It was perfectly appropriate to dread the news that an athlete was hosting SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE–the show’s history abounds with deadly sports hosts like Michael Phelps and Tom Brady.  And in case that wasn’t enough pressure for tonight’s host Eli Manning, one of the rare exceptions to the rule was his own brother Peyton, […]

  BROADCAST FINALS: ABC:  COLLEGE FOOTBALL continued to lead the way on television with 1.85. CBS:  After a rerun 60 MINUTES at 0.40, BIG BROTHER fell 0.24 to 0.75.  A run of SCHOOL OF ROCK followed at 0.24. NBC:  PARALYMPICS coverage was at 0.23, followed by an AMERICA’S GOT TALENT rerun at 0.23. FOX:  Reruns […]

  NETWORK UPDATE:  There was no good news for SUPERGIRL, which stayed at 1.7 in final numbers.  About the only positive was that the show was rock-steady at that number in all of its quarter-hours, so the viewers that are still there seem to be satisfied.  CBS can console itself with a 0.1 rise for […]

        NETWORK FINALS:  SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING lost 0.1 in final numbers.         Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart     NOTE:  At this time, we have no Monday cable ratings below the Top 150. CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  ESPN’s college football coverage continued to dominate holiday cable, with the ORANGE BOWL at […]

  THE NIGHT SHIFT demonstrated the value of a lead-in. 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 the age of 2). Ratings analysis […]

Sometimes stunt casting works. CBS:  On a night when most of broadcast TV was even at best, 2/2 MEN was up a healthy half-ratings point from last week to 4.0, by far its best Thursday rating thus far.  The reason seems to be a much-hyped appearance by Miley Cyrus, who may have brought some new […]

  BROADCAST FINALS (except where otherwise noted, comparisons are to 2 weeks ago) ABC:  SHARK TANK dropped 0.04 to 0.41, and 20/20 was up 0.05  to 0.34. CBS:  SWAT fell 0.13 to 0.39, FIRE COUNTRY lost 0.05 to 0.39, and BLUE BLOODS was down 0.08 to 0.34. NBC:  LOPEZ VS LOPEZ gained 0.03 to 0.33, […]

  NETWORK UPDATE:  Things only got worse for AQUARIUS and HANNIBAL in final numbers, as both lost 0.1 to hit new lows of 0.2 and 0.3 respectively.  The rerun of RUNNING WILD was also down 0.1.  CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  HBO insists on listing its premieres of theatrical movies as “originals,” which is why THE MAZE RUNNER appears […]