The season may have its first genuine drama hit. FOX:  Last night might be slightly skewed by the fact that CBS was in reruns.  Nevertheless, THE FOLLOWING showed enormous strength by actually rising in its 2d week on the air, up slightly from last week’s premiere to 3.3.  That’s the opposite of what most shows, […]

> Disclaimer:  Network pilots now in circulation are not necessarily in the form that will air in the Fall.  Pilots are often reedited and rescored, and in some cases even recast or reshot.  So these critiques shouldn’t be taken as full reviews, but rather as a guide to the general style and content of the […]

More lackluster season finales. DEMOGRAPHIC DETAIL: For each broadcast program (or hour segment), the chart below displays preliminary 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 analysis and comparisons follow the chart. ABC:  […]

  OPENINGS:  Melissa McCarthy is now a genuine Hollywood player with the enormous debut of IDENTITY THIEF (Universal), beating all pre-release estimates with $36.6M.  (Take that, Rex Reed!)  Apart from Universal, the happiest studio in town is Fox, which has the McCarthy/Sandra Bullock vehicle The Heat coming up in the thick of summer movie season […]

> Watch It At Home: Fodder For the Undemanding Young One of the running gags in MR. POPPER’S PENGUINS is that the birds are fascinated by old Charlie Chaplin movies, and can be kept calm for hours just by placing them in front of a TV displaying the silent films.  Mr. Popper’s own ambition is […]

  OPENINGS:  In the US, THE MAZE RUNNER: THE DEATH CURE (20th) had an OK start with $23.5M, down from $32.5M/$30.3M for the first 2 films in the series.  It’s on track for $60-65M here.  However, it’s off to a much better start overseas, where it’s in 70 markets (with about half a dozen still […]

The AUDIENCE MAP series continues with a look back at the complete 2014-2015 television season.  NBC’s primetime lineup is shown below.  As a reminder, the programs are arranged by broadcast schedule, with each show placed on the night it spent most of the season.  The audience share for each of 30 gender-age subgroups is noted for […]

Another night with little for the networks to cheer about. ABC:  The first 90 minutes of the night provided some good news, as THE MIDDLE rebounded a bit from last week’s low to 2.2 (up 0.3), THE NEIGHBORS was up 0.2 to 1.9 and MODERN FAMILY rose a tick to 3.9.  But the tick went […]