NETWORK UPDATE:  AGENTS OF SHIELD narrowly averted this morning’s series low with an 0.1 adjustment upward, but while THE VOICE was also up 0.1, that just put it at a slightly higher series low.  The rest of the morning’s awful numbers remained as-is. TUESDAY CABLE:  TNT led again with NBA PLAYOFF games at 2.0/1.8, […]

        NETWORK FINALS:  CBS’s NCAA TOURNAMENT telecast adjusted to 1.3/1.3/3.0 (the latter hour being the Duke game), compared to 1.4/1.1/2.4 on last year’s parallel night.  Elsewhere, DYNASTY dropped 0.1 in final numbers.         Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart     CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  Friday cable was dominated once again […]

        NETWORK FINALS:  NCIS: LA and BOB’S BURGERS gained 0.1 in final numbers, while THE SIMPSONS, INSTINCT and DECEPTION each lost the same.           Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart     CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  It was a busy night for scripted cable.  THE WALKING DEAD rose 0.12 from last […]

Thursday preliminary broadcast ratings (adult 18-49 ratings for last night, the same night last year and same night last week).  The first Thursday Night Football game on CBS averaged a preliminary 5.5 adult 18-49 rating, and that will go up to around a 6.4 rating in the official nationals.  In addition, the NFL Network portion of the […]

  A foreboding start for summer programming. 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 […]

> Creatively, last night’s season finale of BREAKING BAD was extraordinary in almost every way (how long till the final 16 episodes start airing?).  In the ratings, according to TV By the Numbers it did quite well, but not quite up to the mark of its season premiere (around a 0.9 rating as opposed to […]

> HBO can afford to keep little-watched shows like In Treatment and Treme around, because they’re not selling advertising–they’re selling a brand.  People who will only watch True Blood and Entourage feel better about being subscribers when they know they’ve got access to excellence at other hours too.  TNT, though, needs eyeballs that sponsors will […]

Updated cable and broadcast program rankings for the week ending Sunday and the prior week.  As the May sweep ends and repeats begin to dominate summer schedules, the length of the list begins to contract.  (Remember we are only showing television programs registering a 1.5 adult 18-49 rating or higher.)  Missing the list was the […]