> February Sweeps go out not with a bang, but with the other thing. ABC:  The first “midseason arc” episode of REVENGE looked almost exactly like all the other episodes, so it was fitting that the rating stayed even.  The show will now take a break from fresh episodes until the end-of-season push in April.  […]

> On Saturday night, HBO’s GAME CHANGE scored the network’s highest premiere rating for an original TV-movie in 8 years.  (As it always the case with HBO, the movie will be rebroadcast many times, as well as being available on HBO GO and other platforms.)  While there were certainly A list names associated with the […]

> Other shows aired last night besides Mad Men. AMC:  Nevertheless, let’s start there.  Early numbers on the MAD MEN premiere give it the show’s biggest audience ever, higher than the season 4 premiere by a factor of over 20%, and with an 18-49 rating of around 1.2 that was 30% higher than last season’s […]

      NETWORK FINALS:  As anticipated, ABC’s NBA FINALS rose to 6.4 after adjustment (0.1 below Monday’s Game 5), and FOX’s US OPEN coverage rose to 0.7.  In addition, the 8:30PM episode of AP BIO lost 0.1 in final numbers, and the rerun THE BIG BANG THEORY gained the same.           […]

> FRINGE needs another timeline. FOX: FRINGE fell back to a 1.0, which looks even worse because Grimm was up this week, making last week’s tie a dim memory. Still, these aren’t very different from the numbers that got the show renewed last season, so it’s not dead yet. THE FINDER, on the other hand, […]

> A lot can happen between the creation of a TV pilot in the spring and the 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) give plenty of notes, helpful and otherwise, and critics begin to […]

  A dip for CELEBRITY FAMILY FEUD. DEMOGRAPHIC DETAIL: For each broadcast program (or hour segment), the chart below displays preliminary live+same day 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 […]

The highest rated program on cable the past week was Game 4 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals on ESPN, a very good 4.9 rating with Adults 18-49 Sunday night.  (Boston tied the series 2-2 with a 93-91 overtime victory over the Miami Heat.)  It was also the highest rated program with young adults on […]