>March Madness, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, kicks off this week on CBS and a trio of cable networks (TNT, TBS and TruTV) with University of Kentucky, Michigan State, Syracuse and University of North Carolina the #1 seeds in the four regions.  The ratings impact in prime time is minimal the first week but builds […]

> DISCLAIMER: These initial impressions are based on the clips (usually 3-5 minutes) released by the networks to use in their Upfront presentations and for promos.  They’re chosen to sell the show, not to accurately represent it.  So take the reactions below with a large satchel of salt–we may well feel differently about these shows […]

> A few notes: these projections are for original episodes (no repeats) aired in the 4th quarter of 2011.  Series premieres will likely be .3-.4 higher, thanks to network marketing pushes, and then tend to go down over time.  We’ll be updating the numbers after we see full pilots and also as we get a […]

> The networks have proclaimed their Fall schedules, the new series have been (partially) unveiled, so… what now?  What will actually be worth watching when network TV comes back to life in a few months?  SHOWBUZZDAILY is here to help you out.  The good news is that since virtually all TV series are available these […]

  The rest of the week:  Monday,  Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The Saturday primetime network schedule, such as it is, isn’t worth much attention, being a patchwork of reruns and sports (although we will include estimates for that night in our full-week network projections).  That brings us to Sunday, once the showcase night for […]

>In one week, the curtain goes up on the new television season.  To get you ready for the madness of Premiere Week on broadcast television, we have summarized the ShowBuzzDaily ratings estimates for MONDAYS this Fall.  The first column in the chart below includes the original estimates from late May (after the network upfront presentations to […]

>When all the Sked PLAYERS gather in New York, the pilots have been screened for the network’s own executives, but the only “real people” who’ve seen them are those participating in Research testing.  The results of those tests become the only “objective” data regarding the appeal of a given show, so they’re a critical part […]

> NEW SHOWS in CAPS. New Time Periods in Italics WHAT WE LIKE: With five new shows, CBS provides lead-ins to four of them, asking only A Gifted Man (Patrick Wilson as a surgeon whose dead ex-wife returns) to open a night (Friday).  The two new comedies at 8:30 Monday and Thursday have very compatible […]