US REPORT: OCTOBER 1, 2018

CBS continues a sluggish start to Fall Primetime; Fox animated comedies stay about average; Netflix looks to hook more viewers with “Choose Your Own Adventure” style endings for some scripted shows

BROADCAST RATINGS:

Network Average:

Broadcast Primetime Live + Same Day – Sunday, September 30, 2018

Ratings Report:

• For the first Sunday of Fall Primetime, a late-afternoon NFL overrun helped CBS’ entire slate to inflated ratings that will most likely result in some downward adjustments later today. The overrun itself posted a preliminary 4.3 with 17 million watching, leading to an enhanced 60 MINUTES premiere, currently checking in with a 2.6 amongs 18-49s and 13.72 million viewers overall. The inflated trend continued throughout the night – probably not a good sign for the debut of Touched By A Social Media Angel…I mean…GOD FRIENDED ME. The light, feel-good drama put up a decent, but not impressive 1.4 in its series debut, although it brought in 10.45 million viewers. The premiere of the latest season of NCIS: LOS ANGELES put up a 1.1, down two tenths from a year ago.
• Elsewhere, NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” (5.5) coverage was, in the preliminaries at least, up four-tenths from its “SNF” broadcast a year ago (it adjusted up to a 5.8 in the finals), but down slightly from last week’s initial “SNF” rating (5.7).
• On Fox, the SIMPSONS season premiere hit a 1.8, also thanks to an NFL overrun, while premieres for BOB’S BURGERS (1.2) and FAMILY GUY (1.2) both returned down a tenth from a year ago.

CABLE RATINGS:

Top 25 Original Programs on Cable – Thursday, September 27, 2018

Of Note:

• With the exception of THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL on the NFL Network and an entry from MTV for JERSEY SHORE FAMILY VACATION (steady at 0.8), Thursday cable ratings were predictably dominated by coverage of the Dr. Ford/Judge Kavanaugh hearing.
• First up, NFL Network maintained its top spot on the list with a game between the Vikings and the Rams scoring a 1.1 rating in adults 18-49, with 3.17 million viewers. It was the night’s only broadcast to break the 1.0 barrier in the demo.
• Meanwhile, Fox News’ coverage of the Kavanaugh hearing yesterday absolutely dominated the night, grabbing multiple spots in the top 25 with 0.9 – 0.4s and a peak audience of 7.55 million viewers. It did noticeably better than any of the other cable news networks did, scoring three-tenths higher than any of CNN and MSNBC’s broadcasts (much to my chagrin – the commentary [for the few minutes I stomached] were pretty disgustingly partisan and anti-woman).

OTHER NEWS:

• PROJECTS GREENLIT/ORDERED:
  • Showtime has canceled dark comedy I’m Dying Up Here after two seasons. While I appreciated the concept of the show, the first season barely topped 200K viewers week to week, and dropped to a 162K average over season two, while barely registering a 0.1 most weeks.
• BUSINESS BRIEFS:
  • Netflix is looking for more ways to keep viewers, this time by taking a page out of the old Choose Your Own Adventure series, by enabling viewers to choose their own endings to certain shows. The projects featuring this enhancement follow a technology pattern similar to engines found in videogames. Series with the feature will be released before the end of 2018 – I know BLACK MIRROR will be one, and at least one other live-action series is in final negotiations (my money is on HOUSE OF CARDS employing the gimmick).
• THIS WEEKEND, ON AMERICAN TV:
  • SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE returned to Matt Damon doing a 10,000% accurate impression of Brett Kavanaugh’s angry, combative, and strangely gung-ho on beer testimony from last week’s Senate Judiciary hearings. If you have the time, it’s worth the WATCH!