BURDEN OF TRUTH:  Wednesday 8PM on CW This summer’s crop of original broadcast dramas (Reverie, Take Two, The Outpost) has been notably bad, and in that context, CW’s new Canadian import, the straightforward legal drama BURDEN OF TRUTH, comes as something of a relief. The set-up is a much tamer version of the one […]

  Big Brother wasn’t so big last night. CBS:  BIG BROTHER premiered with a 2.1 preliminary adult 18-49 rating last night, down half a point from the 2.6 rating last year when it premiered in its more traditional post-Independence Day position on July 12, and tied its lowest premiere ever 5 years ago.  THE AMERICAN […]

  BROADCAST FINALS ABC:  SHARK TANK gained 0.03 to 0.60, but 20/20 fell 0.18 to 0.31. CBS:  Back from a rerun week,  SWAT rose 0.03 to 0.49, MAGNUM PI held at 0.43, and BLUE BLOODS was steady at 0.46. NBC:  HOME SWEET HOME climbed 0.05 to 0.21, and DATELINE was up 0.05 to 0.38. FOX:  […]

> Back by popular demand, ShowBuzzDaily’s PROMO WATCH will track broadcast network on-air priorities (as we did this summer with the new fall show series promotion).  We kick off with promo activity in a sampling of Sunday’s broadcast programming.  Basically, we will look at the promos within one hour of primetime per network per night […]

STUDIO SCORECARD. With the strong domestic and international opening of Despicable Me 2, Universal had a very good week (up $311 million from last week and almost catching Warner Brothers in terms of worldwide box office for the year).  Warner Brothers, thanks to Man of Steel, still brought in $157 million this week.  Next week the studio […]

  BROADCAST FINALS ABC:  After a run of SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN at 0.42, 20/20 fell 0.66 from last week’s huge number to 0.36. CBS:  Reruns, with FROSTY holiday specials at 0.49/0.39, then procedurals at 0.29/0.30. NBC:  A run of HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS at 0.58, followed by the new specials 5 […]

> Ever wondered how the fast national ratings are calculated?  Or how DVR recording is counted in the ratings you see each day?  Do you know the difference between a PUT and a NAD?  Check out the updated ShowBuzz Basics page for a refresher in TV ratings terms and concepts.  It’s painless — there won’t be […]

  A pair of evenly matched COLLEGE FOOTBALL games took the night, with FOX’s Baylor vs. Oklahoma State contest edging out ABC’s TCU vs. Oklahoma duel, 1.2 to 1.1.  Elsewhere, two episodes of 48 HOURS were at 0.8/1.0 for CBS, and a run of the family movie FREE BIRDS gave NBC 0.5. ABC preempts its […]