>Back to a first place tie on Thursday between CBS (with mostly original episodes this week) and FOX (with Idol down to a one-hour edition) followed by The Finder.  You will notice we do not have year-to-year comparisons for this night.  Two very helpful readers identified a problem with recent year-ago comparisons, and it is […]

  NETWORK UPDATE:  THE MESSENGERS fell by 0.1 in final numbers, and so did the reruns of WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY, ELEMENTARY and HAWAII 5–0. CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:   Readers will note some glitches in today’s chart, caused by the way Discovery listed its SHARK WEEK shows.  Only the first listings for SHARK CLANS, SHARKS OF THE SHADOWLANDS […]

  Another sitcom for NBC’s new “we wouldn’t be edgy if you begged us” Thursday night comedy line-up, as Sean Hayes returns to what’s now “Might-Watch TV” with SEAN SAVES THE WORLD.  Well, let’s give Sean this much:  as gay family sitcoms go, it looks better than The New Normal.  And Hayes seems to have […]

  NETWORK SCORECARD:  BIG BROTHER gained an additional 0.1 in final numbers. THURSDAY CABLE:  FX fared better than USA in their dual launches last night.  MARRIED premiered at a healthy 0.65 (although that was below the 0.76 for FX’s movie lead-in), and did particularly well with advertiser-prized Men 18-34 (1.1).  YOU’RE THE WORST was weaker […]

  NETWORK UPDATE:  Both THE SIMPSONS and BROOKLYN NINE-NINE gained 0.1 in final numbers.  SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL adjusted up 0.3 to 6.5. Ratings in key demos for the Top 25 original cable telecasts (plus a few other lower-rated but noteworthy programs): THE WALKING DEAD (AMC), of course, led Sunday cable, although it lost 0.61 from […]

  As it turned out, there wasn’t room for two shows about homicidal true believers on the network airwaves, and The Following is occupying that space.  CULT hasn’t yet been canceled by CW after its pair of miserably low-rated airings, but it faces the next-worst fate, sent away to the wilderness of Fridays at 9PM, […]

> A lot can happen between the creation of a TV pilot in the spring and production of episodes for the regular season:  a writing/producing team is hired, audience focus groups weigh in, networks and studios (which may have had their own turnover in the off-season) give plenty of notes, both helpful and otherwise, and […]

  No farewell bump for THE ORIGINALS. 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 and comparisons follow […]