RIO 2 (20th) has leaped out to a Friday lead, according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, one that it should be able to sustain for the weekend.  The Rio sequel has $11.5M on Friday, about 10% ahead of the first Rio‘s $10.3M opening day.  That film made $39.2M for the weekend, and Rio 2 […]

> A few notes: these projections are for original episodes (no repeats) aired in the 4th quarter of 2011.  Series premieres will likely be .3-.4 higher, thanks to network marketing pushes, and then tend to go down over time.  We’ll be updating the numbers after we see full pilots and also as we get a […]

      NETWORK FINALS:  We’re continuing to provide our analysis of broadcast ratings in the Network Finals posts as Nielsen catches up. NBC:  THIS IS US, as expected, towered over the night, up 0.4 from last week to a series high 3.4. That huge lead-in made the 1.4 for the series premiere of TRIAL […]

  CONTAINMENT took off its hazmat suit. 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). Ratings analysis and comparisons follow […]

  The success of TED having made Seth MacFarlane a legitimate name in the movie universe, the Academy and ABC have decided to make him an unexpected choice to host nest year’s Academy Awards telecast.  This isn’t a crazy idea, although MacFarlane has never done anything like it.  He’s obviously funny, he reaches that elusive […]

        NETWORK FINALS:  There were no changes from the preliminary Friday ratings.         Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart     CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  A&E’s LIVE PD led Friday cable, up a tick to 0.57, with the lead-in hour up 0.07 to 0.35.  ESPN’s NBA doubleheader was at 0.44/0.42.  Discovery’s […]

  On Christmas Eve, all the gifts under the broadcast networks’ tree were used. ABC:  The original animated HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS, followed by the sad Jim Carrey/Ron Howard live-action version, scored 1.2/1.3 to take the night, although both were down from last year when–preceded by NBA Basketball–they were at 1.8/1.7.  The cartoon was […]