The 38th weekend of the year is looking like a wobbly $71 million for the top 12 films, down 19% from the $89 million multi-year average for this weekend. Opening at over 3,100 theaters Friday (above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Prisoners from Warner Brothers should average $5,900 per theater for the weekend (for […]

  BROADCAST FINALS ABC:  WOMEN OF THE MOVEMENT gained 0.02 to 0.45, and LET THE WORLD SEE was down 0.02 to 0.38. CBS:  YOUNG SHELDON ticked down to 0.73, UNITED STATES OF AL rose 0.03 to 0.53, GHOSTS lost 0.05 to 0.65, and B POSITIVE was up 0.03 to 0.49.  BULL climbed 0.04 to 0.42. […]

Wow.  USA vs Ghana on ESPN Monday just missed averaging 10 million viewers over the course of the entire telecast.  This is double what the USA matches did in 2010 from South Africa, and the demographic ratings (almost 6 ratings with young men) are excellent.  The other two matches earlier in the day Monday are […]

    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 […]

UPDATE at 3:40 pm PT: Fast nationals for Monday 12.28.2015 scheduled for release at 5:00 pm PT (8:00 pm ET), an unusually late hour for a data release. But this has been a most unusual day. UPDATE at 2:25 pm PT: Next update at 3:30 pm PT.  Around that time, Nielsen will either announce a data […]

  James Ponsoldt’s SMASHED (not to be confused with NBC’s Smash), which premiered in the Dramatic Competition at Sundance, is a new spin on a fairly old story.  The concept goes back (at least) to 1962’s Days of Wine and Roses:  a couple (Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Aaron Paul), very much in love with both […]

        NETWORK FINALS:  SPEECHLESS and SURVIVOR gained 0.1 in final numbers.         Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart         CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  ESPN’s NBA doubleheader topped Wednesday cable at 0.67/0.63.  VH1’s BLACK INK CREW crashed by 0.26 to 0.50.  On History, VIKINGS dropped 0.07 to 0.50, and […]

        NETWORK FINALS:  It was a veritable bonanza of extra tenths, as THIS IS US, THE MIDDLE, NEW GIRL, THE MICK and THE WALL all gained 0.1 in final numbers         Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart     CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  On Bravo, LADIES OF LONDON dropped 0.06 to […]