Two ABC sitcoms aired without their usual lead-ins, with mixed results. ABC:  The season finale of SUBURGATORY had to be a self-starter last night, airing as a one-hour without either Modern Family or The Middle as a lead-in.  The 8PM half-hour had a 1.5 that was down half a point from recent Middle ratings.  But the show recovered […]

  The absence of Grimm didn’t help its competition. ABC:  The network swan song of HAPPY ENDINGS was technically up, but when you’re comparing 0.8/0.7 to 0.6/0.6, it doesn’t matter much.  SHARK TANK was down 0.3 to 1.7, although it still dominated at 9PM. 20/20, though, was up a healthy 0.4 to 1.6, an easy winner […]

Live awards shows have been surging in the DVR age, and last night it happened again. ABC:  The BILLBOARD MUSIC AWARDS blew away the competition with a 3.6 (peaking at 3.9 in the 9-9:30PM half-hour), the show’s highest rating in 10 years and up a huge 1.2 from last year.  Before that, the season finale […]

  The Voice continued to shine as a lead-in. NBC:  Summer Mondays will belong to NBC as long as THE VOICE is holding down the night, with a 3.2 last night (subject to adjustment later today) that’s currently down 0.1 from last week, tying a Monday low.  The “preview” of THE WINNER IS… benefited from […]

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 […]