The Television Critics Association gatherings are taking place over the next few weeks, which means a steady flow of scheduling updates amidst the press conferences promoting upcoming shows.  Today was HBO’s day at the podium, and its major announcement was that the upcoming 5th season of BOARDWALK EMPIRE will be its final one, likely […]

  AFTERNOON UPDATE:  CHICAGO PD held its 2.0 rating in final numbers, and remained stable through the hour, which is a good sign for the show.  REVOLUTION, though, sank 0.1 to 1.5, just barely over its series low, and the 10:30PM SUPER FUN NIGHT also lost 0.1 to 1.7.  The PEOPLES CHOICE AWARDS gained 0.1 […]

Wednesday fast national ratings and relevant comparisons:

  AFTERNOON UPDATE:  Nothing moved more than 0.1 from the morning numbers, with AGENTS OF SHIELD, NCIS and CHICAGO FIRE climbing that amount (the latter, still down for the week, moved into a tie with PERSON OF INTEREST at 10PM) while TROPHY WIFE sank to an even more woeful 1.1.  TUESDAY CABLE:  BET took the […]

  AFTERNOON UPDATE:  Changes from morning numbers were minor.  CASTLE slipped 0.1 to 1.7, an even lower season low, ALMOST HUMAN edged up 0.1 to 1.8, 2 of the BLACKLIST reruns moved up 0.1 to 1.0, and BEAUTY & THE BEAST narrowly avoided the shame of an 0.1 rating for its rerun, rising to 0.2. […]

  Millions of Americans desperately worried about the plight of widowed Lady Mary knew where to go for their fix of British aristocracy last night, as DOWNTON ABBEY reached yet another new historic high for PBS.  The Season 4 premiere was watched by 10.2M viewers, up sharply from 7.9M for last year’s premiere (which was […]

The ratings below are household ratings from the 56 television markets with local Nielsen meters for Friday January 3, Saturday January 4 and Sunday January 5, 2014. The 56 markets (out of 210 total) cover about 70% of the US television population.   College Football Early Bowls Friday 7.2 rating ESPN 8:30 Orange Bowl #12-Clemson […]

  The night was dominated by football and its aftereffects, but there were some other (dimmer) bright spots.  Note:  we don’t yet have a rating for the PBS season debut of Downton Abbey. FOX:  Our projection is that the overrun of the NFC WILD CARD PLAYOFF GAME, which pushed the network’s primetime schedule by about […]