OPENINGS:  WRECK IT FALPH (Disney) is proving itself to be a canny mix of kid-friendly action with a video game millieu that can appeal to adults.  It’s Walt Disney Animation’s most Pixar-ish production to date (although the divisions are separate within Disney, John Lasseter supervises both), and headed for a $50M+ opening.  What Ralph […]

The ratings below are household ratings from the 56 television markets with local Nielsen meters for Saturday August 24 and Sunday August 25, 2013. (The 56 markets out of 210 total cover about 70% of the US television population.)   The NFL preseason drew to a close, with most games down from last year’s similar time […]

  In a small but significant change to its fall schedule, ABC has switched the timeslots of SUBURGATORY and its new THE NEIGHBORS, shifting Suburgatory to the post-Modern Family slot at 9:30PM and moving Neighbors back to 8:30, where it will run after The Middle. Those of us who have seen Neighbors (our pilot report […]

  Fans of HANNIBAL shouldn’t get too excited about its preliminary 0.8 series finale rating.  NFL PRESEASON coverage made these early numbers all but worthless, with preemptions that included ABC in Cleveland (CLE-TB) and Baltimore (WAS-BAL), NBC in New York (NYJ-NYG) and Washington DC (WAS-BAL), and FOX in Chicago (CHI-CIN) and Minneapolis (MIN-DAL).  We’ll look […]

> With Thanksgiving over, we’re in the mix of original episodes, specials and reruns that mark December. ABC: ONCE UPON A TIME weathered its first preemption last week pretty well, falling a bit but still very comfortable with a 3.4 that was the highest scripted number of the night. After that, though, things fell off […]

> In these heady moments after the NY Giants’ triumphant victory over the New England Patriots (I’d say “Sorry, New England fans,” but I wouldn’t mean it), let’s take a moment to look at the other major event of the evening:  the ads for upcoming movies.  (Mitch Metcalf will offer a separate take on NBC’s […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.     YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is still +5% above last year and +7% above the average for this point the past four years ($3.249 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $9.8 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s […]

  Despite the arrivals of a quartet of newcomers, CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (Disney/Marvel) appears in the preliminary numbers at Deadline to be having no trouble keeping its lead for a third consecutive weekend.  Its $10M Saturday was down only about 40% from last week, and should give it a $26M weekend, lifting its […]