Thursday Ratings: Giants Score Win for NBC

Posted by Veronica Santiago
Categories: Comedy, Drama, Prime Time, Reality, Specials, Sports, ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, The CW, Grey's Anatomy, Ratings

A Thursday night football game - coupled with John McCain’s RNC speech - gave NBC an easy win in both categories last night.

8pm

• Approximately 13.6 million (5.4/15 in 18-49) watched the NY Giants defeat the Washington Redskins on NBC.
• Big Brother 10 (6.5 million, 2.2/7) stumbled by 700,000.
• A 2-hour Kitchen Nightmares (2.4/7) debuted to 5.3 million.
• Ugly Betty* (4.2 million, 1.1/3) was down 1 million.
• A repeat of 90210* (1.0/3) picked up 2 million.

Click to continue reading Thursday Ratings: Giants Score Win for NBC

Read More | Programming Insider

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Friday Ratings: FOX on Top of Boring Night

Posted by Veronica Santiago
Categories: Drama, Games, Kids, Prime Time, Reality, Sci-Fi/Horror, Sports, ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, The CW, Ratings

Although it was a close race, FOX managed to pass CBS with the viewers on Friday. The Eye network, though, did tie FOX and CW in the demos.

8pm

• Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?* (1.3/5 in 18-49) schooled 5.3 million over two hours.
• Ghost Whisperer* (1.4/5) had 5.2 million following along.
• Friday Night Smackdown (1.3/5) pinned down 3.7 million.
• America’s Toughest Jobs* (1.0/4) worked 3.5 million.
• ABC’s airing of How to Win a Date with Tad Hamilton (1.0/3) attracted 3.2 million.

Click to continue reading Friday Ratings: FOX on Top of Boring Night

Read More | Programming Insider

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Thursday Ratings: CBS Splits Evening with FOX

Posted by Veronica Santiago
Categories: Comedy, Drama, Games, Prime Time, Reality, Sci-Fi/Horror, Sports, ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, The CW, Grey's Anatomy, Ratings

Last night, Big Brother showed surprising strength given its age. (Then again, the fall season really hasn’t kicked in.) The reality show coupled with the always reliable CSI gave CBS a win with the viewers. Meanwhile, a new episode of The Moment of Truth helped FOX with the demos.

8pm

• Big Brother 10 (2.6/8 in 18-49) gathered 7.71 million.
• The Moment of Truth (2.1/6) averaged 5.7 million over two hours.
• Ugly Betty* (1.6/5) rounded up 5.2 million.
• NBC’s preseason football game (1.3/4) tackled 4.4 million.
• Smallville* (0.8/3) registered 2.4 million.

Click to continue reading Thursday Ratings: CBS Splits Evening with FOX

Read More | Programming Insider

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Oprah and the Olympians

Posted by Veronica Santiago
Categories: Daytime, Sports, Talk Shows, Syndication, Oprah Winfrey Show, News

Next week, Oprah Winfrey will piggyback off the success of the Beijing Games to help kick off her program’s new year.

On Wednesday, the talk show queen will gather over 150 US Olympians for a celebration in Chicago’s Millennium Park. The event will be taped to air on Monday, September 8, the premiere date for The Oprah Winfrey Show‘s 23rd season.

Michael Phelps, Kobe Bryant, Nastia Liukun, Misty May-Treanor, Kerri Walsh and Dara Torres are amongst the athletes scheduled to appear.

Those hoping to attend the “welcome home celebration” can find information on tickets here.

Read More | Chicago Sun-Times

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Saturday Ratings: Michael Phelps Had the Country Watching

Posted by Veronica Santiago
Categories: Specials, Sports, NBC, Ratings

USA’s Olympic golden boy helped the Peacock network earn ratings gold this weekend.

Viewers, eager to see MIchael Phelps win his 8th gold medal turned, gave NBC its largest Saturday audience since 1990.

That evening’s coverage drew an average of 31.1 million for the entirety of the sports coverage. Meanwhile, Phelps’ actual event - the 4x100m medley relay - drew approximately 40 million sets of eyeballs at the 11 p.m. hour.

Interested to know which program had couch potatoes watching on that Saturday 18 years ago? You can find out the surprising answer after the jump.

Click to continue reading Saturday Ratings: Michael Phelps Had the Country Watching

Read More | Futon Critic

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This Week on TV (8/18-8/24)

Posted by Veronica Santiago
Categories: Drama, Food & Home, Music, Prime Time, Reality, Sci-Fi/Horror, Sports, Bravo, Cable, MTV, NBC

(You can view TV Envy’s Summer Television Programming Schedule here.)
(You can navigate NBC’s Olympics schedule here.)

MONDAY (8/18)

• I Want to Work for Diddy (VH1, 9pm):  “Two members from each team must go to Paris and convince a model that Diddy saw in a magazine to come back to NYC with them and pose for Sean John.” If you want to flatter a girl, don’t send one assistant - send four.
• The Hills (MTV, 10pm): Season 4 premiere. I’m ashamed to say that I know what a ‘Lo’ is.
• Paranormal State (A&E, 10pm):  “A family in Shrewsbury, Mass., claims to have been living with a spirit for 40 years, and all but one family member believe the spirit is malicious.” If they’ve managed to live with it for 40 years, how bad could this spirit possibly be?
• Date My Ex: Jo & Slade (Bravo, 10pm):  “Juvenile tomfoolery back at he house irks Slade and may mean the expulsion of a suitor.” Had this been simply adult tomfoolery, things would have been fine.

Click to continue reading This Week on TV (8/18-8/24)

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Painful Moment During Wednesday’s Olympic Coverage

Posted by Veronica Santiago
Categories: Sports, NBC, Video

If you somehow missed today’s weightlifting coverage (as if you would know when it was on), you luckily avoided one of the nastiest accidents in quite some time.

Hungarian Janos Baranyai was attempting to hoist 148kg (326 lbs) over his head when things went terribly wrong. The 24-year-old, who was participating in his very first Olympics, lost control of the bar and dislocated his elbow on the way down.

WARNING: The video is pretty hard to watch.

Read More | Daily Mail

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Friday Ratings: Olympics Ceremony Brings the Gold to NBC

Posted by Veronica Santiago
Categories: Specials, Sports, NBC, Ratings

Let’s face it. Viewers probably weren’t watching Swingtown last night. So let’s just focus on the one event the world was glued to: the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Although a lot of controversy has surrounded this year’s games, the ratings - at least for the tape-delayed opening ceremony - surpassed expectations:

• Beijing’s opening day was the most-watched summer ceremony held outside the United States.
• The 2004 Athens games scored a 18.0 rating/30 share; Friday’s event earned a 21.5 rating/37 share.
• In comparison, the 1996 Atlanta games pulled in a 23.6/45 on its opening day.

NBC is planning up to 3600 hours of coverage through August 24.

Read More | Variety

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Sunday Ratings: Welcome Back Football

Posted by Veronica Santiago
Categories: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Games, Music, Prime Time, Reality, Sports, ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, The CW, Desperate Housewives, Everybody Hates Chris, Family Guy, Ratings

Last night’s preseason game between the Washington Redskins and the Indianapolis Colts brought much needed attention back to NBC. Thanks to the upcoming Olympics, Sunday night probably won’t be the last time the network is victorious due to sports-related programming.

8pm

• Sunday Night Football (2.4/7 in 18-49) hit the field with 7.2 million.
• Big Brother 10 (6.7 million, 2.3/7) grew by 700,000.
• The Simpsons* (4.6 million, 2.0/6) was slightly up from last week.
• High School Musical: Get in the Picture (3 million, 0.9/3) had 100,000 skip class.
• Everybody Hates Chris* (820,000, 0.4/1) was down 107,000; Aliens in America* (840,000, 0.4/1) only lost 19,000.

Click to continue reading Sunday Ratings: Welcome Back Football

Read More | Hollywood Reporter

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This Week on TV (8/4-8/10)

Posted by Veronica Santiago
Categories: Award Shows, Comedy, Drama, Prime Time, Reality, Sports, Bravo, Cable, FOX, MTV, NBC, So You Think You Can Dance

(You can view TV Envy’s Summer Television Programming Schedule here.)

MONDAY (8/4)

• Teen Choice 2008 (FOX, 8pm):  “Miley Cyrus hosts the 10th annual gala honoring achievement in entertainment, sports and fashion.” If kids are wearing things from the 80’s, could that really be considered an achievement in fashion?
• I Want to Work for Diddy (VH1, 9pm):  Series premiere. “Applicants compete to be Diddy’s next personal assistant.” The more babies you have, the more umbrella holders you need.
• New York Goes to Hollywood (VH1, 10pm):  Series premiere. “New York moves to L.A. to pursue her dream of becoming an A-list entertainer.” Ashley Dupre has proven that you can live in New York and do the same there.
• Luke’s Parental Advisory (VH1, 10:30pm):  Series premiere. “Former rapper turned adult-entertainment producer Luther ‘Luke’ Campbell auditions women for his company then gives his teenage son a lecture about pornography.” It’s The Cosby Show of the millennium.

Click to continue reading This Week on TV (8/4-8/10)

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