NBC SCORES BIGGEST RATINGS WIN IN YEARS

The beginning of the football season dominated the Nielsen ratings chart for last week, with NFL-related programs on NBC accounting for six of the top ten programs. With NBC’s America’s Got Talent accounting for two more, the struggling network wound up with a whopping 80 percent of the top ten, something it has not accomplished […]

CLINTON DRAWS MILLIONS AWAY FROM NFL KICKOFF (Updated)

NBC and the NFL moved the season kickoff of NFL football to Wednesday night so that it would not have to compete against President Obama’s acceptance speech on Thursday, the usual night for the kickoff. But while the game drew 23.9 million viewers and was the third most-watched kickoff game ever, it fell far short […]

REPUBLICAN CONVENTION — A LAUGH FOR YOUNGER VIEWERS

With its tilt toward conservative viewers, Fox News Channel was certain to capture the most viewers during the Republican National Convention last week. And it did. What turned out to be surprising, however, was that it was not No. 1 among the 18-34 age group who tuned in. But then, Fox’s principal competitors, CNN and […]

STEWART MOCKS EASTWOOD’S “OLD MAN AND THE SEAT”

With late-night TV comedians virtually ignoring Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention and focusing instead on mocking Clint Eastwood’s “empty chair” performance earlier in the evening, President Obama undoubtedly must have felt that the actor made his day. In an interview with USA Today, the president said that he was a “huge […]

NBC WON’T AIR DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION ON WEDNESDAY

There was a time when all three major television networks broadcast the Republican and Democratic national conventions “gavel to gavel.” No longer. In more recent years, they’ve reduced their coverage to one hour per night. And now, it appears, NBC won’t present any coverage at all of the Democratic convention on Wednesday, Sept. 5. That’s […]