Official ratings for Thursday came down to a combined 3.6 adult 18-49 rating for the five over-the-air broadcast networks last night from a very misleading 6.7 rating in the fast nationals, which were inflated by many local pre-emptions for the final night of NFL preseason games.  CBS declined 0.9 rating point from the fast nationals […]

      NETWORK FINALS:  There were no changes from the preliminary Monday ratings.           Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart     CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  TNT’s NBA doubleheader was at 0.97/0.79.  USA’s WWE telecast was at 0.95/0.85/0.77 compared to last week’s 0.93/0.91/0.90.  On VH1, LOVE & HIP-HOP slipped 0.02 to 0.72, and […]

> THE SOCIAL NETWORK fell only 31% in its second weekend, so MONEYBALL, which is headed for a fall closer to 40% (after a lower opening), continues not to be in Network‘s league financially.  The timing of a movie like this is tricky, because if it’s out of theatres when the awards discussions start to […]

  BROADCAST FINALS ABC:  Reruns at 0.29/0.24/0.20/0.17/0.21. CBS:  The season premiere of BIG BROTHER was at 0.81, down 0.27 from the 2021 premiere.  The broadcast series premiere of THE CHALLENGE was at 0.41. NBC:  Reruns at 0.32/0.30/0.29. FOX:  Reruns at 0.25/0.18. CW:  The season premiere of MYSTERIES DECODED was at 0.04.  A new episode of […]

  OPENINGS:  It was a sad lot of newcomers this holiday weekend.  TAMMY (Warners) is claiming a $21.2M weekend ($32.9M including Wed-Thurs), which will leave it struggling to get past $70M in the US.  (It also brought in $2.5M from a very small initial overseas release.)  DELIVER US FROM EVIL (Screen Gems/Sony) had a relatively […]

  The Sked’s State of the Network Reports:  NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX Of the 10 hours each week programmed by the CW network, a grand total of 3 regularly have ratings over 0.6.  This gives rise to the question:  how long can Netflix revenues keep a network alive?  CW’s ratings are at (and sometimes […]

> I write this as a fairly obsessive fan of Stanley Kubrick, back since I desperately wanted to see A Clockwork Orange in its original X-rated release but was too young to get in. So the very idea of ROOM 237, a feature-length film by Rodney Ascher constructed of the theories and interpretations that have […]

  Last night’s intermittent rain delay in the St. Louis/San Francisco NATIONAL LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYOFFS game caused a potential 2-night disaster for FOX (but an unexpected opportunity for ABC). The game had started at 4PM East Coast time, and was supposed to end before primetime, when FOX would air THE X FACTOR.  But the rain delay […]