One point worth noting about last night’s typically low-rated Saturday numbers:  the highest-rated show of the evening was an SNL Valentine’s Day clip show at 1.3, suggesting an audience that’s primed for tonight’s 4 1/2 hour 40th Anniversary extravaganza. DEMOGRAPHIC DETAIL: For each broadcast program (or hour segment), the chart below displays preliminary key advertiser […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2017 film slates by studio.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2017 to date is still +12% above last year and now +21% above the average for this point the past four years ($2.460 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed […]

  A good night for ABC. DEMOGRAPHIC DETAIL: For each broadcast program (or hour segment), the chart below displays preliminary live+same day 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 […]

  Let’s not do the time warp again. 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 […]

  NETWORK UPDATE:  BIG BROTHER and MOTIVE each gained 0.1 in final numbers. WEDNESDAY CABLE:  WE’s entry into original scripted programming wasn’t very auspicious, with a 0.07 rating for the debut of THE DIVIDE.  (It went up to 0.1 with additional runs, and in the network’s core audience of Women 50+, it was all the […]

The Dark Knight Rises opened with $88 million overseas in a modest 17 territories.  We’ll give Rises a preliminary overseas target of $490 million, slightly higher than 2008’s The Dark Knight, which grossed $469 million overseas.  If our overseas target is correct, that put puts the worldwide target for Dark Knight Rises at $980 million, just behind The Dark Knight‘s […]

> Disclaimer:  Network pilots now in circulation are not necessarily in the form that will air in the Fall.  Pilots are often reedited and rescored, and in some cases even recast or reshot.  So these critiques shouldn’t be taken as full reviews, but rather as a guide to the general style and content of the […]

  AMC:  In the single least-surprising development of the season (perhaps the century), THE WALKING DEAD has just been renewed for a 5th season.  Slightly more surprisingly, it appears as though Scott M. Gimple, with survival skills his predecessors lacked, will return as showrunner.  On Sunday, Walking Dead was down a slight 0.3 airing against […]