CBS HOPING TO REPLACE GOOD SHOWS WITH BETTER ONES

When CBS unveils its programming lineup later this week, $#*! My Dad Says, The Defenders and Mad Love will not be on it. All three shows got decent ratings — but decent isn’t good enough for CBS, the highest-rated of all the broadcast networks. The cancellations were first disclosed by Broadcasting and Cable magazine. The […]

CBS WINS NOVEMBER SWEEPS

Daily Variety has projected CBS to be the winner among total viewers in the crucial November sweeps, which end tonight (Wednesday) and to tie with Fox among 18-49-year-old viewers. Easily the top-rated “show” of the month was NBC’s Sunday Night Football, while CBS and Fox each received impressive ratings for late-afternoon NFL telecasts on Sunday, […]

CBS EXTENDS LIFE OF ALL ITS NEW SHOWS

New series introduced by its competitors this season may be struggling, but CBS’s are doing, well, just all right. Although none is a breakout hit, CBS indicated on Thursday that it’s going to give them a reasonable amount of time to prove themselves. It gave each of the five new shows a full-season order. The […]

LIVE 30 ROCK ROCKS!

Thursday night’s special live edition of NBC’s 30 Rock may not have provided much that could be considered special, TV writers observed today (Friday), but it did boost its audience by 43 percent from last week to 6.63 million. Nevertheless, it remained in third place in its time period, well below the 10.14 million viewers […]

SHATNER’S RATINGS BEGINNING TO LOOK LIKE $#!?

Producers of CBS’s $#!? My Dad Says probably said that about Thursday night’s ratings for the show. According to overnight Nielsen’s the show, which stars William Shatner, drew 9.78 million viewers, after launching three weeks ago with 12.58 million and dropping to 10.43 million last week. Nevertheless, the show remained in first place in its […]

THEORY SETS OFF A BIG BANG ON THURSDAYS

CBS’s dicey decision to move its hit Monday-night comedy The Big Bang Theory from Monday night to Thursday has turned out to have been a wise one. In its second week in the 8:00 p.m. time period, Theory captured 12.97 million viewers and was also tops among adults 18-49. At 8:30 $#!? My Dad Says […]

NEW SEASON GETS OFF TO SLOW START

A massive effort by the broadcast networks to roll out new and returning shows during the first week of the new season failed to pay off, the Wall Street Journal indicated today (Monday). Citing Nielsen data, the newspaper reported that an average of 9.7 million viewers tuned in to the four major networks during primetime […]

CBS RETURNS TO TOP ON THURSDAY

CBS won the crucial Thursday-night ratings race on the first week of the new season with a big bang. Moving its high-rated The Big Bang Theory from Monday night, CBS garnered even higher ratings for it, 13.95 million viewers for the season opener. That, in turn, led into the series premier of $#*! My Dad […]

CBS PRESIDENT VOWS TO ADD MORE GAY CHARACTERS

CBS President Nina Tassler conceded Wednesday that she is “very disappointed” with her network’s progress in incorporating gay characters into its scripted shows. Asked about the failing grade that CBS received from the gay activist group GLAAD, Tassler told television critics meeting at their annual “tour” in Beverly Hills, CA, “We know, and we will […]