NETWORK UPDATE:  THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL adjusted up to 4.5, the night’s easy winner but nowhere near last week’s 7.5.  (It also scored 1.15 in its NFL Network simulcast.) THURSDAY CABLE:  ESPN’s COLLEGE FOOTBALL coverage (featuring two top 25 teams: #5-Auburn at #20-Kansas State) led the night at 1.34, far higher than last week’s 0.38 […]

  Expectations were low for the holiday weekend’s expensive new openings, and that’s proving to be accurate.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, it was the low-budget THE PURGE:  ELECTION YEAR (Blumhouse/Universal) that led the group on Friday with $13.4M (including $3.6M from Thursday night), better than the $13M opening day for Anarchy, the last […]

>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 […]

  SATURDAY AMC:  HELL ON WHEELS held well in total viewers at 2M, but they got a lot older, as the show’s 18-49 rating fell from 0.5 to 0.3.  That makes almost 80% of its viewers over 50, not exactly the most advertiser friendly audience.  Still, if these numbers can hold, the show is still […]

  WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2019 film slates by studio. BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2019 is now -7% below last year’s comparable span (1 point worse than last week’s comparison) and still basically even with this point the past four years ($9.092 billion).  Over the […]

      NETWORK FINALS:  ABC’s COLLEGE FOOTBALL game remained at 1.9 in final numbers, while FOX’s stayed at 0.5.  Elsewhere, the final hour of AQUARIUS gained 0.1 to a still-dismal 0.3.         Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart     CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  As will mostly be the case every Saturday until […]

    NETWORK UPDATE:  After adjustment for CBS’s local simulcasts of SATURDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL, its numbers went way down from early ratings, by 0.4 to 0.5 for its HAWAII 5-0 rerun and by half a point to 0.6 for 48 HOURS.  In addition, the reruns on FOX of BONES and SLEEPY HOLLOW each dropped 0.1.  […]

> Viewers didn’t flee from The B—. ABC:  DON’T TRUST THE B— IN APT 23 held almost the same proportion of the MODERN FAMILY audience as it did with last week’s premiere (and a slightly higher percentage than the last time Happy Endings aired after a new Family), which is a very good sign.  Unfortunately […]