3:00 PM PST 2/6/2013 by Michael O'Connell
Hardcore Pawn has bettered with age for TruTV. The recently renewed series closed its sixth season Tuesday night with 3.4 million viewers.
Not only is the figure a new best for the series, it marks the network's largest audience in its history -- up from the previous record set with a Nov. 13 episode of Pawn (3.1 million). The figure bests all original programming among cable for the night with total viewers -- Turner sibling TBS' Big Bang Theory encores aside -- and it fared just as well in the demo.
A 1.2 rating with adults 18-49 (1.5 million viewers) made it the number one showing in the 9:00 p.m. time slot among cable series. It even tied NBC's Smash.
The sixth season of Hardcore Pawn has been averaging 2.6 million viewers, up 14 percent from the previous run.
Meanwhile, spinoff Hardcore Pawn: Chicago continues to grow. After premiering to 2.1 million viewers on Jan. 1, the steady series followed its lead at 9:30 p.m. with 2.2 million viewers on Tuesday night.
