Source: WENN

Eight months following its initial launch, BET has officially confirmed that Don’t Sleep! hosted by T.J. Holmes will not be returning for another season. According to Multichannel News, the series has been canceled due to its failure to draw a significant audience. The show started off strong, garnering 1 million viewers for its October 9th episode, but that success quickly diminished, averaging only 400,000 viewers before being transformed into a weekly show.

“[Don't Sleep!] delivered smart social commentary on significant issues important to African Americans with the nation’s most prominent thought leaders. BET remains committed to being a resource for our audience on issues that directly affect the African American community,” the network said in a statement.

Holmes maintains that he’s proud of what Don’t Sleep! represented and will continue to tackle issues affecting our communities.

“I thank the audience and my fans for all of their support. I am proud of Don’t Sleep and I look forward to continuing to speak to broad issues affecting the national and global communities.”

He also spoke to Journal-isms on Friday regarding his departure from the network.

“I’m a 
completely free agent. I will never, ever regret
 thinking that my heart was in the right place, a young Black man 
taking his skills to do something that was not being done for our 
community, that is, providing a daily news show geared toward 
African Americans. You learn from the mistakes, there are questions I 
should have asked, things that should have been cleared up, but 
reaching the Black community in that way was an opportunity I would 
love to have.”

It’s unfortunate that the show has been canceled. We wish T.J. the best in his future endeavors!

Considering how successful shows like Real Housewives of Atlanta and Love & Hip Hop are, would you say that we (the Black community) are to blame for allowing this show to be canceled?

You know your news broadcast has problems when Don Imus feels entitled to criticize it. CNN continues to feel the heat resulting from their coverage of the manhunt for the teenage suspect in the Boston Marathon attack, which both erroneously reported that there had been an arrest before there was one, and reported that the suspect was a “dark-skinned male.”

“I just want to know what happened,” Imus said on the air today. “Just tell me what happened.” (He calls their reporting “hyper-bolay”… LOL.)

And once again, Jon Stewart went in mercilessly on CNN on The Daily Show, not just for the content, but for the seeming disorganization between the reporters and the control room in their ongoing race to report all the things they don’t know.

But pay the facts no nevermind, say the viewers. Reports The New York Times:

CNN averaged 2.9 million viewers for its daylong coverage, behind the 3.2 million who watched Fox News. But among viewers between the ages of 25 and 54, which is how advertisers buy commercials on news channels, CNN had 1.34 million viewers, compared with 952,000 for Fox News. In both cases those were the best numbers for CNN for all nonpolitical events since April 2003, when the channel was covering the Iraq war.

The question is whether this a momentary bump or something the network can carry through. More than that, there’s the issue of CNN’s reputation. Already tarnished for their bloopers while reporting the Supreme Court decision on President Obama’s healthcare plan (CNN said it had been struck down), the reporting last week definitely didn’t help. In this column by the Times‘ David Carr, he notes that people want CNN to succeed, but “hugely embarrassing” incidents like the one last week undermine it. And they’re messing up at a time when people are paying attention to the changes that new president Jeff Zucker is putting into place. Carr writes:

Part of the reason that we still want CNN to be great is that at a moment when information and news seem to have done a jailbreak — bursting forth everywhere in all sorts of ways — it would be nice to have a village common where a reliable provider of news held the megaphone. By marketing itself as the most trusted name in news, CNN is and should be held to a higher standard.

And for his efforts, John King remains on the air. He addressed his coverage on Twitter, and it’s worth noting that other outlets, including the AP, said they had sources stating an arrest had been made. And King said he also had sources telling him the suspect was dark-skinned. Now he’s off to Texas to interview President George W. Bush about his new presidential library, which will be opening on May 1.

“The challenge for us is how to make CNN more essential, how to make it one of the four tires on the car,” Zucker said at an Atlanta Press Club event last month. To be more essential, the network has to be more careful and less ridiculous.

Have you been tuning into American Idol? If not, you wouldn’t be alone. The ratings have been dipping and with Minaj the only one spicing things up, it just isn’t enough to lure in more viewers. But even with the rating dip, advertisers are still hanging on.

So far AI has lost about 20 percent of its audience this season to hit new lows, reports Billboard.  Shows like CBS’ Person of Interest and NCIS are beating the show and the former blockbuster has been overrun by the zombie action on AMC’s The Walking Dead.

But the 12th season of American Idol has retained its status as TV’s advertising leader and the its biggest advertisers, including Ford and Coca-Cola, have stuck with the show.

“It’s still a top 10 show,” Brad Adgate of media-buying firm Horizon Media told the entertanment trade magazine. “Compared to several years ago, it’s not the ratings force it once was… But even if it loses 20 percent” again, it’s still valuable to Fox.

Last season, American Idol grossed a leading $836 million in ad revenue. But the trajectory inevitably is headed down. The show reportedly commanded about $500,000 for a 30-second commercial on its Wednesday episodes. Things started to turn down when Phillip Phillips had been crowned the winner in 2012, and AI has its lowest-rated season since it debuted in summer 2002. This affected the advertising for this year. “The current 2012-13 season began with prices cut to $340,000 per spot for the higher-rated Wednesday performance night episode,” reports Billboard. The ad rates will most likely go up for the finale this year.

But there will be another ad test for the show in May. Every year at that time “upfronts” take place in New York, when broadcast networks pull in billions of dollars in advertising commitments for the following  season based on their series’ past and predicted viewership.

“You’re going to see a significant drop” in May, Deana Myers of SNL Kagan told the magazine about AI’s potential during the upfronts.

Idol is still averaging about 15 million weekly viewers this year, compared to its 2006 peak of 30 million, according to Nielsen figures. But its demo has changed drastically. The audience’s median age has jumped more than 18 years, to 50.4, from season one to last year. Not a good sign on Madison Avenue, which prefers ads targeting youth rather than seniors.

But don’t count AI out totally. As Billboard reports, not many shows can draw weekly audiences of 10 million-plus in today’s highly competitive TV world.

And AI has pulled out all the stops in keeping viewers tuning in. Fox and AI producer FremantleMedia North America paid close to $18 million to Carey, $12 million to Minaj, and a reported $6 million take for Urban.

Is AI washed up?

Bravo has struck ratings gold again, despite the backlash their newest series, “Married to Medicine,” received before it even aired. On Sunday night, the premiere episode brought in the highest ratings of any non-spinoff in Bravo’s entire history, with 2 million viewers.

According to a news release posted on Shadow and Act:

Last night’s [Sunday] episode of Bravo Media’s new docu-series “Married to Medicine” earned 1.9 million total viewers and 1.2 million A18-49, according to Nielsen. This marked the network’s highest-rated series premiere since “Bethenny Getting Married?” (6/10/10) and was also the most-watched non-spinoff series premiere in network history.

Having not seen the episode, I can’t say whether that’s a good or a bad thing, although I’m pretty sure where Bravo stands on that. The network description of the new show doesn’t make it sound so bad, saying:

The new docu-series follows the lives of six of Atlanta’s most dynamic and successful women, including doctors and wives of doctors, as they juggle bustling careers, family, and social calendars. From baby deliveries to some of Atlanta’s largest charities, these women are united by medicine, but often struggle to maintain friendships in the face of their world’s rigid hierarchy. These passionate and dynamic women prove that in the capital of the South, and the world of medicine, perception is everything and it’s not enough to be just any type of doctor or doctor’s wife.

But as we all know, things aren’t quite that rosy — after all that wouldn’t make for great reality TV. Besides Howard medical students have already petitioned for the show to be kicked off the air, saying:

Bravo’s “Married to Medicine” not only exploits the 6 lives of its Black female cast members, but, through its advertisements and commercials, heavily associates Black females in medicine with materialism, “cat fights”, and unprofessionalism. In a time when doctors are being held to very high standards by the public and each other, it is unfathomable for such a depiction of medicine and black women to be broadcast on tv where it will be inevitably available for years to come, on the internet and through other media outlets.”

Unfortunately for the group, 2 million or so viewers don’t quite agree with that opinion. We’ll have to see whether the ratings continue to climb or descend after a few episodes. Check some sneak peek previews of upcoming episodes here and if you haven’t caught our interview with the ladies, watch it below. Did you catch the series premiere Sunday?

If you were wondering when Love & Hip Hop Atlanta was coming back on air, it’s April 22nd. And after watching almost a full season of Love & Hip Hop New York I’m sure you were wondering, because this installment of the show, with a whole host of new faces, is just not hitting the spot for a lot of people. And that’s evident by the ratings that are coming in these days.

According to Shadow And Act, the series has brought in some of the lowest views of the L&HH shows in New York (this is the third season in NY by the way) and of course, it can’t compete with the Atlanta version that had no trouble pulling in more than three million viewers during its run last year. According to S&A, the very last episode of L&HHNY, which included a proposal from Mendeecees to Yandy, and the admission from Rich Dollaz’s ex that she had been messing with crazy Erica on the low-low, sexually that is, barely pulled in more than 1 million viewers. So what’s the problem?

If you ask a lot of folks around here, we’d say that the storyline is reaching a tad bit. If we’re not watching Jen The Pen cry about everything with Consequence, we’re watching Tahiry and Joe Budden do the same song and dance, pretending like they don’t love each other when they do even though he has a girlfriend (who we assume just likes being along for the ride), and who isn’t sick of watching Erica Mena act the fool in every situation? Hard as they may try, the drama with these folks is a bit extreme but still isn’t all that interesting compared to the simple yet ratchet love triangles in Atlanta, marital strife caused by career aspirations, relationships moving too fast, relationships gone sour…and K. Michelle. This dip in ratings shouldn’t be something Mona Scott-Young worries about though, because it will probably just make those who follow the Atlanta installment all the more ready to tune in come April. But as for this one here in NY, if Chrissy and Jim and Emily B aren’t involved, it’s just not the same. NEXT!

Why do you think ratings have dipped? Are people not feeling the cast? The storylines? Are they just tired of this show altogether?

Photo by Jason DeCrow/Invision for Hasbro/AP Images

For the first time since the Local People Meters began tracking ratings for the New York area, a local morning program beat the Today show, Deadline Hollywood tells us.

Fox’s Good Day New York trumped the Today show between the hour of 7am and 9am during the month of February. The Today show has, of late, been facing some stiff competition from Good Morning America, particularly in the wake of the Ann Curry debacle. But a local show has never been a threat to the morning ratings driver. But at this point, it’s par for course, unfortunately, for NBC, which has seen trouble with shows like Smash, Deception, and others across its primetime lineup.

Meanwhile, over on ABC, things are on the up and up as GMA continues on its upward trajectory. Last week, that show extended its lead to a length not seen in almost two decades, about 1.1 million viewers. Robin Roberts’ return to the show gave it a ratings boost, which it has held on to. On the day of her return, GMA had 6.1 million viewers versus the Today show’s 4.9 million, said Zap2It.

Source: NBC

Last week, folks were damn near having a conniption over news that Law & Order: SVU was airing an episode eerily similar/”ripped [straight] from the headlines” of the 2009 Chris Brown-Rihanna domestic dispute. This week, it appears all that attention NBC stirred up did nothing for them in the long run.

Last night was the big airing of the “Funny Valentine” episode, which told the tale of Caleb Bryant (please note identical initials) and Micha, a hot mess of a couple whose drama consistently plays out in the media, including a violent altercation that does not end well (I won’t spoil it for people who haven’t watched yet.) As enticing as SVU writers thought reliving all of that pre-Grammy Chrianna drama would be to viewers, the episode actually did absolutely nothing for the show’s ratings.

According to TV by the Numbers:

Law & Order: SVU was flat with last week’s 1.6 adults 18-49

For the 1.6 million viewers, who we can assume are regulars considering the ratings are exactly the same as last week, the reaction to the episode was mixed. No one seemed to be outraged by it, just simply over the whole situation, especially considering the real Caleb Braynt and Micha are still in the headlines every day in real life. For the rest of the viewers though, this actually seemed to be one of the best episodes of the season in their opinion. If you didn’t get a chance to watch last night, you can check out the whole episode below. What do you think?

Source: Getty Images

It seems like every time OWN takes one step forward, it hits a bump that can possibly hurt the progress.

Carolyn Hommel is suing OWN for sex and pregnancy discrimination, alleging she was on track to becoming a vice president before she got pregnant, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

In the lawsuit filed in a Los Angeles court on Friday, Hommel says she was hired in 2010 as Director of Scheduling and Acquisitions.  She says along with the compliment that she was on the VP track, she received a good performance review from her supervisor. Hommel was replaced by a temp employee while she was on maternity leave but when she returned, many of her duties had been reassigned to that employee and she was left out of important meetings.

She gave birth in February 2012 and one month later, she was told she was being laid off. Hommel states that she was told to apply for the vice president job but someone else was hired. She also states that her boss Michael Garner, also named in the lawsuit, made up an entirely different performance review that made Hommel’s position seem less than senior and therefore, she wouldn’t qualify for a vice president position.

Now, we all know OWN was going through it after it launched in 2011 so it is plausible that she just got caught in the shuffle trying to keep the network afloat; however, Hommel says she was demoted and eventually let go because she got pregnant and took leave.

The damages she’s seeking are unspecified.

It should be noted that Oprah is not named in the lawsuit so it doesn’t have anything to do with her directly.  However, she’s probably well aware of what’s going on because something like this is the last thing she needs to deal with on top of still trying to get some ratings.

OWN reps chose not to comment on the situation.

AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

Perhaps it wasn’t as much of an historic occasion this time around (although the re-election of our first black President is a very big deal). That could explain the viewing drop off for Monday’s inaugural events.

The 2013 Inauguration of President Obama pulled in fewer television viewers than in 2009, when he became the first African American to take the highest office in the United States. According to The Hollywood Reporter, cable news viewership dropped by roughly 10 million during the half-hour swearing in, with CNN topping MSNBC and Fox News Channel. Nielsen’s Fast National ratings for the Monday event were not surprisingly down.  Combined averages from CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel was just about seven million viewers.

For the special coverage, CNN averaged 3.14 million viewers during the swearing in, 1.11 million of them in the key 25-to-54 age demographic. During primetime, CNN averaged 3.57 million total viewers, with 1.27 million adults ages 25-to-54 watching.

Compare this to Obama’s 2009 inauguration ceremony, which averaged nearly 38 million viewers with cable and broadcast networks combined.

Did you watch this year?

Source: Fox

I haven’t watched “American Idol” since Ruben Studdard was on the show but I know plenty of people who still rearrange their schedules to get home and catch Americans make a fool of themselves and get dogged by hosts because they have no singing ability. Unfortunately for Fox, it doesn’t appear there are too many of those people left. According to Entertainment Weekly, Wednesday night’s premiere of “Idol” brought in the lowest ratings for the show ever.

“‘Idol’ delivered 17.9 million viewers and a 6.0 adults 18-49 demo rating. That’s down 19 percent from last year’s opener, which was the previous lowest-ever record-holder.”

“Idol” has actually been on the decline for several years now, particularly since 2009 when reality singing competition shows became a dime a dozen. Plus, with the show being in its twelfth season, it had to die out at sometime. Truth be told, that time still probably isn’t now, as despite the decline in ratings, “American Idol” still takes the title as the top-rated singing show premiere this season.

I’m curious how these ratings will hold because after watching just 27 minutes of Wednesday’s show I was already over the cattiness between Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey (and that’s my girl), plus Nicki just needed too much attention and this show is not about her. Unless Randy Jackson is gonna snatch up both of them and tell them to grow up at some point, I probably won’t be tuning in — like I didn’t last night.

Did you watch the two-night premiere of “American Idol” this week? Are you sticking with it? Also, check out Wendy’s synopsis of “American Idol’s” problem. It’s pretty on point.