First there was “American Chopper," a show about a father-son team who builds custom motorcycles. Who would watch that? Lots of folks, it turned out.
   Now we have two cable shows about tattooing, TLC’s “Miami Ink” and A&E’s “Inked,” which both debuted in July, and they too are doing well, catching with viewers much the way "Chopper" first did two years ago.
   There's a lesson here. Viewers may complain about too many reality shows on television, but they'll in fact watch almost anything, whether they have a personal interest or not, as long it's deftly presented. Certainly the two tattoo shows are reality television as we've come to think of it, as is "Chopper," but it's all really documentary-making, by comparison an ancient television craft.
   Both tattooing shows chronicle a niche culture through traditional nonfiction journalism using the device of  narrative rather than a contest, in the manner of so many reality shows.
   “Miami Ink,” which airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m., is about a bunch of guys working at a tattoo parlor in Miami’s South Beach. It has averaged 1.2 million total viewers for six original episodes so far. That’s 55 percent better than TLC’s primetime average for the past six weeks.
   “Inked,” which airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m., is about a bunch of guys working at a tattoo parlor at the Palms Hotel Casino in Las Vegas. It has averaged 1 million total viewers for nine original episodes. 
   While that's about even with A&E’s primetime total viewers average since August, the series has succeeded in bringing in an audience that's considerably younger, with a median age of 33, well below the network's 50.8.
   Both shows have a long way to go until they reach "Chopper" levels; in fact, they probably never will. That show averaged 4 million total viewers at its peak, with many in the mal 18-54 demographic. It is Discovery's top show among men. 
   The success of the two tattoo shows bodes well for the reality genre, casting out the net of its potential subjects well beyond the sort of contests in "Survivor" to include just about anything that arouses curiosity among viewers. 
  What bonds "Chopper” and the two tattoo series is the passion of the subjects for their craft. At the least, we can expect of whole slew of new series about folks in peculiar or offbeat lines of work.
    The question from the earliest days of reality TV was what might it morph into? We may now have the answer.

   Meanwhile, in other cable ratings for the week ended Sept. 11:

Top five networks in primetime (18-49s): TNT, ESPN, Spike, Discovery, TBS

Top five networks in primetime (total viewers): TNT, Fox News, ESPN, Spike, USA

Top movie (18-49s): Lifetime’s “Speak” (Monday 9 p.m.) 1.5 million

Top sporting event (total viewers): ESPN’s “Sunday Night Football” (Sunday 8:28 p.m.) 11.25 million

Shows making the top 10 among 18-34s, 18-49s and 25-54s: ESPN’s “Sunday Night Football” (Sunday, 8:28 p.m.); ESPN’s “NFL Primetime” (Sunday, 7:30 p.m.); Spike’s “WWE Entertainment” (Monday, 10 p.m.); Spike’s “WWE Entertainment” (Monday, 9 p.m.); ESPN’s “SportsCenter” (Sunday, 11:50 p.m.)

Show on the rise: “Sunday Night Football,” ESPN, 8:28 p.m. ESPN kicked off its final season of “Sunday Night Football” on a high note with Indianapolis vs. Baltimore, averaging 8.16 million households. That’s up 8.5 percent from last year’s Kansas City-Denver game, which averaged 7.52 million. Sunday night’s Colts-Ravens matchup was the No. 1 program for the week among 18-49s, 18-34s, 25-54s and total viewers. 

Show on the decline: “Rome,” HBO, Sunday, 9 p.m. In its third outing, the recently renewed show dipped to 2.6 million total viewers, down 13 percent from last week and 35 percent from its Aug. 28 debut.