The Oscars on Sunday 2.26.2017 averaged 32.9 million live+same day, according to Nielsen, close to the 34.4 million last year but down significantly from 37.3 million in 2015 and 43.6 million in 2014.  Click here for a complete track for the past decade of Oscar telecasts. Looking at the quarter hour ratings for the telecast, 2017 had […]

  Virtually every screening at Sundance is followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker, and while these sessions can be informative and charming (although 3 questions that need never be asked again are How long did you shoot?  What was the budget? and How much was improvised?), they can also be quite sad.  Watching them, […]

  Even football was subdued on a very quiet night. CBS:  A blowout win by Atlanta over Tampa Bay tested even NFL fans, as THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL crashed by 2.2 from last week to a 3.3 preliminary rating.  That will go up in final numbers, but not enough to make up the difference. NBC:  THE […]

  THE THREE STOOGES:  Watch It At Home – More Nyuks Than You’d Expect   The Farrelly Brothers’ THE THREE STOOGES is better than its marketing campaign let on, and while that would be more impressive if the trailer and ad materials hadn’t been almost unwatchably bad, it still makes for a welcome relief.  The […]

  SHOTS FIRED:  Wednesday 8PM on FOX – Potential DVR Alert As issue-oriented network dramas go, FOX’s new SHOTS FIRED is considerably less ascetic than ABC’s American Crime.  That show is a worthy saga that wears its seriousness like a hairshirt, while Shots, created by Gina Prince-Bythewood and Reggie Rock Bythewood (she wrote and directed […]

  OPENINGS:  THE EQUALIZER (Columbia/Sony) was a bit softer on Saturday than Denzel Washington’s other hits at this box office level, up 8% compared to 11% for American Gangster and 19% for Safe House.  (Possibly because Equalizer is a terrible movie.)  That resulted in a $35M weekend that was slightly lower than Friday’s start had […]

HOMELAND is the first Showtime drama to earn serious (which is to say HBO-level) acclaim (and very likely Emmy consideration) beyond the acting categories, as well as strong ratings, and the network is hoping to build on that success with its latest ambitious series orders. MASTERS OF SEX is based on the real lives of […]

Updated ratings for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament through the third Saturday of March Madness (the Semfinals). Two games have been added to the CBS averages. CBS is now averaging over 7.7 million viewers 2+ for the tournament to date this year, up a big +28% from last year and the best performance in recent years, as […]