Game of DVRs

It’s been axiomatic for years that Sunday nights are one of the most-watched evenings in television, capable of sustaining a larger-than-average number of shows for every taste. But are Sunday nights getting too crowded? Well, sort of.

Networks that staked the night out early and are using anchor shows to promote new product will probably do fine. “Sunday has been a destination for our viewers for at least 15 years,” said Susan Ennis, HBO’s executive vp of program planning and original programming strategy. “And as with past Sunday shows, if something good is on, people will find it.” Indeed, HBO’s The Sopranos was Sunday-night appointment viewing for years, and it carved out a niche for prestige drama. That may be part of the problem, actually. “Viewers had gotten used to high-quality, unique programming on Sunday nights, largely because of HBO, and that’s where we decided to go for Mad Men,” said Tom Halleen, AMC’s senior vp of programming and scheduling.