>Pity the poor Former National Pastime.  In the quarter century that Nielsen has used the PeopleMeter to measure demographic ratings, viewership of the World Series has dropped by more than half in the key advertising sales demographic.  From 1987 (the first year demographic ratings came from electronic meters and remote controls rather than a paper diary) […]

  A very steady if unexciting night on the networks. FOX:  The closest thing to an event in primetime last night was the season finale of HELL’S KITCHEN, which was up a tick from last week to 2.2 (but off 0.2 from last season’s finale, which didn’t air till Sept 2012). ABC:  WIPEOUT fell even […]

  OPENINGS:  It’s likely that THE 355 (Universal) would have been challenged at the box office even in normal times, considering that its level of action spectacle is significantly lower than superhero movies can afford, and that the cast features performers who are extremely talented but with little proven appeal to ticketbuyers.  (The 27% score […]

> The World Series continued to have little effect on the competition, although that might change on Wednesday. CBS:  Once adjustments are made to remove local coverage of last night’s football game, the line-up should be just about where it was last week.  With the successful transition to Ashton Kutcher on 2 1/2 MEN and […]

  Tossing IN THE HEART OF THE SEA (Village Roadshow/Warners) onto what is historically one of the weakest box office weekends of the year–and this year also just days ahead of the arrival of cinema’s Death Star–was a Hail Mary, and it’s not paying off.  Based on preliminary numbers at Deadline, it earned $4M on […]

  OPENINGS:  The production budget for 2 GUNS (Universal) was funded by producers Emmett/Furla and Foresight Entertainment, with Universal just on the hook for marketing and distribution.  In addition, the overseas distribution is being handled by other studios.  All of this limits Universal’s risk and also its upside, and since the movie had a $10M […]

  OPENINGS:  Pedro Almodovar’s PARALLEL MOTHERS (Sony Classics) expanded to wide release at 684 theaters in anticipation of the Oscar nominations that are little more than a week away, but its $300K weekend translated into a per-theater average under $500. HOLDOVERS:  The lack of any new Hollywood competition was as usual good for the films […]

> A lot can happen between the creation of a TV pilot in the spring and production of episodes for the regular season:  a writing/producing team is hired, audience focus groups weigh in, networks and studios (which may have had their own turnover in the off-season) give plenty of notes, both helpful and otherwise, and […]