> Forget about prestige drama and comedy:  it turned out all NBC needed was some dining on bugs. NBC:  FEAR FACTOR returned to the airwaves with a tremendous 3.4 average over 2 hours.  This is great news for a network that sorely needs some, but it’s worth noting that in this same holiday period last […]

> AKA the season’s final pre-American Idol Wednesday. NBC:   In the absence of the 600-pound gorilla that’s arriving in a week, the new 8-9PM hour did respectably.  WHITNEY‘s 2.1 was slightly higher than where Up All Night had settled in last fall, and ARE YOU THERE, CHELSEA built a bit on that to a 2.3, […]

  DANCING WITH THE STARS had a mild bump in its season premiere. DEMOGRAPHIC DETAIL: For each broadcast program (or hour segment), the chart below displays preliminary live+same day key advertiser demographics (adult 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54 ratings), audience skews (women 18-49, men 18-49 and adults 50+ shares) and total viewership (thousands of people over the […]

> Whatever one’s reservations about the entertainment value of AMC’s THE WALKING DEAD, there’s no question that it’s a blockbuster.  Even airing against the highest-rated Grammy Awards in more than 20 years, Walking Dead broke its own record for cable drama.  In its initial 9PM airing, the show had 5.4 million 18-49 viewers, 12% higher […]

  Just about everything not on CBS was down. DEMOGRAPHIC DETAIL: For each broadcast program (or hour segment), the chart below displays preliminary live+same day key advertiser demographics (adult 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54 ratings), audience skews (women 18-49, men 18-49 and adults 50+ shares) and total viewership (thousands of people over the age of 2). Ratings […]

> Showtime announced today the return of 2 of its signature dramas:  both DEXTER and HOMELAND will begin their new seasons on Sunday, September 30. Not coincidentally, this is exactly 1 week after the year’s Emmy Awards on September 23, at which Showtime will be hoping that both shows–but particularly the dazzling and widely-acclaimed Homeland–will […]

> Welcome to April:  pilots are being produced and prepared for executive screenings, all but a very few of the 2011/12 series have aired, and we’re only 6 weeks away from the hoopla of the network Upfronts and their attendant announcement of next season’s Fall TV schedules.  Mitch Metcalf and I sat down with veteran […]

  Halloween seemed to hurt some networks more than others. DEMOGRAPHIC DETAIL: For each broadcast program (or hour segment), the chart below displays preliminary live+same day key advertiser demographics (adult 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54 ratings), audience skews (women 18-49, men 18-49 and adults 50+ shares) and total viewership (thousands of people over the age of 2). […]