The first Sunday night of Olympic coverage averaged a 6.9 adult 18-49 rating on NBC from 7:00-11:00 pm.  This is well below the 7.5 rating on the same night in Turin and even slightly below the relatively weak night in Vancouver (7.0).  Last night’s coverage featured:  Team Ladies’ Free Skate & Ice Dance, Men’s Downhill, […]

  Skiers and skaters couldn’t beat walkers. NBC:  See Mitch Metcalf’s Skedball report for Sunday’s WINTER OLYMPICS analysis.  The games scored 6.9 in preliminary primetime 18-49 numbers. AMC:  Although THE WALKING DEAD had fewer total viewers than the Olympics (15.8M to 25.4M), it walloped the athletes in 18-49s with a gigantic 8.2 in that demo.  […]

The first Saturday of Winter Olympic coverage averaged a 6.5 adult 18-49 rating from 8:30-11:00 pm last night on NBC.  This must be slightly disappointing for the network, as last night was a a few notches below the comparable night from Turin in 2006, after seeing a Friday Opening Ceremony number (8.7 rating) closer to […]

  OLYMPICS:  The WINTER OLYMPICS OPENING CEREMONIES had a preliminary 8.6 rating in 18-49s.  That was up 2.4 from the non-medal events aired on Thursday, but down 0.8 from the 2010 Vancouver Opening Ceremonies.  (And for those with a long-range point of view, up 2.1 from the 2006 Opening Ceremonies from Turin.) OTHER NETWORKS:  As […]

  AFTERNOON UPDATE:  The WINTER OLYMPICS climbed 0.2 in final numbers, as did  THE BIG BANG THEORY.  AMERICAN IDOL and 2 1/2 MEN were both up 0.1, while THE MILLERS had the only drop, down 0.1. THURSDAY CABLE:  PAWN STARS (History) took the lead at 1.2, up 0.1.  APPALACHIAN OUTLAWS was behind at 0.9, also […]

  For a determinedly noncontroversial guy, there may not have been a television figure in the last twenty-five years more scrutinized than Jay Leno.  He stood at the media epicenter in the 1990s, when he warred with David Letterman for Johnny Carson’s crown, then again when he was both predecessor of and inheritor to Conan […]

  The last pre-Olympics night for a while. FOX:  AMERICAN IDOL reached Hollywood and leveled out, up 0.1 from last week to 3.9. ABC:  THE MIDDLE dropped 0.1 to 2.2, and SUBURGATORY was down 0.1 to 1.7 from its last airing after a new Middle, although up 0.2 from last week when it followed a […]

Wednesday fast national ratings and relevant comparisons: