An oddball night, thanks to the final PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE and sports. NBC:  Normally it would be worth some concern that THE VOICE was down 0.6 from last week (still an easy winner at 4.2), but on such an atypical evening, it’s hard to know if the drop has any meaning.  Because NBC had the bulk […]

. We’re 4 full weeks into the season, and it’s time to ask:  What do we know now that we didn’t know a week ago? Reruns Are Bad.  In the past few days, ABC has ordered extra episodes of GREY’S ANATOMY, MODERN FAMILY, THE MIDDLE and CASTLE, increasing their orders to 23-24 episodes each for […]

The Past Week: Total Box Office Volume All films in wide release playing between October 15 and October 21 grossed a decent $158 million, up 4% from the four-year average for the week and up 13% from the same week last year.    The past six weeks are now 4% above the four-year average box […]

  On the heels of last night’s jaw-dropping episode of HOMELAND, which basically played 52 pick-up with the show’s very premise, Showtime has issued an early Season 3 renewal for what is now its flagship series.  Homeland has been nothing but good for Showtime, winning the network its first major Emmys for Best Drama, Actor […]

  ARROW is the biggest hit to launch on CW since The Vampire Diaries 4 seasons ago with twin 1.3 18-49 ratings, and the network has quite properly leaped to give the show a full-season order.  That still leaves CW with problems on every other night of its week, with BEAUTY & THE BEAST falling […]

All the sports on Sunday’s air seemed to help the non-sports. ABC: It was a good night for ONCE UPON A TIME, REVENGE and 666 PARK AVENUE, as the scripted trio all rose from last week.  Once was up by 0.3 to 3.3, REVENGE by 0.2 to 2.8, and 666 by 0.3 to 1.8.  The […]

NBC had a relatively weak Sunday night, but it still won the night handily.  CBS had a very good Sunday, as the 4:30 pm national NFL game went into overtime and ended closer to 8 pm than the expected 7:30 pm.  ABC bounced back a bit from last week, while FOX took it on the […]

  Holdovers saved the boxoffice this weekend. OPENINGS:  Although the studio flew to announce that a 5th installment will be opening a year from now, the weak start for PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (Paramount) is a signpost to the (probably temporary) end of the franchise.  PA4, which desperately claimed an opening of $30.2M but will probably […]