Thanks to SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL, THE VOICE and Dick Wolf, NBC is in stable–if unexciting–shape as the 2015-16 season ends, and the Peacock’s fall line-up is as notable for what it doesn’t do as for what it does.  Although the network has ordered a dozen new series, only 3 of them will begin airing […]

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 […]

  We don’t know how many people actually watch HOUSE OF CARDS, because Netflix keeps that information as close to its corporate vest as Francis Underwood keeps his doublecrossing strategies, but we know that Netflix is pleased with the result, because the streaming service/network has renewed the series for a Season 3 before the second […]

  Other Nielsenwar Network Report Cards:  NBC One massive hit can make up for an awful lot of failure.  Have you met EMPIRE? Full Season To Date (thru May 3) 18-49 Rating Average:  1.53 (#4), down 26.2% from last season (Note:  FOX aired the Super Bowl in 2014-15; with that excluded, the year-to-year drop was […]

  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.  […]

  THE MCCARTHYS:  Thursday 9:30PM on CBS THE FACTS:  Ronnie McCarthy (Jake Lacy) is part of a lovingly smothering Boston Irish-Catholic family, who are just fine with him being gay but embarrass him at every turn anyway.  The series was created by Brian Gallivan, a relative newbie, so the showrunner will be Mike Sikowitz, of […]

  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 […]

  FOX issued some glad tidings on Friday with the group renewals of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Mindy Project, New Girl and The Following, and today it was time for another shoe to fall.  The network announced that the one-hour April 4 season finale of quirky sitcom RAISING HOPE will in fact be its series finale, […]