The nightly averages below do not include the Presidential Debate from 9:00-10:30 pm ET — since it ran commercial-free (or “sustaining”) those 90 minutes will make it into the nightly, weekly or season averages. FOX scored a 3.4 in the preliminary fast nationals for X Factor, and a 2.8 for its Fox News coverage of the […]

NOTE: Both NBC and FOX sports programming last night were broadcast live in the Pacific Time Zone. That western viewing is not reflected in the fast nationals below and will be added to the official nationals for Saturday next week.  DEMOGRAPHIC DETAIL: For each broadcast program (or hour segment), the chart below displays preliminary live+same day […]

  AMERICAN HORROR STORY returned last night with a different storyline, setting and cast, and also brought along some new viewers to scare.  Last night’s Season 2 debut had what should end up as a 2.0 18-49 rating, considerably up from the 1.7 it earned for last season’s finale, and enough to beat or at […]

  AMC has renewed its building-the-railroad melodrama HELL ON WHEELS for a 10-episode 3rd season.  The renewal was far from a sure thing, as the show has indifferent ratings among 18-49s (the recent season finale was at 0.5, which was around where the series usually landed where it didn’t have a strong lead-in), but it […]

        NETWORK FINALS:  60 MINUTES gained 0.1 in final numbers.         Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart     CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  The increased number of people stuck at home didn’t help all shows.  On HBO, the season premiere of WESTWORLD arrived at 0.29, down a steep 0.60 from its […]

  Yesterday ABC announced a full-season order for NASHVILLE, adding the usual back 9 to its initial 13 episodes.  The show’s ratings haven’t been great, hovering in the 1.8-2.0 neighborhood in recent weeks, but that’s been enough for 2d place in the hour (except last week, when Chicago Fire received a boost from a massive […]

  AMC:  With one week to go until its fall finale, THE WALKING DEAD was of course at the top of the night, with a combined 7.0 (up 0.3 from last week) for its two primetime airings.  As has become traditional, this was only behind the week’s network football games (Sunday and Thanksgiving night) as […]

LAST NIGHT.  Christmas came again to NBC in the form of last night’s Sunday Night Football game, the final regular season game of the year but which actually was an extra playoff game.  Washington defeated Dallas in a game that awarded the NFC East title and more importantly the final playoff spot.  The game received a 9.2 […]