> HOUSE OF LIES – Sundays 10PM on Showtime – If Nothing Else Is On… Showtime took a major step forward this season with its gripping new drama series Homeland, a show worthy of being mentioned with anything on TV.  The network’s new comedy HOUSE OF LIES, though, is considerably less of an event. The […]

  Preliminary numbers at Deadline have the record pace continuing for both THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (Lionsgate) and FROZEN (Disney). Catching Fire had no trouble with the all-time record for the day after Thanksgiving, doubling its holiday number to $31M on Friday.  This wasn’t just far better than the previous post-Thanksgiving Friday ($22.6M for […]

  BROADCAST FINALS:  ABC’s COLLEGE FOOTBALL was at 1.12.  The season premiere of NBC’s SNL was at 0.73, down 0.19 from 2021’s premiere.  FOX’s MLB game was at 0.54.    Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart   CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  COLLEGE FOOTBALL was dominant, with ESPN’s games at 0.86/0.80/0.69/0.39, Big 10’s at 0.37/0.24/0.11, Fox Sports 1’s […]

  NOTE:  Weekly and Season To Date Ratings Charts Are Below The war is over:  victory is television’s (make that “television”), which after decades of being considered the Fredo Corleone of dramatic narrative is now–to the evident recent discomfort of the film critics at the NY Times and LA Times–taken as seriously as the kind created […]

  BROADCAST FINALS ABC:  BACHELOR IN PARADISE rose 0.06 to 0.58, and THE GOOD DOCTOR ticked down to 0.33. CBS:  THE NEIGHBORHOOD gained 0.04 to 0.63, BOB HEARTS ABISHOLA edged up 0.02 to 0.46, NCIS climbed 0.07 to 0.53, and NCIS: HAWAII was down 0.02 to 0.36. NBC:  THE VOICE fell a tenth to 0.60, […]

>American Idol returned to the air down 26% from last year.  It still dominates the night, but it raises many questions.  Is the singing contest sub-genre tired as a whole?  Did X Factor lessen interest in Idol‘s return?  Are viewers tiring of the Idol judges?  And most intriguingly, is this a good sign or a […]

  The broadcast networks continue to finalize their midseason plans, and today CBS and NBC presented some of their decisions. HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER will bring its 9 year run to a close with a 1-hour finale on Monday, March 31.  It will be followed that night with a special premiere of the new […]

  BROADCAST FINALS ABC:  Returning from a pre-emption week, THE CONNERS gained 0.06 to 0.56, THE GOLDBERGS was steady at 0.39, ABBOTT ELEMENTARY dipped 0.04 to 0.46, and HOME ECONOMICS was down 0.07 to 0.34.  BIG SKY lost 0.03 to 0.24. CBS:  SURVIVOR slipped 0.02 to 0.70, and THE AMAZING RACE was up 0.03 to […]