Cable saw the return of two dramas on Tuesday night, with OWN's The Haves and the Have Nots returning for a second outing and BET's Being Mary Jane opening as a series after a summer 2013 telepic.
Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey's TV partnership is maturing nicely on OWN. One of Perry's scripted originals on the cable network, The Haves and the Have Nots, returned for its sophomore season on Tuesday night to record ratings.
The episode averaged 2.8 million viewers at 9 p.m., making it the most-watched episode to date. Across the entire network catalog, it's shy of only Oprah's Next Chapter episodes featuring Bobbi Kristina Houston and Lance Armstrong for an all-time high.
The drama was up 57 percent from its 2013 premiere, rising 59 percent in the targeted women 25-54 demo. There it attracted a 2.5 rating (1.1 million viewers). The Haves and the Have Nots posted significant growth over the course of its first season, eventually wrapping with 2.6 million viewers.
As for Being Mary Jane, BET's first drama officially debuted to 3.3 million viewers during its inaugural telecast. That's down from the 4 million it fetched with its summer premiere, but BET sees its originals perform especially well during same-night encores. Being Mary Jane drew 5.1 million viewers over the course of the night.
Among adults 18-49, the 2 million that tuned into Being Mary Jane's 10 p.m. premiere was enough to make it the highest-rated cable drama debut of the 2013-14 season.
FX saw the fifth season launch of Justified. The series returned with 2.84 million viewers tuning into the premiere, down from the nearly 3.6 million viewers it nabbed last January. It's a premiere low for the drama.
A smaller dip occurred with adults 18-49, with 1.42 million in the key demo watching -- a season-to-season drop of 14 percent.
Justified, like all FX dramas, always benefits significantly from time-shifted viewing.
