The ‘Game’ is on for HBO

-Ratings throne. Sunday’s second-season opener of HBO’S Game of Thrones snared a serieshigh 3.9 million viewers, up from 2.2 million for last spring’s start. Elsewhere on pay cable, Showtime’s Shameless (1.5 million), House of Lies (775,000) and Californication (768,000) signed off at typical levels, and on Friday, the finale of Starz’s Spartacus: Vengeance (1.5 million) was up from recent weeks.

-Trophy time. CBS’ Academy of Country Music Awards claimed 13.1 million viewers Sunday, holding steady vs. the past two years. And Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards slimed 6.2 million viewers Saturday, down from 7.3 million last year, for its lowest turnout since 2007. CBS’ NCAA Final Four basketball games Saturday (13.9 million and 16.6 million) were down slightly from last year’s.

-Didn’t kill. The two-hour second-season opener of AMC’S unsolved mystery The Killing averaged 1.8 million viewers Sunday, down from 2.7 million for last year’s start, while Week 2 of Mad Men, which followed, dipped to 2.9 million from 3.5 million last week.

-Jailbreak. Fox’s Alcatraz ended its first season with a series-low 4.8 million viewers Monday. Also ending on low (if not lowest) notes were NBC sitcom combo Whitney (4.1 million) and Are You There, Chelsea? (3.1 million, both Wednesday) and Fox’s Kitchen Nightmares (2.9 million Friday).

-Wanting MTV. Prank-filled Punk’d returned with Justin Bieber as guest host and claimed a solid 3.2 million viewers Thursday, though companion The Pauly D Project, the first Jersey Shore spinoff series, settled for 2.9 million, well below Shore’s typical crowd. The fourth-season opener of 16 and Pregnant drew 2.1 million Tuesday; Animal Planet’s River Monsters returned with 1.8 million Sunday.