> Not at all the way the networks wanted May Sweeps to begin. NBC:  All the hype for 30 ROCK‘s live episode (a very busy half-hour with some great gags) and COMMUNITY‘s self-contained episode-long Law & Order parody bought both shows whopping increases of 0.1 from last week–which, as Mitch Metcalf showed yesterday, is essentially […]

  OPENINGS:  With $36M on Friday, X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST is assured of going over $100M by Monday, and the only question is by how much.  The day fell a bit below the openings for Godzilla ($38.4M) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($36.9M), but above The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ($35.2M).  (On their 2d […]

>American Idol kept FOX on top in the first Wednesday of the May Sweep, despite continued declines from last year.  CBS and ABC trail with fairly respectable nights (CBS down a couple of tenths from last year and ABC up three tenths from the same night last year).  NBC remains stuck in a weak fourth […]

  Wrestling returned to broadcast TV in a big way. 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). […]

DEMOGRAPHIC DETAIL: For each broadcast program (or hour segment), the chart below displays preliminary 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). ###

  NETWORK UPDATE:  Time-zone adjusted numbers for Game 1 of THE NBA FINALS increased to 6.0, 0.3 above last year’s Game 1.  However, those same adjustments reduced the primetime JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE by a full point to 1.1, and the NBA COUNTDOWN pre-game show by 0.8 to 2.0.  In addition, HELL’S KITCHEN went up 0.1 […]

    It was perfectly appropriate to dread the news that an athlete was hosting SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE–the show’s history abounds with deadly sports hosts like Michael Phelps and Tom Brady.  And in case that wasn’t enough pressure for tonight’s host Eli Manning, one of the rare exceptions to the rule was his own brother […]

  NETWORK UPDATE:  In final numbers, both THE BACHELORETTE and MISTRESSES gained 0.1, but on FOX, 24 lost 0.1, putting it farther behind its MASTERCHEF lead-in.  The CBS MIKE & MOLLY rerun also slipped 0.1. MONDAY CABLE:  As detailed in today’s WORLD CUP SKEDBALL, the highest-rated show of the day by far, on either broadcast […]