It is, make no mistake, a wonderful thing that FOX (with the financial cooperation of studio Warner Bros) is bringing FRINGE, one of television’s most distinctive and imaginative shows, back for a 5th and final 13-episode season.  It also has to be said, though, that Season 4 wasn’t the show’s best.  (Note:  SPOILERS will […]

  BROADCAST FINALS:  ABC earned bragging rights on the STATE OF THE UNION broadcast ratings with 0.61/4.4M. ABC:  Prior to the speech, the network aired a rerun at 0.26. CBS:  A rerun at 0.33 NBC:  NIGHT COURT was steady at 0.55, and AMERICAN AUTO was down 0.02 to 0.30. FOX:  9-1-1: LONE STAR dropped 0.09 […]

  Viewers had little interest in a documentary series about 1969. 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 […]

        NETWORK FINALS:  FOX’s NASCAR race adjusted up to 1.0 in final numbers.       Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart     CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  The season premiere of Starz’s OUTLANDER more than doubled its Season 1 finale (and also its series premiere), up an impressive two-tenths to 0.39.  Unusually, ESPN’s […]

The last Friday of February sweeps was dull for every network. CBS:  After the failure of The Job, CBS rushed UNDERCOVER BOSS back into its 8PM slot, and although Boss outperformed the deceased show, its 1.5 was 0.4 lower than the last time it aired 3 weeks ago (still enough to win the 8PM hour).  The […]

  NETWORK UPDATE:  Game 3 of THE NBA FINALS climbed to 5.9 in time-zone adjusted numbers, while the primetime JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE and NBA COUNTDOWN fell to 1.0/1.6.  The only other adjustment was a 0.1 dip for the rerun SUPERNATURAL on CW. TUESDAY CABLE;  PRETTY LITTLE LIARS, just renewed for 2 additional seasons, returned to […]

        NETWORK FINALS:  SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL adjusted to 5.4, down a point from last week’s game, and football adjustment also accounted in the 0.4 drop for THE SIMPSONS and the 0.1 drop for BOB’S BURGERS.  Elsewhere, 60 MINUTES lost 0.1 in final numbers.           Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings […]

> A lot can happen between the creation of a TV pilot in the spring and production of episodes for the regular season:  a writing/producing team is hired, audience focus groups weigh in, networks and studios (which may have had their own turnover in the off-season) give plenty of notes, both helpful and otherwise, and […]