The hills were mostly alive with the sound of football on network TV last night, but there was some music there too. ABC:  Carrie Underwood and her companions notwithstanding, the 1965 film version of THE SOUND OF MUSIC, which has been airing on network TV since 1976, was up 0.2 from last year’s broadcast […]

  Vintage TV beat vintage Hollywood on a very slow night. CBS:  It doesn’t say much to be “#1 for the night” when the result is a 1.4 rating, but the colorized I LOVE LUCY HOLIDAY SPECIAL can claim that honor.  (In the older-skewing total viewers metric, Lucy was CBS’s least-watched show of the night.) […]

  The X Factor ended its season with no miraculous ratings recovery. FOX:  Although THE X FACTOR‘s season finale was up 0.5 from last week to 1.7, that number was down a horrific 1.4 from last year’s finale, barely more than half as strong.  With 3 weekly hours of primetime in the balance, FOX has […]

  AFTERNOON UPDATE:  The BARBARA WALTERS 10 MOST FASCINATING PEOPLE special gained 0.1, going out on a high note with 2.2.  In addition, the Celine Dion HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS special picked up 0.1, bringing it to a still-low 0.7, while the IHEARTRADIO JINGLE BELL special was less impressive after it lost 0.1 to 0.5. […]

  AFTERNOON UPDATE:  Little excitement in the final numbers.  THE VOICE gained 0.1 for a 4.0 total, still substantially below last year’s fall finale.  On CBS, NCIS and PERSON OF INTEREST also both added 0.1, and a couple of the night’s reruns likewise fluctuated by a single tenth. TUESDAY CABLE:  A quiet night on cable […]

  AFTERNOON UPDATE:  The only ratings adjustments were due to local football coverage in Detroit and Cincinnati.  On NBC, THE VOICE held onto its 3.3, but THE SING-OFF dropped 0.2 to 2.0, while at ABC, THE GREAT CHRISTMAS LIGHT FIGHT lost 0.2 to a painful 1.0. MONDAY CABLE:  MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL (ESPN) was of course […]

  On a night dotted with football (adjusted up below to anticipated final numbers), it didn’t pay to be the odd network out. ABC:  The fall finale of ONCE UPON A TIME didn’t go the way ABC had hoped, dropping 0.2 from last week to 1.9, which tied its all-time low.  The show doesn’t return […]

  Embattled ABC fared the best on a slow night. ABC:  LAST MAN STANDING was down 0.2 from last week to 1.2, but things improved after that, as THE NEIGHBORS held at 0.9, SHARK TANK was easily the highest rated show of the night on any network, steady at 2.0, and 20/20 rose 0.3 to […]