Entertainment Industry News- Mediaweek.com

-Yesterday's Winners: (Expectations are, of course, lower in the summer months) America's Got Talent (NBC)

According to Nielsen Media Research, the memorial service for Michael Jackson on Tuesday, July 7 totaled a combined 20.5 household rating with 30.92 million viewers on the 19 networks carrying it from approximately 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET. The participating networks were ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, Telefutura, Telemundo, Univision, CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, Headline News, BET, E!, MTV, VH1, VH1 Classic, TV Guide Network, TV ONE, and MUN2.

NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution has sold Emmy winning sitcom 30 Rock to Tribune Broadcasting and the Fox Television Stations, including WNYW-New York (Fox), KTTV-Los Angeles (Fox), WGN-Chicago (Tribune) and WPHL-Philadelphia (Tribune). Additional stations cleared include Fox stations KDFW/KDFI (Dallas), KRIV-KTXH (Houston), KSAZ/KUTP (Phoenix) and WOFL/WRBW (Orlando); and Tribune stations WDCW (Washington, D.C.), KCPQ/KMYQ (Seattle), KRCW (Portland), WSFL (Miami) and KTXL (Sacramento). ...

-Ratings Breakdown: CBS continued its Monday overnight winning streak, with a noticeable 27 percent advantage over second-place ABC. Third in the metered markets was NBC, followed by Fox and almost invisible The CW.

-Friday's Losers (excluding repeats): The Chopping Block (NBC), The Goode Family (ABC), Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (Fox), Mental (Fox)

-Yesterday's Winners: NCIS R (CBS), America's Got Talent (NBC), The Mentalist R (CBS)

Three networks shared low-rated leadership on the sleepy week of June 22, with CBS first in households and total viewers; NBC No. 1 among adults 18-49 and adults 25-54; and Fox tops in the adult 18-34 demo. CBS had now been the most-watched network in four of the last five weeks. Coverage of the death of Michael Jackson flooded the airwaves at the tail-end of the week, with the passing of both Jackson and Farrah Fawcett accounting for five hours of Friday's line-up (including an encore telecast of NBC documentary Farrah's Story).

-Ratings Breakdown: CBS led this final June Monday in the overnights, followed by NBC, ABC, Fox and the CW. But, as expected, the Eye net's relocated How I Met Your Mother may not be strong enough to anchor the evening. An encore telecast of the sitcom was third in the 8 p.m. half-hour, with a 3.5 rating/6 share. Next was a repeat of Rules of Engagement (#3: 3.7/ 6 at 8:30 p.m.), which returns in midseason, followed by encores of Two and a Half Men (#1: 6.1/10), recently moved The Big Bang Theory (#1: 5.2/ 8) and CSI: Miami (#1: 5.6/10) from 9-11 p.m. ...

-Ratings Breakdown: Needless to say, it was a very atypical night of television on this fourth Thursday in June, with coverage of the passing of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett flooding the airwaves. Five hours of the Big 3 network line-ups in total were devoted to these two icons. CBS finished first overall in the metered markets, with an 18 percent advantage over second-place ABC. NBC and Fox were tied for the No. 3 spot, followed by lowly The CW.

It is with tremendous sadness to report on the passing of Farrah Fawcett, who recently documented her three year battle with cancer in NBC documentary Farrah's Story. Born in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1947 and remembered, of course, for her role in campy 1970s drama Charlie's Angels, Fawcett broke onto the small screen with guest appearances in sitcoms Mayberry, R.F.D., I Dream of Jeannie, The Flying Nun and The Partridge Family; and in critically panned 1970s theatrical Myra Breckinridge. ...