NOTE:  Due to the slew of preemptions for July 4th, almost all comparisons are to 2 weeks ago. 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 […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #15 of 2014 looks like $143 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, up 28% from the four-year average for this weekend ($112 million) and on its way to record for a mid-April weekend.  Rio 2 and Captain America 2 are fueling the box office, while two smaller films in […]

  OPENINGS:  DUNE: PART TWO (Legendary/Warners) landed at the high end of projections with $81.5M.  Comparisons with the 2021 Dune have little meaning, since that film was part of the studio’s controversial year of premiering simultaneously in theaters and via streaming, but compared to recent blockbusters, Dune 2 was below Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania […]

> The new shows tumble. FOX:  TOUCH faced new scripted competition from CBS for the first time, and even though NBC and ABC were still mostly in repeats during the hour, Touch lost half a ratings point to 2.8.  That’s a solid number, and a decent retention of its American Idol lead-in, but the show’s […]

  The usual suspects. 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 the […]

  AFTERNOON UPDATE:  Both BAD TEACHER and BLACK BOX stayed where they were this morning.  As usual, THE BIG BANG THEORY came up 0.2, while THE MILLERS fell 0.1.  THE VAMPIRE DIARIES also climbed 0.1. THURSDAY CABLE:  TNT dominated again with the NBA PLAYOFFS, with a pair of 1.8 games.  (The night’s 3rd game, though, […]

  OPENINGS:  THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER (Lionsgate) is claiming “victory” among the newcomers, but its reported $11.1M comes with a huge asterisk, as $2.1M of that total was from a preview day the previous week.  Strictly on a weekend vs weekend basis, it wasn’t close to the win.  It’s also estimating the smallest Sunday […]

> Today Mitch Metcalf, veteran programming executive Ted Frank and I continue our week-long pre-Upfronts look at the challenges facing each of the broadcast networks and their potential strategies for next season.  We’ve covered FOX and ABC, and today the time has come to consider NBC. NOTE:  to the extent specific pilots are discussed or […]