2016-17 TV Season

NIELSENWAR UPFRONTS: Fall CW Schedule

Posted May 19, 2016 by Mitch Salem

  CW will continue to be DC Comics (and Greg Berlanti) TV. For a network that only ordered three new shows (two of them for fall), CW has made quite a few changes in its new schedule, with DC Comics properties anchoring 4 nights of the week (and veteran Vampire Diaries the 5th) for stability, but […]

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2019-20 TV Season

NIELSENWAR: The Fall 2019 FOX Schedule & Analysis

Posted May 13, 2019 by Mitch Salem

We’ve reached the broadcast networks’ Upfront Week… which used to be a lot more central to our television lives than it is now.  Ratings everywhere are down, and there’s no reason to think they’ve hit bottom, which has caused seismic changes in the ways networks make scheduling decisions.  Among other things, with revenues from on-air […]

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2017-18 TV Season

NIELSENWAR: REVISED 5-Network Grid with New NBC Line-Up

Posted May 30, 2017 by Mitch Salem

  In a very unusual move, NBC has already made major changes in the fall schedule that it announced just 2 weeks ago.  In fact, it’s changed the centerpiece of that schedule, reversing the move of its breakout hit This Is Us to Thursdays, and leaving it instead on Tuesday.   As the chart indicates, This Is […]

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2018-19 TV Season

NIELSENWAR: FOX Fall Schedule & Analysis (Includes 5-Network Grid)

Posted May 14, 2018 by Mitch Salem

  Welcome to Upfronts week, when the broadcast networks (or what’s left of them) announce their Fall schedules and attempt to generate billions of dollars worth of excitement from advertisers.  It’s harder than ever to authoritatively analyze the thought process that goes into a broadcaster’s cancellation, renewal and pick-up decisions, because network ad revenues directly […]

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2014-15 TV Season

NIELSENWAR: Bring Out Your Dead! NBC Executes “Bad Judge” and “A To Z”

Posted October 31, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  After last night’s atrocious 0.9/0.7 pairing, it was clear that the writing on the wall for NBC’s BAD JUDGE and A TO Z was scrawled in blood.  The network chose Halloween afternoon to announce the burials.  Those very few who enjoyed the shows needn’t start weeping just yet, though:  since The Blacklist was already […]

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Articles

THE SKED: FOX Midseason/Postseason Debuts

Posted January 13, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  The Television Critics Association marathon goes on in Pasadena, and today is FOX’s turn.  Network President Kevin Reilly claimed–and he’s far from the first–that “pilot season is dead,” which means continuing the trend of ordering projects year-round rather than all in a lump in May, and also going straight to series with some shows […]

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2014-15 TV Season

NIELSENWAR 2014-15: Housekeeping At NBC & CBS

Posted May 10, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  The pick-ups are mostly done, so today was a time for the networks to clean up after themselves with some decisions on existing shows: NBC canceled DRACULA and remains in negotiations on PARENTHOOD, with the big issue reportedly the network’s desire not just to order an abbreviated 13-episode season, but to guarantee each cast […]

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2014-15 TV Season

NIELSENWAR 2014-15 Trailer Review: CBS’s “Scorpion”

Posted May 14, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  SCORPION:  Monday 9PM on CBS THE FACTS:  A group of nerdy genius goofballs works with the government to solve high-tech emergencies–based on a true story.  Elyes Gabel is Walter O’Brien, the leader of the nerd squad, Robert Patrick is their exasperated supervisor, and Katharine McPhee is the token normal girl, a waitress with a […]

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