Thanks to the NCAA Tournament, CBS had a strong week, while the continuing decline of the new dramas on ABC and NBC dragged them down.  CBS had the weekly win (Live + Same Day, 5 days actual + 2 days overnights) with 2.09, up 0.30 from last week.  ABC followed at 1.50 (down 0.02), […]

  THE WHISPERS:  Midseason TBD on ABC THE FACTS:  Something is taking possession of American children and making them do very bad things–like “kill your parents” bad things.  They may be on their way to launching an all-out attack, and Lily Rabe is the government agent tasked to stop them.  The series creator is Soo […]

  Over the past few days, in the lead-up to the gala Upfront ceremonies that will begin with NBC’s presentation to advertisers and the world on Monday morning, there’s been a steady stream of announcements and leaks about which broadcast network shows are being cancelled, renewed or picked-up to series.  For decades, that news was […]

  Last week, the glamorous part of the network “Upfronts” took place, largely for viewer and media purposes:  hordes of new shows were announced, stars were trotted out, executives madly spun this past season’s numbers so that every decline looked like a triumph, gala parties were held.  This week, however, the real Upfronts kick into […]

  The big news at CBS is that the network is reducing its Monday comedy block to 1 hour, while leaving 2 sitcom hours on Thursday.  Consequently, the network is adding only one new half-hour in the fall.  (There was no last-minute pick-up for How I Met Your Dad, which until last week was regarded […]

    HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER:  Thursday 10PM on ABC THE FACTS:  The new wing to the Shonda Rhimes Thursday that’s about to be a cornerstone of the ABC line-up.  In case that name wasn’t enough, try this one:  Viola Davis, starring as a brilliant, enigmatic criminal defense attorney who teaches a law […]

  THE WINTER OLYMPICS have been doing what they were meant to do for NBC.  In the first full week of ratings to include the Sochi Winter Games, NBC completely dominated the (mostly sleeping) broadcast competition with a 5.5 average primetime rating (Live + Same Day) in 18-49s.  Far, far behind were FOX (the only […]

  WAYWARD PINES:  Midseason TBD on FOX THE FACTS:  M. Night Shyamalan is the marquee producer of this neo-Twin Peaks-ian limited series.  (He also directed the pilot.)  It concerns Secret Service agent Ethan Burke, who travels to the small, strange town of Wayward Pines in search of two missing agents.  The people he encounters there […]