‘Downton Abbey’ Audience Swells for Season’s First Episode (NYT 1/9/13)

… a spokeswoman for the Twitter social networking site said it measured 10 times as much conversation around “Downton” as around the only two higher-rated shows on Sunday, “The Good Wife” and “The Mentalist.”

“It’s like with the Olympics,” Ms. Kerger said. “People knew what the outcome was, but there were still record numbers of people who were watching at night, because they wanted to have that collective experience.”