An abysmal night of television Friday night for the most part, with the top-rated broadcast network (ABC) averaging a 1.1 preliminary Adult 18-49 rating.  NBC was a close second at a 1.0 rating from 8-11 pm, but NBC News distinguished itself in the 10 pm hour with adept coverage of the Jerry Sandusky guilty verdicts […]

        NETWORK FINALS:  ABC’s COLLEGE FOOTBALL game adjusted up to 2.7 in final numbers, and FOX’s game adjusted to 1.0.  In addition, the 9PM 48 HOURS gained 0.1.         Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart     CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  ESPN’s US OPEN coverage and its morning COLLEGE GAMEDAY show […]

  BROADCAST FINALS ABC:  JEOPARDY MASTERS gained 0.05 to 0.59, JUDGE STEVE HARVEY ticked down to 0.27, and a rerun followed at 0.22. CBS:  The FBI franchise included the mothership up 0.04 to 0.45, FBI: INTERNATIONAL up 0.06 to 0.40, and FBI: MOST WANTED up 0.03 to 0.37. NBC:  After reruns at 0.21/0.19, THE WALL […]

>   See A Word About Busted Pilots For the most part, actors only get one shot in a given pilot season.  Since the lion’s share of network pilots are produced during the same narrow Spring window–allowing them to be picked up and announced at the Upfronts in May–and since actors who play regular characters […]

  BROADCAST FINALS ABC:  Game 1 of the NBA FINALS was at 3.54, down 0.09 from last year’s Game 1. CBS:  Reruns at 0.32/0.27/0.19/0.19. NBC:  THE BLACKLIST moved into its endgame position with a shift to Thursdays, where its episodes were at 0.24/0.20 compared to Sunday’s 0.19.  A rerun followed at 0.16. FOX:  Reruns at […]

NBC:  AQUARIUS (remember, already renewed for a 2d season!) fell 0.1 with its move to Saturday to a new low 0.3.  The sparse but committed fans of HANNIBAL, though, followed their show, which maintained its 0.4.  Both were outrated by the 0.5 for a rerun of RUNNING WILD. CBS:  Still burning off episodes of THE […]

Fringe moves on to another universe. FOX:  After years of lousy ratings, it would have been unrealistic to expect FRINGE to suddenly grow an audience at the last minute, and it didn’t:  the two-hour finale had a 1.0, which was up 0.2 from last week, but barely managed to beat one other network in one […]

        NETWORK FINALS:  LITTLE BIG SHOTS dropped 0.2 in final numbers, and BOB’S BURGERS, AMERICA’S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS and the rerun of THE SIMPSONS each lost 0.1.         Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart     CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  AMC’s THE WALKING DEAD again led Sunday cable, down 0.02 to […]