Burn Notice mid-season finale sets viewership record for USA Channel

[august]

From Variety (and every place else that reprinted the press release) :

"Burn Notice" ended the first half of its third season run on fire, with the USA Network skein's Thursday night episode drawing the most viewers for any telecast in the history of the cabler.

Episode drew 7.6 million total viewers and 2.8 million in the 18-49 demo, making it the top scripted show of the night.

Only the finale of Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance" and a repeat of "The Mentalist" on CBS fared better.

Series, which just finished the first nine episodes of the season, will now be on hiatus until winter.

[august]

And even more when the DVR totals were factored in! From the show's site:

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! The August 6 mid-season finale of Burn Notice drew 9.1 million viewers, per live-plus-seven-day data, making it the most-watched program in USA history, and the biggest scripted draw of the season! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

[ladyDonna]

SWEET! So glad to hear that it's going strong for another year.

[august]

From USA Today:

USA scored the best summer in basic-cable history, averaging 3.6 million viewers in prime time (3.8 million in August) and hitting record numbers in many demographics. Burn Notice led with top summer numbers for scripted series in all of TV for ages 25-54.

[AustinsAunt]

That is great news. I can't wait for the season to resume this winter.