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SHOWBUZZDAILY EARLY FRIDAY BOXOFFICE – 10/19/12

  With what appears to be the exception of a sensational hold for Argo, this weekend is looking fairly lackluster, according to preliminary Friday numbers at Deadline.  PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (Paramount) of course, will do...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED PILOT REVIEW: ‘Hunted”

  HUNTED:  Friday 10PM on Cinemax – Potential DVR Alert On the same night that coincidentally brought the season premiere of Nikita, we have a new series that treads similar ground, both centering on gorgeous, betra...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Boss”

  Few television series have worked so hard to be unlikeable as BOSS.  There had been some thought, after its initial off-putting season, that when Starz replaced series creator Farhad Safinia with Dee Johnson as showrunn...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED’S FRIDAY NETWORK SCORECARD – 10/19/12

Not a lot of support for scripted programming. ABC:  The Alphabet took the night, winning each hour with its unscripted trio of SHARK TANK (2.0, the highest rated show of the night), PRIMETIME (1.6) and 20/20 (1.4). CBS:  Som...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

BEHIND THE FRIDAY BOXOFFICE – 10/19/12

  Eventually, every franchise runs out of steam.  (Although they sometimes pick it up again, like Bond James Bond.) OPENINGS:  PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (Par) is off to a worse start than the last two in the series (the orig...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED’S FRIDAY NETWORK SCORECARD – 10/26/12

A happy Halloween for Grimm. NBC:  The 1.5 for busted pilot MOCKINGBIRD LANE probably isn’t enough to bring the costly project back from the grave.  However, the boost it gave GRIMM–at 1.9, the highest-rated show ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

BEHIND THE WEEKEND BOXOFFICE – 10/20/12

  Holdovers saved the boxoffice this weekend. OPENINGS:  Although the studio flew to announce that a 5th installment will be opening a year from now, the weak start for PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (Paramount) is a signpost to t...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED’S SUNDAY NETWORK SCORECARD – 10/20/12

All the sports on Sunday’s air seemed to help the non-sports. ABC: It was a good night for ONCE UPON A TIME, REVENGE and 666 PARK AVENUE, as the scripted trio all rose from last week.  Once was up by 0.3 to 3.3, REVENGE ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED: “Arrow” Flies For A Full Season

  ARROW is the biggest hit to launch on CW since The Vampire Diaries 4 seasons ago with twin 1.3 18-49 ratings, and the network has quite properly leaped to give the show a full-season order.  That still leaves CW with pr...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED’S NIELSENWAR – Week 4

. We’re 4 full weeks into the season, and it’s time to ask:  What do we know now that we didn’t know a week ago? Reruns Are Bad.  In the past few days, ABC has ordered extra episodes of GREY’S ANATOMY,...
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 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