‘Sarah Palin’s Alaska’ sinks 40% in Week 2 ratings

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It’s a flippin’ big rollback, is what it is.

The second episode of ‘Sarah Palin’s Alaska’ on TLC premiered Sunday with 3 million total viewers, according to the Nielsen Co. That’s still a hefty audience by basic-cable standards, but it’s a long trek downhill from the record-setting pace of 5 million viewers for the series premiere the previous week. A 40% decline suggests that the early viewing was driven by the curious, who quickly checked out once they had crossed Episode 1 off their list. The series showcases the plain-spoken former Alaska governor and her family engaged in a full range of outdoorsy adventures.

Far worse for TLC: The audience that did come back was a little more gray around the temples than network executives like to see. The median age of the Palin viewer was 57, a full 15 years older than TLC’s average. Whatever else Palin may be doing, she’s not setting afire the hearts of younger viewers.

-- Scott Collins
twitter.com/scottcollinsLAT