Ratings for the Top 25 original cable telecasts Friday:

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #21 of 2013 looks like an outstanding $256 million for the top 12 films, 50-75% above the comparable weekend the past few years.  A fairly deep bench of films is currently playing, although don’t count on Hangover III to contribute much in the coming weeks. Opening at 3,658 theaters Friday, Fast […]

  There’s so much product in the marketplace right now that overall numbers for the summer movie season seem fairly robust–but looked at title by title, we see two blockbusters (Iron Man 3 and Fast & Furious 6) and then a lot of films that will be happy to hit breakeven. OPENINGS:  Expectations were low […]

  Despite a trio of new arrivals, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT (Skydance/Alibaba/Paramount) will ride strong reviews and word of mouth to an easy second consecutive weekend crown.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline have Friday at $9.8M, down 57% from last week, and better than the 60% drop for the 2nd Friday of Rogue Nation.  With that […]

  BROADCAST FINALS ABC:  JEOPARDY COLLEGE CHAMPIONSHIP was at 0.49, down 0.15 from last Tuesday.  ABBOTT ELEMENTARY fell 0.16 to 0.41, and BLACK-ISH was down 0.11 to 0.30.  The season finale of QUEENS lost 0.03 to 0.20. CBS:  Reruns at 0.38/0.31/0.25. NBC:  The WINTER OLYMPICS was at 1.54, down 61% from the parallel night in […]

  The fans came back for Finn. FOX:  Last night’s special GLEE episode, commemorating the character played by the late Cory Monteith, almost doubled the show’s rating from last week, up 1.2 to 2.8.  It was Glee‘s highest rating in more than a year, and a number the series may never see again–especially since the […]

  BROADCAST FINALS ABC:  THE BACHELORETTE rose 0.18 to 0.89, followed by a rerun CELEBRITY FAMILY FEUD at 0.24. CBS:  Reruns at 0.37/0.31/0.31. NBC:  AMERICA’S GOT TALENT gained 0.06 to 0.79, and PASSWORD was at 0.47. FOX:  The ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC HONORS special was at 0.24. CW:  LEONARDO lost 0.02 to 0.05, and DEVILS […]

Not the kind of history the major networks like to set. CW:  Last night may have been the first time a CW series beat not one, but two of the big networks, as THE VAMPIRE DIARIES climbed an impressive 0.3 to 1.3 and NBC and ABC fell.  At 9PM, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST was also […]