Even more than usual, it was football’s night. NBC:  Peyton Manning’s return to Indianapolis was relentlessly hyped all week, especially when the Colts owner appeared to criticize him publicly.  The result was a massive number for NFL SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL, which we anticipate will be adjusted to 11.0 in final ratings tomorrow, up 2.6 […]

The ratings below are household ratings from the 56 television markets with local Nielsen meters for Saturday October 19 and Sunday October 20, 2013. (The 56 markets out of 210 total cover about 70% of the US television population.)   College Football Week 8 Top Games on Saturday 4.5 rating 3:30 CBS #24 Auburn at #7 […]

  Whatever Undercover Boss did last night, it should do that again. CBS:  On a mostly quiet network night, UNDERCOVER BOSS zoomed by half a ratings point to 1.8–not quite the biggest show of the evening, but close.  The rest of the line-up didn’t fare as well, as both HAWAII 5-0 and BLUE BLOODS slipped […]

  With most of another week’s ratings in the books, CBS, FOX and NBC took care of business today–although the first two networks handed out promotions while the Peacock issued pink slips. CBS gave back orders to its new sitcoms THE MILLERS, THE CRAZY ONES and MOM.  Millers was a no-brainer–it’s been consistently holding on […]

  CW’s experiment with historical romance didn’t get off to a great start. CW:  An 0.8 isn’t a terrible number for CW, so if REIGN can manage to hold there, it has a chance.  But its debut was 0.2 below the launch of The Originals, and a big 0.4 under last year’s premiere of Beauty & […]

  The night’s new shows still aren’t catching on. ABC:  BACK TO THE GAME was given a particularly strong lead-in with a TOY STORY OF TERROR special that had a 3.0, up 0.8 from last week’s The Middle.  Still, it could only hold even at 1.8.  A very good episode of MODERN FAMILY was up […]

  AFTERNOON UPDATE:  All the 8PM shows except THE ORIGINALS were adjusted up 0.1 in final numbers, so their position relative to each other stayed the same–but ABC must be relieved that AGENTS OF SHIELD declined just 0.1 for the week.  At 9PM, SUPERNATURAL went down 0.1, making ORIGINALS the highest -rated CW show of […]

  One guess what’s on top.  The surprise, though, is how little the walkers fed off their competition. AMC:  We already know that THE WALKING DEAD literally topped almost everything else in primetime television all season with a 8.2 in 18-49s.  (Sunday Night Football was adjusted up to 8.4 in the final numbers to edge […]