The season finale of “Gold Rush Live” struck a ratings vein on Discovery.
Last Friday’s two-hour finale finished first, in all of TV (cable and broadcast) in men 25-54 and 18-49 and averaged 4.5 million viewers from 8 to 10 p.m. On the show, it was revealed that the three “Gold Rush” crews brought in a total of 1,158 ounces of gold — with leader Todd Hoffman pulling in $1.28 million (and 803 ounces of gold for the season).
The success of the “Gold Rush” season-ender helped the season premiere of “Yukon Men,” which averaged 2.6 million viewers at 10 p.m. and was last Friday’s second-best basic cable show in male demos behind only “Gold Rush Live.”
More cable: TLC has renewed “Breaking Amish” for a second season of eight episodes premiering in May. This time around, the action moves from New York City to Florida with all original cast members returning — and moving one step closer to “Jersey Shore” territory (how much longer before there’s a drunken bar brawl?).
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TV stage news: Two of blacklisted playwright John Howard Lawson’s plays, “Success Story” and “Loud Speaker,” will be presented Off-Broadway for the first time in decades by The ReGroup Theatre Company’s artistic director, Allie Mulholland. It’s part of the company’s “Reclaiming Names: The John Howard Lawson Revival” series.
Lawson, who was head of the American Communist Party in Hollywood in the ’40s and early ’50s, was part of the infamous “Hollywood Ten” blacklisted for their ties to Communism. His story (he died in 1977 at the age of 82) was included in Oliver Stone’s Showtime series, “The Untold History of the United States.”
The Lawson play will run in repertoire March 5 through March 24 at the Robert Moses Theatre (440 Lafayette St.).
Meanwhile, Carolyn Mignini, who’s appeared on “The Good Wife,” “Lights Out” and “The Practice,” among other TV shows, will star as Maria Callas in “Master Class,” Terence McNally’s Tony Award-winning play being staged by The Gallery Players in Brooklyn (199 14th St) March 17 through March 31.
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Last, but not least:
* Sundance Channel will begin airing back-to-back reruns of “Breaking Bad” (Seasons 1 through 4) every Monday night beginning March 4 (11 p.m. and midnight) . . . Paul Slavin has been promoted to COO of Everyday Health. The former ABC News guru had been a senior VP there since 2011 . . . Comedian Jeffrey Gurian will sign copies of his book, “Make ’Em Laugh,” tomorrow night at Comedy Bar NYC (134 West 29th), where they’ll be showing tomorrow night’s episode of Comedy Central’s “Kroll Show” (Nick Kroll) in which Gurian is featured . . . Longtime New York City traffic reporter Joe Nolan has joined parkingticket.com as the company’s official spokesman (including radio ads for the site).