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Obama Scandals Bring MSNBC 7-Year Low While Fox News Rises

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Monday May 20, 2013 @ 4:44pm PDTTags: Barack Obama, CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, TV Ratings

MSNBCThe scandals of the Obama administration seem to be hurting not just the White House but MSNBC as well while Fox News Channel scored its second-best week of the year. After double-digit gains during last year’s presidential election, May 13-17 saw the progressive-aligned “Lean Forward” news network hit new lows as the IRS scandal erupted and revelations that the Justice Department secretly obtained AP records became public. With 350,000 viewers on average and 94,000 among the adults 25-54 demo, MSNBC had its least-watched and lowest-rated total-day results of the year last week. That was also the lowest total-day demo result the network has had since the week of June 26-July 2, 2006, when MSNBC pulled in just 83,000 viewers among adults 25-54, according to Nielsen data.

Related: Fox News Tops 2012 Cable News Network Ratings; MSNBC Up
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VH1 Announces ‘Downloaded’ Docu Theatrical & VOD Runs

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Monday May 20, 2013 @ 4:41pm PDTTags: Alex Winter, Downloaded, VH1

Alex Winter’s documentary about the rise and fall of Napster will open at Manhattan’s Village East Cinema on Friday, June 21 and the Sundance Sunset Cinemas in Los Angeles on June 28, VH1 announced today. Focusing … Read More »

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Warner Bros TV & ‘Smallville’ Co-Creators End Legal Battle

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Monday May 20, 2013 @ 2:33pm PDTTags: Smallville, the CW, Warner Bros Television Group

Warner Bros Television and the creators of Smallville are not taking their multimillion-dollar legal battle to a jury after all. Lawyers for WBTV and co-creators/writers Miles Millar and Alfred Gough announced in a hearing today that they have reached a settlement in their breach of contract and conflict of interest dispute. No details of the settlement were made public. LA Superior Court Judge Michael Johnson told the parties today that they now have until August 30 to file a formal request for dismissal. Millar and Gough along with Tollin/Robbins Productions claimed in their initial $100 million vertical integration suit, first filed in March 2010, that WBTV signed low-balling licensing deals with the WB and later the CW that were nowhere near the requisite arms-length nor conducted with the good faith that they should have been. Tollin/Robbins came to a settlement with WBTV back in early January. Read More »

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RATINGS RAT RACE: Billboard Awards Surge From 2012, ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ Finale Falls, ‘Simpsons’ Finale Flat

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Monday May 20, 2013 @ 9:19am PDTTags: Billboard Awards, Celebrity Apprentice, The Simpsons, TV Ratings

Just like last year, the last Sunday of the broadcast season saw a schedule full of specials and finales. Unlike 2012, the specials and the finales split the difference for the top spots. With wins by Taylor Swift and Madonna, boos from the audience directed at Justin Bieber and a closing performance from Prince, the 2013 Billboard Awards (3.6/10) was up big from last year.  On ABC for the third year in a row, the live three-hour Tracy Morgan-hosted ceremony surged up from its 2012 broadcast. The highest-rated show of the night. The Billboard Awards was up 33% among adults 18-49 and up 28% in total viewers to 9.47 million watching. ABC aired the season finale of America’s Funniest Home Videos (1.8/6) before the Billboard Awards. The most watched show of the night with 9.84 million viewers, the original found footage show was up 29% from its May 12 show and up 20% from last year’s finale on May 20, 2012. With 8.863 million watching, ABC won the night among viewers and adults 18-49.
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‘Vampire Academy’ Adds ‘Modern Family’s’ Sarah Hyland, Gabriel Byrne & More To Cast

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Saturday May 18, 2013 @ 11:32am PDTTags: Gabriel Byrne, Modern Family, Sarah Hyland, The Weinstein Company, Vampire Academy, Vikings

EXCLUSIVE: The Weinstein Company‘s Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters has added the final pieces to its casting puzzle. … Read More »

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RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Shark Tank’ Finale Up, ‘Undercover Boss’ Finale Down, ‘Rock Center’ Up, ABC Wins Friday Night

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Saturday May 18, 2013 @ 10:27am PDTTags: Nikita, Shark Tank, TV Ratings, Undercover Boss

Nothing says Disney like crossover and that’s what the Season 4 finale of Shark Tank (1.9/7) saw last night on the last Friday of the 2012-2013 TV season. Dr. Heinz Doofenshmitz of Disney Channel’s Phineas and Ferb showed up to give the Sharks a pitch last night on the Disney-owned ABC, though they weren’t really biting. With an online dating service looking for some investment plus a grilled cheese franchise in the making too, Friday also saw the entrepreneurial reality series rise. Shark Tank was up 6% from last week’s show and up 19% from its Season 3 finale on May 18, 2012. The 9 PM Shark Tank finale was both the highest rated show of the night and the most watched with 6.57 million tuning in. Preceded by a special Shark Tank (1.2/5) in the 8 PM slot where Happy Endings sat this season, the finale of the unscripted series was followed at 10 PM by 20/20 (1.5/5) The ABC newsmagazine show was down 12% from its May 10 show among Adults 18-49 but up 25% the final Friday of last season. ABC won the night among adults 18-49 and, with 5.720 million watching, total viewers.
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RATINGS RAT RACE UPDATE: ‘American Idol’ Hits All-Time Finale Low, ‘The Office’ Series Finale Up, ‘Scandal’ Finale Surges

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Friday May 17, 2013 @ 9:34am PDTTags: American Idol, Scandal, The Big Bang Theory, The Office, TV Ratings

UPDATE, 9:34 AM: Final American Idol finale numbers are in from Nielsen. While the show remains at an all-time low, it did see an expected adjustment upward. The 8-10:07 PM Idol garnered a 3.6 rating with 14.3 million viewers, which is down 44% in ratings from Season 11′s finale and down 33% in viewership. The show was up 24% from its May 8 episode.

PREVIOUSLY, 8:19 AM: Thursday saw a flurry of finales including American Idol (3.4/11) ending its 12th season with an all-time finale low and The Office closing its doors for good. Declaring a winner from the final two female contestants, the more than two-hour live Idol was down 47% in preliminary ratings from the 6.4/18 final numbers of Season 11’s finale on May 23, 2012. It’s the first Idol finale to have less than 20 million viewers. The show, which went nearly eight minutes over the hour and will likely be adjusted up in the final numbers, pulled in 13.61 million viewers from 8-10:07 PM last night. That’s nearly 8 million viewers less than the 21.5 million who watched last year’s season finale. For the first time ever, the Idol finale wasn’t even the highest-rated show of the night — the Season 6 finale of The Big Bang Theory (4.4/16) topped Thursday. Facing off in the 8-8:30 slot, Idol garnered a 2.8 in adults 18-49 against the CBS geek sitcom. Idol was also way down from the 6.0/16 rating and 17.93 million viewers of the Season 12 premiere on January 16. Thursday’s finale was up 28% in adults 18-49 over last week’s show and saw a bounce from the 11.6 million viewers who watched May 9. With 13.608 millon watching, Fox won Thursday in total viewers and adults 18-49. (See complete list of American Idol finale viewership and ratings numbers below)

Related: Anyone Care Who Won ‘American Idol’? Read More »

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Adam Sandler To Leno: “Maybe Go To Fox”

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Thursday May 16, 2013 @ 7:48pm PDTTags: Adam Sandler, Jay Leno, The Tonight Show

Jay Leno is readying to exit stage left from NBC’s Tonight Show next February. So Adam Sandler was a guest Thursday and offered a little unsolicited advice about Leno’s post-Tonight plans. Of course, Sandler doesn’t mention that the problem is that Fox would have to get clearance for any late-night show from the affiliates who get to keep all the ad revenue from their late local news. Fox then might have to compensate them for any lost revenue. In other words, it’s complicated. Read the transcript after the jump: Read More »

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CAA Signs CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Thursday May 16, 2013 @ 5:39pm PDTTags: Agency Signing, CAA, CNBC, Maria Bartiromo

The first woman to report live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange is now with Creative Artists Agency. CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo will be represented by the agency in all areas. Presently the … Read More »

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‘Grey’s Anatomy’s’ Camilla Luddington Set For ‘The Pact II’

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Thursday May 16, 2013 @ 3:31pm PDTTags: Camilla Luddington, Grey's Anatomy, The Pact II, Tomb Raider

EXCLUSIVE: Grey’s Anatomy is wrapping up its ninth season tonight but Camilla Luddington has a scary summer ahead of her. The actress, who plays Dr. Jo Wilson on the ABC medical drama this year, is … Read More »

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Shakira & Usher Returning To ‘The Voice’ For Season 6

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Thursday May 16, 2013 @ 2:13pm PDTTags: Cee Lo Green, Christina Aguilera, Shakira, The Voice, Usher

All of this season’s judges on The Voice are coming back but not until next spring. NBC is close to finalizing deals that will see Shakira and Usher returning to the singing competition show for Season … Read More »

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CNN Adds Former KNBC Anchor Stephanie Elam As LA Correspondent

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Thursday May 16, 2013 @ 1:49pm PDTTags: CNN, Jeff Zucker, KNBC, Stephanie Elam

Stephanie Elam is returning to her old home at CNN, the network said today. The former NYC-based business reporter for the cable news network will now serve as a correspondent based out of LA. Elam joined … Read More »

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RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ Steps It Up, ‘Idol’ Rises, ‘CSI’ Finale Down, ‘Supernatural’ Finale & ‘Nashville’ Up

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Thursday May 16, 2013 @ 9:09am PDTTags: American Idol, Arrow, CSI, So You Think You Can Dance, TV Ratings

It was Nigel Lythgoe night on Fox on Wednesday with back-to-back competition shows produced by the former choreographer. Almost to the finish line, it was the season’s last performance night for American Idol (2.9/10). Finalists Candice Glover and Kree Harrison sang three songs each on the one-hour live show from LA’s Nokia Theatre. The most-watched show of the night with 11.57 million viewers, Idol was even with the final numbers of last week’s two-hour show but up 12% in the 8-9 PM hour. As is common with live shows, those results could be adjusted in the final numbers later today. Tonight’s finale will see a few surprises aside from declaring a winner, including performances of new tunes from judges Mariah Carey — with Randy Jackson on bass — and Keith Urban.

The second night of the two-part premiere of Season 10 of So You Think You Can Dance (2.3/6) headed to Detroit for the first time for the next round of auditions, with Season 4’s tWitch joining the judges panel, SYTYCD benefited from its Idol lead-in with a 21% jump over Tuesday’s premiere. It also saw viewership leap 39% to 7.11 million. On a night that saw the NBA Playoffs on TNT, Fox was tops in both viewers and adults 18-49 among the broadcast networks. Read More »

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Lionsgate’s Codeblack Films Acquires Sundance Pic ‘The Inevitable Defeat Of Mister And Pete’

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Wednesday May 15, 2013 @ 5:47pm PDTTags: Big Deals Film, CAA, Codeblack Films, Lionsgate, Sundance Film Festival, The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete

EXCLUSIVE: A film about two abandoned and scared boys trying to survive in New York City has found a new home. Codeblack Films has picked up US distribution for The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete. The … Read More »

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TV WEEKLY WARFARE: CBS Tops Demo & Viewers; ABC Rises & Fox Falls Among Adults 18-49

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Wednesday May 15, 2013 @ 5:14pm PDTTags: ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, The Big Bang Theory

“We’re very flattered when he called us ‘smug motherfuckers’, that means we’re winning. We’ll try to be a little bit more gracious but that’s hard for me as you know,” CBS boss Les Moonves said today in response to remarks Jimmy Kimmel made on Tuesday about the network’s No. 1 ranking this season. Moonves’ comments came just hours before CBS’ Carnegie Hall Upfront presentation where there was no shortage of chest thumping on display as the CBS President and CEO and others boasted about the network winning the season this year. Well, the 2012-2013 season is almost over, but Week 33 gave Moonves’ gang a little more that they’ll have to try to be less smug about. The second full week of the May sweep saw CBS once again No.1 in both viewers and among Adults 18-49 for the week of May 6 to May 12 with 9.349 million watching and a 2.0/6 and 2.6 million in the demo. That’s up from the 1.9/6 the network was tied with Fox in the key demo for the previous frame and a rise from the 9.218 million that were watching during the week of April 29 to May 5. Like the previous week, The Big Bang Theory was the top show in the demo with a 4.9. The May 6 airing of NBC’s The Voice was in second place with a 4.1. In terms of viewership, CBS had the top four shows of the frame with NCIS (17.558 million), BBT (16.304 million), NCIS: LA (13.176 million) and Person Of Interest (13.162 million). ABC’s Dancing With The Stars was No. 5 with 13.117 million viewers.

Related: Les Moonves Tells Advertisers That Media Would Be “Barren” Without Broadcast TV

Among viewers DWTS may have fallen from the No. 3 spot of the previous frame but ABC itself had a strong rise up to No. 2 last week. As CBS shifted into the top spots again this season, ABC wasn’t far behind in the key demo with a 1.9/6 and 2.4 million viewers in the adult 18-49 demo. That’s up solidly from the 1.6/5 of Week 32 and the first time that the network has been second this season since the week of March 25 to March 31. As ABC moved up, The Voice-beholding NBC, which ran three airings of the competition series last week, slipped into third with a 1.8/6 and 2.3 million in the demo. That result was almost the same as the frame before. Fox, on the other hand, took a fall from being tied for first place among adults 18-49 in Week 32 to fourth place with a 1.7/5 and 2.2 million among the 18-49s in Week 33. Read More »

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E! Tells Striking ‘Fashion Police’ Writers That WGA Costing Them Money

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Wednesday May 15, 2013 @ 12:21pm PDTTags: E! Entertainment, Fashion Police, Suzanne Kolb

E! president Suzanne Kolb wants the writers who went on strike in early April against the Joan Rivers-hosted Fashion Police to know that the WGA West is their real enemy not the network. … Read More »

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Lorenzo Di Bonaventura & Break Media Team For Multi-Platform Pic ‘Higher Power’

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Wednesday May 15, 2013 @ 11:32am PDTTags: Break Media, Higher Power, Lorenzo di Bonaventura

EXCLUSIVE: Transformers producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura is making his first foray into the digital world, joining with Break Media on thriller Higher Power (see trailer below). Produced by Di Bonaventura Pictures and the digital video company’s … Read More »

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Josh Gad Joins Zach Braff’s ‘Wish I Was Here’ Kickstarter Movie

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Wednesday May 15, 2013 @ 9:52am PDT

Josh Gad is moving on quickly following the cancellation of his NBC series 1600 Penn. He’s the latest addition to Zach Braff’s Kickstarter-funded pic Wish I Was Here. Braff, who directs, co-wrote and stars … Read More »

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RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ Debuts Down, ‘NCIS’ Finale Down, ‘The Voice’ Dips, ‘Wipeout’ Hits Series Low

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Wednesday May 15, 2013 @ 9:17am PDTTags: NCIS, New Girl, So You Think You Can Dance, The Voice, TV Ratings

There were a lot of moves on television last night and not just the five finales inprimetime. So You Think You Can Dance (1.9/6) was back for a 10th season with a first-time May sweep debut. Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy were joined by guest judge Jesse Tyler Ferguson of Modern Family as LA hopefuls auditioned and angled for a ticket to Las Vegas. The premiere stumbled 14% from last season’s debut on April 24, 2012 but was up 19% from Season 9’s finale on September 18. The other dance show of the night, ABC’s Dancing With The Stars (1.8/5), was up 6% from its results show from last week and was the third-most-watched show of the night with 11.59 million viewers.  Back on Fox, the season finales of comedies New Girl (2.1/6) and The Mindy Project (1.3/4) followed. The second-season ender of the Zooey Deschanel starrer was even with its May 7 show but down 25% from its May 8, 2012 Season 1 finale. The freshman finale of Mindy was also even with last week’s show. Over on ABC and moved to Tuesday, Wipeout (1.1/4) saw the second week of its latest season fall 15% from its May 9 premiere and tie a series low. At 10 PM, Body Of Proof (1.4/4) was even with last week’s show.

NCIS  (3.2/10) wrapped its 10th season Tuesday. The night’s most watched show with 18.16 million viewers was up a scant 3% from last week, and the powerhouse procedural was down 11% from last season’s finale. NCIS: LA (2.5/7) had a similar but slightly more exaggerated result: The spinoff was up 4% from its May 7 episode but fell 17% from its two-hour Season 3 finale last year on May 15, 2012. The now-cancelled Golden Boy (1.2/4) ended its tractionless freshman season, with a ratings drop and the loss of more than 6 million viewers from its lead-in summing up the police drama’s problems. The fact that last night’s show was flat with its May 7 airing to tie a Tuesday broadcast low does too. CBS won the night in total viewers with 12.870 million, while NBC took the top spot in adults 18-49. Read More »

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