NBC DUMPING MOST OF ITS SITCOMS (Updated)

NBC, which again wound up at the bottom of the ratings heap at the end of the fall season, is tossing out a slew of shows that were its worst performers, including 1600 Penn, Up All Night, Guys with Kids and Whitney. Two other comedies, 30 Rock and The Office are ending their runs, and […]

PEACOCK LAYS AN EGG ON THURSDAY

NBC, which got off to one of its best starts in years at the beginning of the week, had its feathers plucked ruthlessly on Thursday as it unveiled its much-promoted comedy lineup ahead of its competitors’ fall premieres. Particularly disappointing was its Saturday Night Live Election Special which drew just 5.16 million viewers, down a […]

THE OFFICE WILL SHUT ITS DOORS IN MAY

The paper chase that is The Office will come to an end in May, executive producer Greg Daniels told reporters on Tuesday. Asked whether Steve Carell would be returning for the wrap-up then, Daniels would only say, “We would certainly wish for it.” Ratings for the show — never all that high despite the fact […]

THURSDAY RATINGS PLUNGE ACROSS THE BOARD

Ordinarily Thursday is television’s biggest night of the week. It’s also the night when advertisers spend the most. But those advertisers will likely be unhappy with what they got for their money on Thursday of this week. as audiences declined across the board. ABC aired the live finale of its singing-competition series Duets but drew […]

CBS A HIT ON THURSDAY EVEN WITH RERUNS; NBC COLLAPSES

All of the broadcast networks aired reruns Thursday night, with CBS far in the lead in every half hour of primetime among both total adults and 18-49 year-olds, according to Nielsen Media Research. Its 8:00 p.m. comedy The Big Bang Theory actually drew 10.2 million viewers, nearly as many as those watching all of the […]

NBC UNDER COMCAST: ITS WOES WORSEN

Despite cleaning out NBC’s old management, increasing the budget for fall shows, and introducing some costly new shows supported by equally costly marketing, Comcast, which now controls the network, not only hasn’t seen ratings for the network improve, it has seen them grow worse, the New York Times observed today (Tuesday). “While every other network […]

ABC TOPS AMONG AFFLUENT VIEWERS

During the first week of the new season, CBS may have come out ahead in the ratings as the most-watched network among total adults and Fox as the most-watched among the key 18-49 demographic, but ABC wants it known that it came out on top among affluent viewers. Among adults 18-49 with incomes of $100,000 […]

GEORGE LOPEZ LOPPED OFF TBS

TBS’s hope of creating a solid two-hour late-night block of Conan O’Brien followed by George Lopez has gone the way of the primetime Jay Leno/O’Brien-Tonight-show fiasco, with Lopez axed after less than a year in his midnight timeslot (and O’Brien struggling in the ratings). TBS, however, is not allowing Lopez the long goodbye that NBC […]

EMMY SHINES SPOTLIGHT ON FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS

Friday Night Lights, the critically praised but ratings-challenged drama, is going out with a bang. The show, which recently was able to stay alive by first being televised on DirecTV before being rerun on NBC, was nominated today (Thursday) as one of the five dramas in the best drama category in the 63rd Primetime Emmy […]

THE CLIMAX OF THE OFFICE IS ANTI-CLIMACTIC

In the end, the climactic episode of The Office — the one in which Steve Carrell as office manager Michael Scott checks out — turned out to be an anticlimax. The episode was as jumbled as the ratings, critics said. They seemed to agree that it was mostly boring but with some solid laughs thrown […]

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