ONE FOR THE MONEY:  Not Even For Free – Another Heigl Misfire   Movie stars are, make no mistake, trademarks.  Consumers who invest in 2 hours of George Clooney or Will Smith expect the same kind of reliable enjoyment that they get from a can of Coke or a pair of Nikes.  And […]

  Even football was subdued on a very quiet night. CBS:  A blowout win by Atlanta over Tampa Bay tested even NFL fans, as THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL crashed by 2.2 from last week to a 3.3 preliminary rating.  That will go up in final numbers, but not enough to make up the difference. NBC:  THE […]

    THE LUCKY ONE:  Watch It At Home – Not If The One Is In The Audience   Zac Efron has been working out, and he wants you to know it.  Efron’s new biceps and abs are on frequent display in THE LUCKY ONE, often shiny with sweat and otherwise photographed by director Scott […]

  SHOTS FIRED:  Wednesday 8PM on FOX – Potential DVR Alert As issue-oriented network dramas go, FOX’s new SHOTS FIRED is considerably less ascetic than ABC’s American Crime.  That show is a worthy saga that wears its seriousness like a hairshirt, while Shots, created by Gina Prince-Bythewood and Reggie Rock Bythewood (she wrote and directed […]

  OPENINGS:  THE EQUALIZER (Columbia/Sony) was a bit softer on Saturday than Denzel Washington’s other hits at this box office level, up 8% compared to 11% for American Gangster and 19% for Safe House.  (Possibly because Equalizer is a terrible movie.)  That resulted in a $35M weekend that was slightly lower than Friday’s start had […]

No one will ever confuse the ratings for MAD MEN with those of TRUE BLOOD, but it was the former moving in the right direction with its season finale last night.  The Season 5 finale was the show’s highest rated, with what should be around a 0.9 rating in 18-49s, and 2.7 million viewers, up […]

Updated ratings for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament through the third Saturday of March Madness (the Semfinals). Two games have been added to the CBS averages. CBS is now averaging over 7.7 million viewers 2+ for the tournament to date this year, up a big +28% from last year and the best performance in recent years, as […]

Weekend #41 of 2014 is looking like $126 million for the top 12 films this weekend, up 19% from the norm for this weekend. Opening at around 3,000 theaters Friday (above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day from Disney should average a barely […]