread water for a short time with 3.8 million requesting their HBO & Cine-a-max services disconnected (that's $20.+ a month per viewer)

TMYLM is a joke, soft core porn, this is my opinion. The critics had say I'll have mine. I have a 4 year old grandson in my home, why in this world, HBO airs a series at 8:00 pm CST on a Sunday evening? "TMYLM is pure smut," as my grown children say "TMYLM should air on "SKIN-A-MAX" (Cine-a-max) nic-nam

Hate it or love it (I loved it), I seem to remember reading in Variety that "Lucky Louie" got over 4 million a week in terms of cume. That's better than half of these shows.

HBO is getting dangerously close to leveraging their whole schedule on shows that I don't care if I see when they premier or on DVD a year later.

TMYLM is crap... I don't care how deep, introspective, and brave the creators tell us they are, it's a dumb show that I suffered thru 1 1/2 hours of, and I want that 90 min of my life back. I mean, come on... tear yourself away from your obsessions about your own genitalia and get on with life already. There's an entire world out there, and HBO decides people want to look at their own pants. I don't CARE who is and isn't screwing whom.

Honestly, the ONLY show on HBO that is keeping my subscription active is Real Time, and they only run that, what, 16 weeks out of 52?

I have 5 words that should strike fear into hearts of HBO programming execs: "Weeds", "Dexter" and "three months free".

i agree that who watches what on HBO doesn't matter regarding what they keep and what they throw away. look at Deadwood (over which i'm still in mourning).

"TMYLM" has actually grown on me these last few weeks, which surprises me. Whiney middle class Americans have never been my cup of tea, but I find the struggle betweent the couples realistic and compelling. I'm even starting to sympathize with Jamie's story, which has gone from annoying to sadly poignant. HBO is in transition, but I have Showtime as well, and while I love "Weeds," I'm not ready to give up on HBO quite yet.

I used to have HBO back in the day, and then I dropped it after a while. And I got it specifically to watch "Band of Brothers". And I picked it up just to watch "From The Earth To The Moon". And I just recently added HBO so I could watch the new season of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and the "Entourage".

HBO has so lost touch with its subscriber base. I am willing to give any new show they put out a chance but I am sick to death of HBO introducing different,no-holds barred, new programming and then just cutting and running. I am ready to cancel, for sure. Long time since Oz, Six Feet Under, Deadwood, and the final straw was axing John From Cincinnati. A revolutionary way to watch television that pulled from the internet, philosophy, religion, politics, family, loss, redemption. I keep thinking what could have been and it infuriates me that a channel I pay for shorts me on the very things I am subscribing for. "Dexter" and "Weeds" are what I wait for now. I sure do miss Sunday nights without my must see TV.

Let me echo several commenters in that the cancellation of Deadwood and JFC are only mildly compensated by the renewal of Flight of the Conchords. I loathe Entourage (immensely) AND TMTYLM.

I'd probably have warm memories of The Sopranos if they had cancelled it before the last season or two.

I cancelled HBO after Deadwood, re-upped solely for JFC and Flight of the Conchords and will cancel AGAIN at the conclusion of Curb.

... and to think that part of my subscription fees pay the salary of the idiots who decide all this.

JFC started out good, but it devolved into unwatchable c**p. TMTYLM is an excelent show, worth the price of my HBO subscription. The most interesting thing about it is that it shows sex in such a way that makes it almost un-sexy. Although I do not watch every series running on HBO, the ones I do watch are made in a way that shows on other networks are not.

I cancelled HBO the moment they dropped John From Cincinatti and I've been watching HBO since the mid eighties. That's how mad I was. I told Direct TV that's exactly why I did also.

I kept HBO for Flight of the Conchords, which excepting the Office was the funniest thing I've seen on TV in quite a while. I used to enjoy Entourage, but I think I lost interest a little this last season from Medellin overkill. For me right now, HBO is worth it for two shows: Flight of the Conchords and Big Love, both of which are better than most of what is on network television. I know a lot of people enjoyed John from Cincinatti and I'll undoubtedly get strung from the rafters for saying this, but I found it to be a little boring and a lot self-indulgent. That said, at least I was interested enough to make it through an entire episode. I didn't even make it through an entire episode of Tell Me You Love Me, not because it was all that racy, but because I kept falling asleep. The show that baffled me with its cancellation was Carnivale. Was I the only person who loved that show? It was cut short way too soon. I would have been interested to see what the numbers were on that.

My wife and I like Entourage, Big Love and Curb well enough ... but we 100% loved John From Cinci. For those who thought it was boring, I can understand ... not for everyone ... but it should have been given another season given the numbers in summer and the quality of the work. HBO are you listening? I'm going to feel you screwed up on this one for a long time and I beg you to reconsider. If it's too costly, show it less often. Make this show work. Please.

It blows my mind that HBO would cancel a series with 3.8 million "cumulative" viewers such as "John from Cincinnati," but keep "Curb Your Enthusiasm" with 3 million for years and have renewed this "TMYLM," with 3.2M, which I refuse to watch. What gives HBO? You need to start listening to your fans. I, too, am an ex-subscriber after the network canceled JFC. It was the best thing they had. What a shame.

*Cumulaive* viewers is a euphemism for "cut the numbers in half suckers"(if you're lucky). Didn't Neilsen get up CBS' a$$ recently for doing creative math like that?

I'd believe JFC did better than TMYLM, but TMYLM's not nearly as expensive to produce plus, critics liked it a lot better... not my cup of tea though.

And sorry but if BIG LOVE was getting nearly 6M viewers, HBO would be shouting it from the rooftops.