2014-15 TV Season

THE SKED Fall Pilot Report: ABC’s “Selfie”

Posted August 16, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  SELFIE:  Tuesday 8PM on ABC starting September 30 – If Nothing Else Is On… PLAYERS:  George Bernard Shaw.  (And Lerner & Loewe, whose My Fair Lady made Pygmalion into a fixture of pop culture.)  Series creator Emily Kapnek, of Suburgatory.  Stars John Cho and Karen Gillan.  Pilot director Julie Anne Robinson.  Warner Bros. Television. […]

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2014-15 TV Season

NIELSENWAR 2014-15: The ABC Schedule Grid and Instant Analysis

Posted May 13, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  Come February, Thursday nights are going to feature an old-fashioned broadcast network slugfest, as ABC’s announcement that Scandal is moving to 9PM will put it squarely in the path of NBC’s The Blacklist when that series moves at midseason–may the best crazy plot twist-laden melodrama win.  The Scandal move is part of ABC’s new […]

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2014-15 TV Season

NIELSENWAR 2014-15 Trailer Review: ABC’s “American Crime”

Posted May 13, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  AMERICAN CRIME:  Sunday 9PM Midseason on ABC THE FACTS:  John Ridley, this year’s Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar winner for 12 Years A Slave, has written a serialized crime drama very specifically about race, in which a Latino teen is arrested for the murder of the son of Timothy Hutton and Felicity Huffman. WHAT IT’S […]

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2014-15 TV Season

THE SKED Fall Pilot Report: ABC’S “Manhattan Love Story”

Posted August 19, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  MANHATTAN LOVE STORY:  Tuesday 8:30PM on ABC starting September 30 – Change the Channel PLAYERS:  Series creator Jeff Lowell, who’s been a writer/producer on sitcoms going back to Cybill two decades ago, but who’s creating a series himself for the first time.  Stars Jake McDorman and Analeigh Tipton.  Pilot director Michael Fresco.  Brillstein Entertainment […]

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2014-15 TV Season

THE SKED Fall Pilot Report: FOX’s “Gracepoint”

Posted August 16, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  GRACEPOINT:  Thursday 9PM on FOX starting October 2 – Potential DVR Alert PLAYERS:  Broadchurch, the wildly successful limited (and now continuing) British TV series, of which Gracepoint is a remake.  Broadchurch returnees, including series creator Chris Chibnall, director James Strong and star David Tennant.  A cast surrounding Tennant that includes Anna Gunn, Nick Nolte, […]

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2014-15 TV Season

NIELSENWAR 2014-15: C7 Will Save the Networks! (Or Maybe Not)

Posted June 5, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  According to Advertising Age, advertisers have begun to buy time on the broadcast networks for the 2014-15 TV season, which is the whole reason the hoopla of the “Upfronts” exists in the first place.  There are two basic components to each of these sales (although they can become quite intricate):  the rate that buyers […]

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2014-15 TV Season

NIELSENWAR 2014-15: ABC Picks Up “Secrets & Lies,” Negotiates on “Nashville”

Posted May 9, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  One more drama for ABC:  the murder-driven soap SECRETS & LIES, which had a high-profile deal that would have required the network to pay a large penalty if it hadn’t ordered the series (it has a 10-episode order, which may tag it as more likely for midseason than fall).  It’s based on an Australian […]

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2014-15 TV Season

NIELSENWAR 2014-15: ABC and 20th Make Their Deal: 2 Pick-Ups, “Last Man Standing” Back

Posted May 10, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  Only those involved will likely ever know the details, but ABC and 20th Century Fox Television worked out whatever they needed to, and the result was a pick-up of LAST MAN STANDING and orders for 2 additional 20th sitcoms: CRISTELA has a  nice backstory:  ABC had originally made a script deal with comic Cristela […]

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