>American Idol came to Tuesday night for a special episode.  Although it won the night, the episode was down 41% from the comparable edition last year and had a relatively limited effect on the other networks, whose ratings were not terribly different from last week.               Nightly Adult 18-49 Rating […]

  It was the last Friday of the regular season, but the lights were already off. DEMOGRAPHIC DETAIL: For each broadcast program (or hour segment), the chart below displays preliminary key advertiser demographics (adult 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54 ratings), audience skews (women 18-49, men 18-49 and adults 50+ shares) and total viewership (thousands of people over […]

>With four nights of the May Sweep in (Thursday’s official ratings and Friday-Sunday’s fast national ratings), here’s an early look at the final major ratings sweep period of the broadcast season, when ratings are measured locally in each of the 214 television markets across the country.  Sunday night was very cruel to CBS and especially […]

  After a bit of down-to-the-wire negotiating, ABC and Lionsgate have come to an agreement for a Season 3 renewal of NASHVILLE, although details are not yet clear, including just how many episodes have been ordered (ABC had been pushing for 13, while Lionsgate wanted the traditional 22). The last few bubble shows apparently dealing […]

  BROADCAST FINALS ABC:  SHARK TANK gained 0.04 to 0.51, and 20/20 was up 0.04 to 0.36. CBS:  SWAT rose 0.05 to 0.43, FIRE COUNTRY had a promising Week 2 0.08 bump to 0.48, and BLUE BLOODS was up 0.02 to 0.43. NBC:  COLLEGE BOWL ticked down to 0.20, and DATELINE also lost a tick […]

>DISCLAIMER: These initial impressions are based on the clips (usually 3-5 minutes) released by the networks to use in their Upfront presentations and for promos.  They’re chosen to sell the show, not to accurately represent it.  So take the reactions below with a large satchel of salt–we may well feel differently about these shows once […]

  MIND GAMES:  Tuesday 10PM on ABC – If Nothing Else Is On… The creator of ABC’s midseason MIND GAMES, Kyle Killen, was the man behind Lone Star and Awake (as well as the movie The Beaver), so he doesn’t lack in fertile imagination.  What he hasn’t had, however, is any commercial success whatsoever, and […]

  BROADCAST FINALS ABC:  JEOPARDY COLLEGE CHAMPIONSHIP gained 0.06 from Wednesday to 0.60, and the NFL HONORS was at 0.44 (with an NFL Network simulcast at 0.13). CBS:  Reruns at 0.38/0.27/0.26/0.23/0.19. NBC:  The WINTER OLYMPICS was at 2.15, and appear to be on the upswing, the opposite trend as the 2018 Games.  Last night was […]