Looking at wide-release films in North America (those that play on at least 400 screens at some point), 2013 now totals just over $3.1 billion, down 13% from 2012 and down 5% from the prior four-year average 2009-2012.  Still a very mediocre year.  Each year-to-date period below is defined as the first Monday after New […]

> Oren Moverman’s first film as a director, The Messenger, was a beautifully contained, emotionally detailed story about soldiers assigned to deliver tragic news to the families of the deceased.  In his new film RAMPART, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, Moverman is more ambitious and, unfortunately, a victim of the sophomore jinx. This […]

  BROADCAST FINALS: ABC:  The season finale of BACHELOR IN PARADISE was at 0.76, down a tick from last Tuesday and down from 1.3 for its previous finale in 2019. CBS:  FBI dropped 0.09 to 0.59, FBI: INTERNATIONAL ticked up to 0.53, and FBI: MOST WANTED was down a tick to 0.53. NBC:  THE VOICE […]

  BROADCAST FINALS:  CBS aired a WHITNEY, A LOOK BACK special at 0.15, and CW’s original was at 0.03.  In late night, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE returned from a break at 0.83.   Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart   CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  The Final Four games of the NCAA TOURNAMENT were at 2.72/1.89 on TBS, 1.69/0.94 […]

  Perhaps the worst-kept secret in recent network history is one no longer, as NBC officially announced today that it will be fellow former Saturday Night Live Weekend Update host Seth Meyers who will take over from Jimmy Fallon at LATE NIGHT when the latter ascends to the deck of the Tonight Show.  Meyers will […]

>CBS had a terrific night with two specials and a repeat of one drama.  Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer scored a very good and time-period winning 4.0 rating at 8 pm, about the same as an NCIS original would have done but much higher than the more logical comparison (an NCIS repeat).  Compared to last year, […]

Through eight days of the Holiday Season (December 16-23), the top 10 films in North America each day have totaled $226 million, up 27% jump from last year ($178 million) and up 6% from the multi-year average since 2002 ($213 million). The almost $33 million for the top 10 films yesterday was very typical for […]

  NETWORK UPDATE:  The only change from this morning’s numbers was a 0.1 bump for NCIS: NEW ORLEANS. Ratings in key demos for the Top 25 original cable telecasts (plus a few other lower-rated but noteworthy programs): Bravo was at the top of Tuesday cable with REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS, down 0.05 to 0.89.  […]