> But first–a nod to the sly marketing department at AMC, which cleverly lampooned its own predicament of trying to persuade at least some of the hordes of WALKING DEAD fans to stay tuned to the network next week for a very different show.  The result was a pair of lighthearted promos for Mad Men [...]

> Basketball. CBS:  On a night when the other networks mostly didn’t choose to compete, some enormous upsets in the NCAA TOURNAMENT gave CBS a slam-dunk victory for the night with a (preliminary) 2.2, way higher than last year’s Day 2. CW:  NIKITA returned to the schedule after several weeks of reruns (that show has [...]

>CBS had a good night with the NCAA basketball tournament, averaging a preliminary 2.2 rating with Adults 18-49 from 8-11 pm and beating the 1.5 rating from last year’s comparable night.  Credit goes to a thrilling upset by 15th-seed Lehigh over 2nd-seed Duke in the Southern region.  CBS’s coverage of the climax of that game [...]

> The eagerly-awaited Season 5 of the most honored series on television, an interminable 17 months in the making, contents itself with a single enigmatic image:  Don Draper staring into a department store window, his reflected gaze held by two mannequins, one a naked female, her dress at her feet, the other a seated man [...]

> NBC, taking its successes where it can find them, has renewed GRIMM for a second season.  The show has done solidly on Friday nights, with ratings in the mid-1s that often win the hour, so it was never in any danger of being cancelled–the question for next season is whether NBC feels confident enough [...]

> Greendale Community College 4-Ever! NBC:  The network seized the opportunity opened by CBS’s sure-to-be-low-rated NCAA coverage, and COMMUNITY‘s 2.2 was by far its highest rating of the season.  In fact, it was only 0.1 below THE OFFICE, NBC’s signature scripted sitcom.  That will probably never happen again, so allow a Community fan to savor [...]

>CBS aired the low-rated first round of the NCAA basketball tournament, falling to a fourth-place 1.7 rating with Adults 18-49 (the same as last year’s result).  ABC received some decent news with Missing premiering to a 2.0 rating at 8 pm.  Not a huge number but better than the mid-1 rating they have seen for [...]

> NBC, for whom this season cannot end too soon, has added a few summer premiere dates to its schedule: Monday May 21 9PM:    AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR – reality competition series that will air both on NBC and the G4 cable network Thursday June 7 8PM:    LOVE IN THE WILD – 2d season of reality [...]