OLYMPICS:  The WINTER OLYMPICS OPENING CEREMONIES had a preliminary 8.6 rating in 18-49s.  That was up 2.4 from the non-medal events aired on Thursday, but down 0.8 from the 2010 Vancouver Opening Ceremonies.  (And for those with a long-range point of view, up 2.1 from the 2006 Opening Ceremonies from Turin.) OTHER NETWORKS:  As […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #6 of 2014 looks like $132 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, well ahead of last year’s disaster of a weekend but still 20% behind the usual pace for this weekend.  The Lego Movie is a huge hit, but the rest of the box office is providing little support. […]

  2014 has its first smash hit, as preliminary numbers at Deadline give THE LEGO MOVIE (Warners) a huge $18M Friday.  Since Saturday matinees should only boost the family-oriented animated comedy-adventure, that should bring it over $60M for the weekend, and with the Presidents Day holiday dead ahead and no other family movie on the […]

  AFTERNOON UPDATE:  The WINTER OLYMPICS climbed 0.2 in final numbers, as did  THE BIG BANG THEORY.  AMERICAN IDOL and 2 1/2 MEN were both up 0.1, while THE MILLERS had the only drop, down 0.1. THURSDAY CABLE:  PAWN STARS (History) took the lead at 1.2, up 0.1.  APPALACHIAN OUTLAWS was behind at 0.9, also […]

  For a determinedly noncontroversial guy, there may not have been a television figure in the last twenty-five years more scrutinized than Jay Leno.  He stood at the media epicenter in the 1990s, when he warred with David Letterman for Johnny Carson’s crown, then again when he was both predecessor of and inheritor to Conan […]

  The last pre-Olympics night for a while. FOX:  AMERICAN IDOL reached Hollywood and leveled out, up 0.1 from last week to 3.9. ABC:  THE MIDDLE dropped 0.1 to 2.2, and SUBURGATORY was down 0.1 to 1.7 from its last airing after a new Middle, although up 0.2 from last week when it followed a […]

Wednesday fast national ratings and relevant comparisons:

  NBC was desperate to get Michael J. Fox back on its air, so much so that it ordered 22 episodes of his series before a pilot had even been produced.  But viewers had much less interest in Fox’s return, especially in what turned out to be such a pedestrian vehicle, and the show’s only […]