At the beginning of his traditional CBS session on TV ratings today at the TCA Summer Press Tour, CBS veteran chief research officer David Poltrack joked it was "the first time in 46 years" that he got to "play the big room". That is, the main ballroom where most of the panels take place, rather than appearing in some…

It was a brutal night all around with most shows hitting lows, but it was especially disappointing for NBC, whose heavily promoted relaunch of Law & Order: LA bombed, drawing a paltry 1.5/4 among adults 18-49 for its two-hour premiere and 6 million viewers. That was down 32% from LOLA‘s most original telecast on Dec…

With sports offering plenty of drama yesterday between the final round of The Masters and the Yankees-Red Sox face-off on cable, entertainment programs largely took a hit. Fox’s hit comedy Family Guy (3.3/9) was the one show that held its ground, flat with its most recent original March 27. American Dad (1.6/5) at…

It got ugly for CBS last night when, in its second outing, midseason dramedy Chaos (0.9/3 in 18-49, 5.6 million viewers) fell 18% from its underwhelming premiere to finish a distant fourth at 8 PM in adults 18-49, behind a Kitchen Nightmares repeat on Fox. Chaos also pushed down CSI: NY (1.6/5, off 11%, 9.4 million)…

Gwyneth Paltrow returned to Glee last night, and the Fox dramedy (4.6/14 in adults 18-49, 12 million viewers) went up 5% in the ratings from its most recent original 2 weeks ago. After finishing tied for first place in 18-49 with CBS’ NCIS for the first time on Jan. 22, Glee returned to its status of sole demo winner…

Fox was onto something when it scheduled serialized drama 24 like a reality series, airing it over a half-season with no breaks, a model that was subsequently adopted by another successful serialized drama, ABC’s Lost. How damaging are long hiatuses for serialized dramas? Look at NBC’s Heroes, which quickly ran out of…

Reality series Secret Millionaire started its second incarnation on American television strong, pulling a 3.3/9 in 18-49 and 12.6 million viewers in its debut on ABC last night. That was ABC’s best performance in the 8 PM hour with regular programming since March 2008 (in viewers) and November 2009 (18-49). Secret Mill…

Fox’s American Idol reigned supreme last night while the other networks turned off the lights following the end of the February sweep on Wednesday. The two-hour Idol broadcast, which revealed the Top 13 finalists, drew a 8.1/23 in adults 18-49 and 25 million viewers. With no original competition besides a new Rules of…

Fox’s 90-minute American Idol (7.7/22 in adults 18-49, 20.6 million), featuring performances by the 12 female semi-finalists, was down 3% in 18-49 and flat in total viewers from last week’s two-hour Wednesday edition. Vs. the comparable night last season and the boys’ semi-final round on Tuesday, Idol was up 3% and…

ABC’s special Charlie Sheen edition of 20/20 (3.3/10 in adults 18-49, 9.5 million viewers) was the top-rated program among adults 18-49 at 10 PM last night. It almost doubled its lead-in, drama V (1.8/5, 5 million, down 5% in 18-49), a rare feat for a program in the DVR-heavy 10 PM hour. This was ABC’s best…

Viewers can’t get enough of Charlie Sheen. After a day of media blitz featuring a string of interviews with the troubled Two and a Half Men star, viewers flocked to watch him on the show that spawned all the controversy. A repeat of Men (11.6 million viewers, 3.2/9 in adults 18-49) was the most watched show on…

Two hours of Fox’s American Idol (7.2/20 in adults 18-49, 21.6 million viewers) dominated another Thursday, delivering the highest numbers on the night with non-sports programming for any network in 3 years (18-49) and 4 years (total viewers). The reality series was down 5% in the demo from last Thursday but, probably…