Through Sunday and 52 games, the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament on CBS and three Turner networks (TNT, TBS and TruTV) is combining for over 11.6 million viewers 2+ live+same day in an average minute, up +10% from last year and up +6% from the 2012-2016 average to a recent high, according to Nielsen television ratings. CBS […]

  A definition of pathetic:  the combined rating for the four broadcast networks last night sunk below a 4 rating with adults 18-49, down 33% from the same night last year. CBS:  For what it’s worth, a 1.1 average allowed CBS to claim victory last night.  BIG BROTHER was the highest-rated show of the evening […]

Sadly, if not surprisingly, the most notable development on TV last night was the quick dissipation of any promise from last week’s premiere that The Newsroom had learned from its Season 1 mistakes, as its insufferable self-righteousness (the 9/11 flashback) and unspeakable rom-com contortions (the laundromat excursion) were on full display.  Ah well.  Meanwhile, to the […]

  We don’t have data yet for the season premiere of Breaking Bad, which frankly is of more interest than any of the blah network numbers last night. CBS:  The 0.3 boost for 60 MINUTES (to 1.2) is probably mostly due to a 9-minute overrun for the end of the PGA CHAMPIONSHIP, and will be […]

Official ratings for Thursday came down to a combined 3.6 adult 18-49 rating for the five over-the-air broadcast networks last night from a very misleading 6.7 rating in the fast nationals, which were inflated by many local pre-emptions for the final night of NFL preseason games.  CBS declined 0.9 rating point from the fast nationals […]

  Marvel took over more of the universe last night. ABC:  AGENTS OF SHIELD was meant to be a blockbuster from the moment its development was announced, and so it was, with a giant 4.6 start that tied The Voice in the 8PM hour.  That’s 50% higher than the 3.1 debut for ABC’s last try at […]

  With most of another week’s ratings in the books, CBS, FOX and NBC took care of business today–although the first two networks handed out promotions while the Peacock issued pink slips. CBS gave back orders to its new sitcoms THE MILLERS, THE CRAZY ONES and MOM.  Millers was a no-brainer–it’s been consistently holding on […]

  NBC’s undead are starting to look like corpses. NBC:  Just 3 weeks into its season, GRIMM is down to 1.3, already as low as the show scored all last spring.  That’s down half a point from its season debut 2 weeks ago, and down 0.2 from last week.  It was in 3rd place at […]