NETWORK FINALS:  AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE lost 0.1 in final numbers.         Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart     CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  ESPN’s NBA doubleheader was at 0.73/0.42.  A&E’s LIVE PD gained 0.03 to 0.54, with the lead-in hour steady at 0.30.  On Discovery, GOLD RUSH was at 0.52/0.32 compared […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #15 of 2013 is now looking like $110 million for the top 12 films, up slightly from yesterday’s estimate and now up a few percentage points from the same weekend in prior years.   Opening at 3,003 theaters Friday, 42 from Warner Brothers grossed $9.1 million Friday and $11.4 million […]

> It’s been a long, long time, but finally the prayers of MAD MEN fans are being answered:  at the Television Critics Association gathering today, AMC confirmed that the series will return at 9PM on Sunday March 25, with a 2-hour episode written by Genius Emeritus Matthew Weiner. The following Sunday, April 1, AMC brings […]

  OPENINGS:  HALLOWEEN ENDS (Universal, also on Peacock) underperformed badly with $41.3M, about 25% below pre-release expectations, and 17% under the $49.4M start for last year’s Halloween Kills, despite a stronger Thursday night start than Kills ($5.4M vs $4.9M).  The excuse de jour is the Peacock release, which would be dubious in any case considering […]

  Despite a drop, ELLEN’S GAME OF GAMES was the night’s easy winner. 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 […]

  The  preliminary numbers at Deadline confirm the expected:  PAN (RatPac-Dune/Warners) is a box office catastrophe in the making.  Its $5.2M opening day (which includes $650K from Thursday night) is less than half the first day of Fantastic Four ($11.3M), and although as a family-oriented movie it may bounce back a bit on Saturday (and […]

Here is how the week is shaping up for the top cable telecasts (in bold) and top broadcast programs (in regular type) for this week through Thursday, ranked by adult 18-49 rating.  The complete ranking for last week is provided on the left for comparison.

  ULTIMATE TAG plunged without last week’s big lead-in. 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 […]