Archer Season 3 | FX | Thursdays @ 10:00 pm ET/PT
Sterling Archer (H. Jon Benjamin) returns to ISIS (and, subsequently, FX) this January, after going AWOL over the death of his fiancee in Season 2's Finale (/spoiler). In September, FX ran the first 3 episodes as a "Special Edition," in which all the loose ends from Season 2 are tied up. This allows the January 19 "premiere" to get down to business, without having to spend time resolving the "Archer's fiancee is dead" issue. "Heart of Archness," was given a very choice It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia lead-in, with the hopes that it would drum up some ratings and more or less "plant the seed" for the show's reprisal this month.
It worked. According to FX's PR guy, John Solberg (via this 9/30/11 Tweet),
"#ArcherFX closed out special 3-week run last night with all time series highs in [Adults]18-34, [Males]18-49, [Males]18-34."
If you're wondering where the women are, MTV's Jersey Shore (which "crushed everything else on cable, and beat everything on broadcast at 10pm.") and ABC's Private Practice air in the 10:00 pm - 11:00 pm block.
With Archer's ratings showing a consistent upward trend, and setting series records, FX prepares for the show's 3rd Season with guest appearances by Patrick Warburton (as Rip Riley), David Cross (as Noah), and Burt Reynolds (as Burt Reynolds). They're also reaching out to the show's 475,000+ Facebook fans with a flash mini-game center called Archer Spy School, a series of "What Would Archer Do?" videos, and a promotional Toolkit that offers things like iPod wallpapers, Twitter backgrounds, and custom Facebook profiles. If that's not enough, the official website offers "the latest top secret videos," "an Archer ecard for every situation," and reminds fans they can stay connected via Facebook, Twitter, and Get Glue (which appears to be some kind of Twitter, that gives you stickers).
All in all, it would seem Reed and company are gearing up for a big season. But will it live up to the hype, or at least the last two seasons? Guess we'll all have to tune in to FX on the 19th, 10:00 pm ET/PT to find out.