OPENINGS:  READY PLAYER ONE (Village Roadshow/Warners) had a fair if unthrilling start, with $41.2M over the 3-day Good Friday/Easter weekend plus $12M on its Thursday opening day for a $53.2M 4-day total, considerably less than the $61M Kong: Skull Island earned in its first 3 days.  That points toward a $125M US ultimate, and […]

> Until now, LAW & ORDER:  SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT has been unique to the franchise in not having undergone a periodic reshuffling of its cast.  For 12 seasons, SVU had been the only one of the series to be star-driven, anchored by the team of Chris Meloni and Mariska Hargitay.  But Meloni and NBC were […]

  UPDATE:  The Hollywood Reporter followed up on our story, and interviewed WKYC’s General Manager, who claims that the Matlock preemptions (which will continue next week), are merely to make up for the fact that the Academy Award telecast left Griffith out of its “In Memorium” segment.  (“We thought it would be a nice tribute.”)  […]

  NETWORK UPDATE:  Could EMPIRE go any higher?  Why yes it could, up another 0.1 in final ratings to an even more phenomenal 5.2, and it took AMERICAN IDOL along for the 0.1 ride.  Also gaining 0.1 in the adjusted numbers:  MODERN FAMILY and ARROW.  However, STALKER and THE 100 were on the wrong end […]

        NETWORK FINALS:  THE BACHELOR gained 0.1 in final numbers, and THE GOOD DOCTOR lost the same.  Elsewhere, MAN WITH THE PLAN went up 0.1, and THE ENEMY WITHIN was down the same.           Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart     CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  USA’s WWE telecast was at […]

  BROADCAST FINALS ABC:  Returning from a rerun week, AMERICA’S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS gained 0.02 to 0.51, CELEBRITY WHEEL OF FORTUNE fell 0.19 to 0.43, SUPERMARKET SWEEP was also down 0.19 to 0.36, and THE ROOKIE lost 0.08 to 0.32. CBS:  The AFC Divisional NFL PLAYOFFS game was gigantic at 11.37, a strong enough lead-in […]

  Even at HBO, someone has to watch your show.  The network announced today that ENLIGHTENED won’t be returning for a third season.  The Mike White/Laura Dern dramedy earned its share of praise, but its Season 2 finale was watched by 200,000 people–and that’s not 18-49s, that’s the total number of people in America who […]

  A fairly steady night. DEMOGRAPHIC DETAIL: For each broadcast program (or hour segment), the chart below displays preliminary live+same day key advertiser demographics (adult 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54 ratings), audience skews (women 18-49, men 18-49 and adults 50+ shares) and total viewership (thousands of people over the age of 2). Ratings analysis and comparisons follow […]