Author Archive
 

 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Alphas”

  Like its central hero, Dr. Lee Rosen (David Strathairn), ALPHAS spent most of its Season 2 finale staggering about in a daze, apparently bleeding to death.  And–SPOILER ALERT— also like Rosen, as well as eve...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED’S MONDAY NETWORK SCORECARD – 10/22/12

An oddball night, thanks to the final PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE and sports. NBC:  Normally it would be worth some concern that THE VOICE was down 0.6 from last week (still an easy winner at 4.2), but on such an atypical evening, it&...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SUNDAY CABLE SCORECARD – 10/21/12

  No surprise what’s gnawing at the top of the ratings. AMC:  The typical post-premiere decline for a big returning show seems to have been made up by AMC’s settlement of its lawsuit with DISH Network and the ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED: CBS Doubles Down on “Vegas,” Finds Back Order “Elementary”

  Neither VEGAS nor ELEMENTARY is setting television screens on fire with their 18-49 ratings so far. Vegas scored a 2.0 in its last airing that merely tied the perpetually bubbled Parenthood, and Elementary hit a somewha...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SEASON PREMIERE REVIEW: “Happy Endings”

  HAPPY ENDINGS:  Tuesday 9PM on ABC WHERE WE WERE:  Chicago, where six of the oddest balls on television hang out.  When last seen, Alex (Elisha Cuthbert) and Dave (Zachary Knighton), who started the whole show off whe...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED SEASON PREMIERE REVIEW: “Don’t Trust the B— In Apt 23”

  DON’T TRUST THE B– IN APT 23:  Tuesday 9:30PM on ABC WHERE WE WERE:  New York City, where naive midwestern arrival June shares an apartment with street-smart, manipulative Chloe (Krysten Ritter).  Their ne...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED’S PILOT + 1 REVIEW: “Emily Owens, MD”

A lot can happen between the creation of a TV pilot in the spring and the production of episodes for the regular season: a writing/producing team is hired, audience focus groups weigh in, networks and studios (which may have ha...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED’S TUESDAY NETWORK SCORECARD – 10/23/12

3 sitcoms at 9PM were 1 too many. NBC:  THE VOICE, and its network, won the night, but Monday’s decline may not have been due to the shortened episode and combination of sports and Presidential debate.  Last night’...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED: FOX Midseason Premiere Dates

  FOX announced the bulk of its midseason premieres today (THE GOODWIN GAMES, widely expected to air in Ben and Kate‘s Tuesday 8:30PM slot, remains TBD). AMERICAN IDOL will make its seasonal arrival, complete with ne...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

UPDATED: THE SKED’S WEDNESDAY NETWORK SCORECARD – 10/24/12

World Series Game 1 won the night, but didn’t seem to affect anyone else very much. ABC:  After a slightly increased 2.6 (in final numbers) steady 2.5 from its THE MIDDLE lead-in, THE NEIGHBORS was up a tick to 2.0, stil...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED: Ad Age Shows Us the Network Money – Part I

  Advertising Age has issued its yearly survey of the actual prices (more or less) being charged by networks for 30-second national ads in their primetime programming, which allows us to do some back-of-the-envelope calcul...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED’S THURSDAY NETWORK SCORECARD – 10/25/12

Several TV institutions tottered last night. ABC:  It’s going to be awfully hard to justify a back order for LAST RESORT, which plunged 0.4 to a terrible 1.3.  Perhaps even scarier for ABC was GREY’S ANATOMY.  Th...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED: Ad Age Shows Us the Network Money – Part 2: The Shows

Yesterday we did our homework and reviewed the groundrules for calculating the meaning of primetime network ad rates listed by Ad Age in its yearly survey.  So… all that being said, where are the networks making their mo...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SHOWBUZZDAILY REVIEW: “Cloud Atlas”

  It isn’t often that one needs to invoke Intolerance to describe a current film, but CLOUD ATLAS demands it.  Like D.W. Griffith’s epic, it intercuts between stories taking place across hundreds of years o...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY EARLY FRIDAY BOXOFFICE – 10/26/12

  Preliminary numbers at Deadline show a tightly-bunched, none too impressive weekend underway at the boxoffice.  ARGO (Warners), SILENT HILL:  REVELATION (Open Road), CLOUD ATLAS (Warners) and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (Par...
by Mitch Salem