Over the weekend, this year’s Oscarland acquired its first helping of Conventional Wisdom, thanks to the initial release of 12 YEARS A SLAVE (Fox Searchlight) in theatres and the unveiling of SAVING MR. BANKS (Disney) at the London Film Festival and to selected critics.  That Wisdom may very well change a dozen times between […]

The World Series begins tonight at historic Fenway Park, as the St Louis Cardinals take on the Boston Red Sox in a re-match of the 2004 Series.  Ratings for the World Series are very erratic.  Since 2003 (the last 10 Series), Game 1 has averaged a 5.1 adult 18-49 rating, with a high of 8.0 […]

  AFTERNOON UPDATE:  Not a lot of change in the adjusted numbers.  THE GOLDBERGS AND CHICAGO FIRE both held onto their ratings, despite starting 1 minute after the hour, while AGENTS OF SHIELD gained 0.1 (but was still down 0.1 from last week).  Also gaining 0.1 were THE VOICE and SUPERNATURAL.  Both NCIS LA and […]

  AMC:  THE WALKING DEAD couldn’t hold at last week’s premiere mega-numbers, but it didn’t fall off much, with a still-gigantic 7.1 for the 9PM airing (down from 8.2 last week), plus 1.6 from re-airings.  TALKING DEAD was impressively even, holding at 2.6 even though its lead-in was less titanic.  The Walking Dead halo effect […]

  AFTERNOON UPDATE:  As expected, adjusted numbers leveled much of the day’s playing field.  HART OF DIXIE and BEAUTY & THE BEAST reverted to last week’s 0.4/0.3 ratings, while at CBS, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER ended up down 0.1 from last week at 3.0, and 2 BROKE GIRLS dropped 0.1 to 2.5.  MOM was […]

  As a rule, broadcast network schedules are released to the media about two weeks in advance, so as the fall season moves toward the beginning of November sweeps on Halloween night (ooooh, scary!), any  network that wants its changes to have effect during sweeps–still very important to stations, especially the 10PM hour that leads […]

  Even more than usual, it was football’s night. NBC:  Peyton Manning’s return to Indianapolis was relentlessly hyped all week, especially when the Colts owner appeared to criticize him publicly.  The result was a massive number for NFL SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL, which we anticipate will be adjusted to 11.0 in final ratings tomorrow, up 2.6 […]

The ratings below are household ratings from the 56 television markets with local Nielsen meters for Saturday October 19 and Sunday October 20, 2013. (The 56 markets out of 210 total cover about 70% of the US television population.)   College Football Week 8 Top Games on Saturday 4.5 rating 3:30 CBS #24 Auburn at #7 […]