>A friend of the site provided an interesting piece of television history, the original program format NBC issued to production company Witt-Thomas-Harris for a pilot tentatively titled Miami Nice.  Of course, the pilot ultimately would premiere as The Golden Girls on September 14, 1985 with a 25.0 household rating and 43 share — an instant […]

  The Olympics pushed American Idol below a milestone. NBC:  See Mitch Metcalf’s Skedball post for details about the ratings track for the WINTER OLYMPICS.  Last night’s preliminary 5.9 was up 0.3 from Wednesday, but below the comparable night at the 2002, 2006 and 2010 games, and only the Opening Ceremony and Tuesday’s telecast are […]

  BROADCAST FINALS:  The highest-rated broadcasts of the day were CBS’s NCAA TOURNAMENT Round 2 games at 1.26/2.36/2.48/1.71.  ABC’s NHL game was at 0.20.  FOX’s WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC coverage was at 0.67.  On CW, the new MASTERS OF ILLUSION held at 0.05, and WORLD’S FUNNIEST ANIMALS ticked down to 0.04.   Broadcast Official Nationals Program […]

> February Sweeps go out not with a bang, but with the other thing. ABC:  The first “midseason arc” episode of REVENGE looked almost exactly like all the other episodes, so it was fitting that the rating stayed even.  The show will now take a break from fresh episodes until the end-of-season push in April.  […]

> When A GIFTED MAN came onto the scene, it had all the high-class auspices a new series could want.  The pilot was directed by Academy Award-winner Jonathan Demme, was written by Susannah Grant (Eric Brockovich) and had a cast that included such strong actors as Patrick Wilson, Jennifer Ehle, Margo Martindale (who, by the […]

  AFTERNOON UPDATE:  The only move from this morning was a 0.1 hike for THE BACHELOR to 2.5. MONDAY CABLE:  DALLAS (TNT) had a decent Season 3 return at 0.8 in 18-49s–below last season’s premiere and finale, but in line with the season average.  Total viewers, at 2.7M, were at a similar level.  WWE (USA) […]

  BROADCAST FINALS ABC:  THE CONNERS returned from a rerun week steady at 0.49.  THE GOLDBERGS ticked up to 0.35.  The season finale of ABBOTT ELEMENTARY was at 0.55, up 0.02 from last week and down 0.02 from last season’s finale.  NOT DEAD YET rose a tenth to 0.36, and A MILLION LITTLE THINGS was […]

> Viewers could tell that REVENGE wasn’t FOR REAL. ABC:  Serialized dramas repeat notoriously badly, so the network had the clever idea of filling in the spring schedule gap with a “news” show about true-life crimes that presumably are similar to those in the show, albeit without Emily Van Camp or Madeleine Stowe.  The resulting […]