2014-15 TV Season

NIELSENWAR 2014-15: News From FOX, NBC, TNT, TBS

Posted May 7, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  Nothing so far today matches yesterday afternoon’s high-profile pick-ups by NBC and FOX, but there’s nevertheless some news as we approach next week’s Upfronts: FOX Amid speculation that the network will cut back on its comedy commitment next season, FOX cleared its shelves of bubble sitcoms, officially canceling DADS, ENLISTED and SURVIVING JACK.  Jack […]

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2014-15 TV Season

NIELSENWAR 2014-15: FOX & NBC Begin Their Pick-Ups

Posted May 6, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  NBC and FOX will be the first broadcast networks to announce their 2014-15 schedules next Monday, so it makes sense that they’re the first to begin announcing their new series pick-ups.  No trailers have yet been released, but here are some quick facts on each: FOX Note:  In addition to those below, FOX has […]

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NIELSENWAR: Pre-Upfront – What Will the Networks Do?

Posted May 5, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  The network averages for last week are significant because they represent a full week of sweeps programming, which means reruns were at a minimum and some stunting (although not a tremendous amount of it: a Chicago Fire/PD crossover here, the IHeartRadio Music Awards there) boosted the numbers.  In other words, barring really big events […]

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THE SKED: The Craig Ferguson Shoe Drops

Posted April 29, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  Craig Ferguson is maintaining that his decision to leave CBS and THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH CRAIG FERGUSON in December is absolutely, entirely, utterly, completely, totally unrelated to the network’s recent decision to hand David Letterman’s slot to Stephen Colbert when Letterman steps down next year.  No, truly, he never had any interest in […]

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NIELSENWAR: Weekly/Season Charts Plus Early Weekend Cable News

Posted April 21, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  CBS had been riding high on the back of some special events like the NCAA Tournament and the How I Met Your Mother finale, but last week it crashed to earth, falling three-quarters of a ratings point from the previous week and into 2d place.  That left all the broadcast networks looking fairly dismal.  […]

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THE SKED: Stephen Colbert Is the New Dave

Posted April 10, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  Jon Stewart is becoming positively Lorne Michaels-ian in his influence over comedy culture far beyond his own show.  It was announced today, to no one’s great surprise, that his colleague and protege Stephen Colbert will take over the helm of CBS’s late-night talk show when David Letterman retires next year.  (Once it was revealed […]

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THE SKED: Exit David Letterman

Posted April 3, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  In about a year, the reboot of the network late-night talk shows will be complete, now that David Letterman, cranky genius of the format, has announced that sometime in 2015 he’ll be retiring.  With Jimmy Kimmel’s move to 11:35PM and the recent ascensions of Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, it will be the first […]

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THE SKED: NBC Summer Schedule

Posted March 26, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  NBC has announced an unusually robust slate of scripted programming for summer 2014–although, since 3 of the shows were originally ordered for airing during the regular season and didn’t make it onto the schedule, and NBC hasn’t exactly been flooded with new hits this year, the cynical may surmise that quantity in this case […]

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