Ratings Records Broken by AMC’s "Trail"

The first installment of AMC Western miniseries "Broken Trail" broke a few ratings records Sunday night.

AMC’s first original movie, starring Robert Duvall and Thomas Hayden Church, scored a 7.6 household rating June 25, translating into 6.7 million households and 9.8 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research data.

AMC officials said the household mark made "Broken Trail" the second-highest-delivered original telefilm in basic-cable history, behind only the 7.7 million households that tuned into TNT’s airing of another Western -- "Crossfire Trail", starring Tom Selleck, Jan. 21, 2001.

"Broken Trail" easily shattered AMC’s previous ratings record: a 2.7 generated last July for the premiere of its fully restored and digitally remastered showing of John Wayne-starrer "The High and the Mighty", which had not been seen by the public, at that time, in more than a quarter-century. That presentation attracted 3.3 million viewers.

A "Broken Trail" encore immediately following Sunday night roped a 3.23 household rating and 3.8 million viewers, bringing the cume viewership for the first night of the miniseries to some 13.6 million watchers, according to the network.

"Broken Trail" stars Duvall and Church as an uncle-nephew team driving a herd of horses from Oregon to Wyoming. Along the way, they intercept a villain transporting a group of Chinese girls who have been sold by their families into a life of prostitution, and they attempt to find a better fate for that human cargo.