As usual, the late afternoon (4:30 pm) game was the highest-rated of the four Sunday NFL time periods (a 14.2 HH rating on CBS  in the 56 metedred-markets, mostly Pittsburgh at Baltimore).  However, the single game on FOX averaged a 13.5 HH rating (a combination of Minnesota at Green Bay at 1 pm and Tampa […]

  Year-end awards from critics groups have two purposes in the big-picture (which is to say the Oscar) context.  In the aggregate, if enough of the groups are in agreement to form a consensus, they can make an accolade seem like an established fact–sort of a “how could you dare to ignore this?” message.  (Although […]

ABC’s Fall Finale Sunday was a moderate success. ABC:  ONCE UPON A TIME could only hold even at 3.1 for its last episode of 2012.  REVENGE climbed 0.2 to 2.4, but that didn’t put it far above last week’s season low.  For what it matters, 666 PARK AVENUE was also up 0.2 to a still-tepid […]

  OPENINGS:  KILLING THEM SOFTLY (Weinstein) is estimating a pathetic $7M weekend, just about the worst of Brad Pitt’s starring career, and even that may be pushing it, since the studio is claiming a relatively soft Sunday drop.  The same is true of the even more dismal THE COLLECTION (LD), which for reasons best known […]

  No big surprises in Saturday’s boxoffice numbers compared to Friday’s, according to preliminary figures at Deadline:  the holdovers rose about 50% (aside from the family movies, which doubled), and the dismal new arrivals stayed about even. That left THE TWILIGHT SAGA:  BREAKING DAWN PART 2 (Summit/Lionsgate) and SKYFALL (Sony/MGM) pretty much neck-and-neck at the […]

  The bloodshed in this weekend’s new arrivals extended to the movies themselves. OPENINGS:  KILLING THEM SOFTLY (Weinstein), with a $2.5M Friday, may become Brad Pitt’s lowest opening live-action wide release ever at around $7M, and it won’t be helped going forward by a shockingly bad exit poll grade of F from opening night audiences.  This […]

Good news for ABC’s sitcoms. ABC:  LAST MAN STANDING and MALIBU COUNTRY, newly gifted with 5-episode backorders, justified their continued life by rising to 1.6/1.5, a tick or two up from recent weeks.  A rerun SHARK TANK and a new 20/20 won their hours with 1.6 and 1.7, respectively. CBS:  UNDERCOVER BOSS held steady at […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #48 is on pace to exceed the multi-year average for this weekend by 33% — the fourth weekend in a row 20% or more above the comparable weekend average.  All credit goes to strong holdovers Breaking Dawn Part 2, Skyfall, Lincoln, and even Life of Pi and Rise of the […]