>DISCLAIMER: These initial impressions are based on the clips (usually 3-5 minutes) released by the networks to use in their Upfront presentations and for promos.  They’re chosen to sell the show, not to accurately represent it.  So take the reactions below with a large satchel of salt–we may well feel differently about these shows once […]

  NETWORK UPDATE:  AMERICAN IDOL and THE BLACKLIST each gained 0.1 in final numbers, as did the BIG BANG THEORY rerun.  The VAMPIRE DIARIES rerun lost 0.1. Ratings in key demos for the Top 25 original cable telecasts (plus a few other lower-rated but noteworthy programs): The front half of TNT’s NBA doubleheader took top honors […]

Updated weekly international box office chart.

        NETWORK FINALS:  STATION 19, MLS SOCCER and MOM gained 0.1 in final numbers.         Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart     CABLE HIGHLIGHTS: Note, due to Thanksgiving comparisons are to 2 weeks ago unless otherwise noted. CNN’s BIDEN/HARRIS INTERVIEW led Thursday cable at 0.52/0.72/3.6M, with Fox News’s […]

  As The Joker would say:  Here… We… Go. After weeks of semi-starts and special “previews” of new shows racking up big numbers against minimal competition, the real 2012-13 TV season gets underway tonight.  Each day this week (except Saturday, which in TV terms doesn’t exist). we’ll look at the hour-by-hour battles to come, our […]

> MIRROR MIRROR:  Not Even For Free – 7 Years Bad Luck When it was announced that 2012 would bring two big-budget movie versions of the Snow White story, not to mention TV’s Once Upon A Time, in which Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin) is a central character (and that’s not counting Grimm, another fairy tale series […]

  A DANGEROUS METHOD:  Watch It At Home – A Visit to Dr. Cronenberg’s Clinic   Throughout his career, David Cronenberg has been fascinated by twin compulsions:  the aberrant and the repressive.  The former was at the forefront of what are still his most celebrated films a quarter-century later, squishy biological horror movies like Videodrome […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #34 of 2013 looks like an okay $91 million for the top 12 films, even with the average for the same weekend the last few years but up from last year’s comparable weekend. Opening at 1,548 theaters Friday, The World’s End from Focus/Universal grossed $3.5 million Friday and is on track for […]