NETWORK FINALS:  BIG BROTHER and CELEBRITY FAMILY FEUD gamed 0.1 in final numbers, while the TEEN CHOICE AWARDS and the MADAM SECRETARY rerun lost the same.       Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart     CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  Starz solidified its hold on late summer cable Sundays, with POWER up […]

Updated March Madness through the first night of the Sweet 16 round and with the CBS afternoon games from last Thursday-Sunday.  Both CBS and TBS now down a few percentage point from the last few years in total viewers, with TNT and TRUtv down double-digit percentages.  The tournament audience across all four networks is down […]

> CALIFORNICATION lost a step this season, which is what often happens when a series of limited scope reaches Year 5.  Unlike other Showtime series like Weeds and Dexter, Californication has never had the appetite for seasonal re-invention.  It tends to merely introduce a few new supporting characters and run the same basic story again.  […]

  ABC’s fall line-up is a mix of the audacious and the not-so-much. UPDATED with reactions to trailers, which are available here.     ABC needed to shake things up for next season, and to an extent it has, although even if things go well, there will be more to do.  It’s relying on its […]

      NETWORK FINALS:  WINTER OLYMPICS coverage and the night’s NBA game both rose 0.3 in final numbers.           Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart     CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  A&E’s LIVE PD topped Saturday cable at 0.57, despite a 0.16 drop from last week.  ESPN’s COLLEGE BASKETBALL games were at 0.48/0.33/0.27/0.25/0.19.  […]

> Another experiment fails. ABC:  PRIVATE PRACTICE has been comfortably successful on Thursdays, in the shelter of older sibling Grey’s Anatomy. but the network’s attempt to try it out on Tuesday nights–while Shonda Rhimes’ other show Scandal occupies the Thursday 10PM slot–didn’t have a promising start.  Despite airing against a rerun on CBS, and featuring […]

    The dirty little secret at the heart of 30 ROCK has always been that it doesn’t really have one–a heart, that is.  That doesn’t make the show any less brilliantly written or superbly performed, but it explains why despite all its massive acclaim and zillions of awards, in 6 years on the air […]

> FX’s AMERICAN HORROR STORY held up quite well in its second airing last night with a 1.4 in 18-49s, dropping only about 15% from its premiere (even though it faced new competition from the return of USA’s PSYCH, which did a 1.0). That’s may not be Walking Dead level success (the zombies did 2.4 […]