BROADCAST FINALS:  ABC’s primetime COLLEGE FOOTBALL game led Saturday at 1.17.  NBC’s SNL was at 0.92, down 0.05 from last week.  CW’s originals were at 0.07/0.06.   Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart   CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  COLLEGE FOOTBALL once again dominated Saturday cable, but it was ESPN’s COLLEGE GAMEDAY, not any game, on top […]

  Network regimes come and go, ratings rise and (recently) fall, but one thing has been consistent at NBC for almost a quarter-century:  the presence of producer Dick Wolf and his LAW & ORDER franchise.  Hard times have come to L&O, and what was once a powerhouse triple-feature for the network is now just SVU, […]

Updated with corrected ABC-only numbers for NFL Monday Night Football. BROADCAST FINALS ABC:  MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL aired on both broadcast and cable networks, and ABC’s portion was at 1.86. CBS:  Reruns at 0.41/0.33/0.27/0.24 NBC:  THE VOICE gained 0.02 to 0.73.  It was followed by 2 preview episodes of the upcoming sitcom AMERICAN AUTO at 0.36/0.27. […]

Thanks to football, Sunday nights in the fall can be very misleading.  NBC will walk away with the night between September and December with an astounding 6.5 rating each Sunday in prime time during the NFL season.  For 18 weeks, this is the highest-rated night on any network. Further, the Sunday prime time ratings for […]

  BROADCAST FINALS ABC:  Airing new episodes for the first time since December 17, SHARK TANK jumped 0.27 to 0.75, and 20/20 was up 0.36 to 0.70. CBS:  The season premiere of UNDERCOVER BOSS was at 0.49.  The remainder of the line-up aired for the first time since December 10, with MAGNUM PI down a […]

      ABC is glad last night happened after its Upfronts. ABC:  With the exception of THE MIDDLE, which stayed even (albeit at its season low 1.9), everything plunged:  SUBURGATORY‘s season finale down 0.3 to a new low 1.8, MODERN FAMILY down an ugly 0.5 to a season low 3.9, DON’T TRUST THE B___ […]

  BROADCAST FINALS ABC:  AMERICA’S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS dropped 0.07 to 0.44, CELEBRITY WHEEL OF FORTUNE lost 0.06 to 0.37, SUPERMARKET SWEEP slipped 0.02 to 0.34, and THE ROOKIE ticked up to 0.33. CBS:  The network of course peaked with its afternoon coverage of the AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME at 12.41.  Primetime was a set of […]

    Even as the scripted drama business on the broadcast networks subsides into increasing irrelevance, new players arise who want to take part.  Dramas may not be cost-effective in the way that they once were, but they’re still an unmatched vehicle for branding–just ask AMC–and Netflix, Amazon and Hulu are among the entities who […]