To help drive and diversify the content offering for Disney’s streaming and linear platforms, Marc Buhaj has been named vice president, unscripted series and specials, Disney Branded Television. A 14-year veteran of Disney, he will now oversee a nonfiction portfolio spanning documentaries and docuseries, unscripted formats, variety and specials for Disney+, and unscripted series and […]
ABC is doubling down on putt-putt. Deadline says the Disney-owned network has handed a bumper two season renewal order for mini-golf competition Holey Moley, taking it through to a fourth season.
CBS’s The Equalizer drew 7.9 million total viewers, holding steady vs. last week’s time slot debut to again deliver Sunday’s second largest crowd (trailing only 60 Minutes‘ 9.3M). In the demo, The Equalizer slipped two tenths from its time slot premiere, to a 0.7.
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You’d think that viewership would skyrocket, but the opposite happened, and it may be because viewing habits are changing, pandemic or no pandemic.
Discovery Beats On Earnings In Quarter Ahead Of Discovery+ Launch
Discovery reported its fourth quarter and full-year 2020 financials this morning. The fourth quarter of 2020 was the final quarter before streaming service Discovery+ was launched. Wall Street had forecast earnings per share of 72 cents on $2.83 billion in revenue, according to a consensus forecast compiled by Yahoo Finance. Discovery actually reported adjusted EPS of 76 cents on $2.886 billion in revenue.
The NFL is in active discussions on renewal rates with all four of its existing network partners — NBC, CBS, Fox, and Disney-owned ESPN, according to people familiar with the matter. The NFL is hoping to get its primary package renewals completed by March 17. NBC, CBS and Fox are likely to accept increases closer to 100% than Disney, which is currently paying much more than the three broadcast networks for its Monday Night Football package, said the people.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is once again facing accusations of corruption and possible violations of the tax-exempt organization. At the center of the new report is an antitrust lawsuit filed by Norwegian journalist and HFPA member Kjersti Flaa, who accused the organization of allowing a “culture of corruption” and claimed “the tax-exempt organization operated as a kind of cartel, barring qualified applicants — including herself — and monopolizing all-important press access while improperly subsidizing its members’ income.”
The great Emmy debate over a merged variety series category has been solved, at least for now: The Television Academy has decided this year to maintain separate categories for variety talk series and variety sketch series after all. The decision to keep the two categories, reversing course from a previous plan to merge them back together, came after intense lobbying from the late night shows, their producers and their PR representatives.
Univision’s three-hour Premio Lo Nuestro topped Thursday in the adults 18-49 demographic, sweeping primetime among the broadcast networks. Among the Big 4 and the CW, Young Sheldon was Thursday’s most-watched program and matched ABC’s Celebrity Wheel of Fortune in the adults 18-49 demographic on a night that also saw CBS’s drama rookie Clarice dip a tenth from its debut a week ago but keep its viewership.
Bolton and Deschanel have signed on to host The Celebrity Dating Game, a new take on the format that has been picked up by ABC for eight one-hour episodes. Produced by Sony Pictures TV, the original Dating Game ran on ABC from 1965 to 1973, and has inspired several updates since then (the most recent being a syndicated revival in the late 1990s).
NBC’s Chicago P.D. this week drew 5.7 million total viewers and a 0.8 demo rating, ticking down on both counts to hit and match series lows. CBS’s SEAL Team (3.7M/0.5) dipped to its smallest audience ever.
The Miami-set Armas de Mujer, which translates in English as Women’s Weapons, also is a switch for its stars, including Kate del Castillo of La Reina del Sur drama series fame (above).
NCIS: New Orleans, the youngest series in CBS’s formidable NCIS franchise, is coming to an end. The current seventh season will be the drama’s last, with the series finale slated for May 16. It will be the series’ 155th episode.
CBS’s praised Mom — the network’s longest-running comedy series on the air — will end its run after the current eighth season. Mom‘s series finale has been set for May 6 in its Thursday 9 p.m. time period.
This means that CBS is the only broadcast net among the so-called “Big 4” sticking with the earliest snapshot of how a show performed. That said, in recent seasons, CBS has also shifted its overall reliance to metrics that include delayed (mostly DVR) viewing. It just has not sworn off the “live” stuff — yet.
‘Equalizer’ Stays Strong After Super Bowl Debut
The revenge drama came in third place last week and had a major, and inevitable, drop after drawing 20 million viewers in the most coveted of all time slots after the network’s airing of the Super Bowl. For the week, CBS was the most-watched broadcast network, averaging 5.2 million viewers in primetime. ABC had 3.8 million, NBC had 3.2 million, Fox had 2.9 million, Univision had 1.3 million, Ion Television had 1 million and Telemundo had 990,000.
