TDiscovery’s new series, “Moonshiners,” features Tim, Steve and J.T. (left to right), among others. It got off to a record-breaking start Monday night. (Discovery Channel)

Just days after Discovery’s “Gold Rush” set a new series ratings record, its new stablemate, “Moonshiners,” made some history of its own.

“Moonshiners,” which follows a bunch of Appalachian hooch-makers (including two guys named Tim and Tickle — don’t ask), premiered to 2.8 million viewers Monday night, making it the highest-rated series premiere in Discovery’s history. It had some help, since its lead-in, “American Chopper Live: The Build-Off,” snared nearly 5 million viewers (actually 4.7 million) at 9 p.m. to top all of TV in men 25-54, 18-49 and 18-34. The show featured said “build-off” between Paul Teutul Sr., Paul Jr. and Jesse James (Junior won, by the way).

In other record-setting cable news, the premiere of A&E’s “Storage Wars: Texas” opened to 4.1 million viewers Tuesday night — the most-watched original series launch in the network’s history. It also corralled 2.1 million viewers in the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demo.

And the second-season premiere of “Teen Mom 2” on MTV averaged 4.2 million viewers Tuesday night to become the most-watches season premiere in the “Teen Mom” franchise history.

(And I’ve now used “snared,” “corralled” and “averaged” to describe total viewers — hey, it ain’t easy trying to keep it fresh.)

Last, but not least:

* Journalist T.J. Holmes has inked a deal with BET to host a new show on the network and contribute content to its Web site . . . Paula Deen’s son, Bobby Deen, is hosting his own show. “Bobby Deen’s ‘Not My Mama’s Meals’ ” premieres Jan. 4 on Cooking Channel . . . “The Talk” publicist Erin O’Brien will be here in NYC next week when the show comes to town.