The fourth Thursday of the season offered a big opportunity for ABC, CBS and NBC, as FOX had to pre-empt The X Factor for a postseason MLB game that no one cares about.  A lot of displaced X Factor viewers decided not to sample the other network fare and scattered to cable.  No broadcast network could claim  an […]

  BBCAmerica has renewed its first original scripted drama COPPER for a 2d 13-episode season in 2013.  The network claims a total audience of 1M+ per episode, but that must count multiple airings and other platforms, since its most recent episode had about half a million viewers in its initial airing.  As a period piece, […]

  Rizzo RIP. Last night’s 1.0 rating was too much for even NBC to stomach, and ANIMAL PRACTICE is the Peacock’s first victim of the season.  The show will continue to go through the motions for 3 more weeks, with a final broadcast on Nov. 7.  But look out:  coming to the “rescue” is WHITNEY, […]

  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 […]

Only one of last week’s premieres held its number. CW:  What does it say about the broadcast season when the only good news on a fall night came from CW?  ARROW is looking like a genuine hit with a steady 1.3, beating hapless NBC in the hour (see our not-so-enthusiastic pilot + 1 review here).  […]

Pretty much a train wreck on network TV last night.  CBS stumbled to a first place victory in the preliminary fast nationals with a 2.7 rating in prime time.  ABC plunged from a 3.3 last week to a 2.6 this week (mainly due to the collapse of Nashville in week two and an okay opening […]

  Last night’s intermittent rain delay in the St. Louis/San Francisco NATIONAL LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYOFFS game caused a potential 2-night disaster for FOX (but an unexpected opportunity for ABC). The game had started at 4PM East Coast time, and was supposed to end before primetime, when FOX would air THE X FACTOR.  But the rain delay […]

This weekend is on track to be the fourth weekend in a row to be up over the previous years.  Paranormal Activity 4 opens very large but will play out very quickly as the young, horror audience flocks to the first weekend.  Tyler Perry puts down his Madea outfit and his writer-producer-director suit and simply […]