Author Archive
 

 

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: $50M Weekend For “Mission” Possible; “Vacation” Dreary

  MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE NATION (Skydance/China Film Channel/Alibaba/Paramount) set its sights at a $50M opening weekend in the US (you could tell because the studio claimed the target was in the $40Ms), and it seems li...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 7/26/15

  OPENINGS:  PIXELS (Columbia/Sony) isn’t the first Adam Sandler movie to approach a $90M production budget–incredibly, the first Grown Ups reportedly cost that much–but as his audience shrinks, it becom...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Pixels” A Moderate Gamer, “Paper Towns” and “Southpaw” Soft

  PIXELS (Columbia/Sony) was marketed on its high concept rather than as an Adam Sandler star vehicle, perhaps reflecting not just Sandler’s dwindling value, but the shuttering of his long-term acting relationship wi...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Finale Review: “Wayward Pines”

  If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the past few seasons, it’s that no matter how much a network swears it’s airing a “closed-end” or “event” series, that’s never...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Pilot + 1 Review: “Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll”

  SEX&DRUGS&ROCK&ROLL:  Thursday 10PM on FX Previously… on SEX&DRUGS&ROCK&ROLL:  Johnny Rock (series creator Denis Leary) is seemingly on the last legs of a music career that never quite mad...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Pilot + 1 Review: “Impastor”

  IMPASTOR:  Wednesday 10:30PM on TV Land (and Nick At Nite) Previously… on IMPASTOR:  Buddy Dobbs (Michael Rosenbaum), on the run from loansharks, considered suicide by jumping off a bridge, but small-town Luthera...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Pilot + 1 Review: “The Jim Gaffigan Show”

  THE JIM GAFFIGAN SHOW:  Wednesday 10PM on TV Land (and Nick At Nite) Previously… on THE JIM GAFFIGAN SHOW:  Stand-up comic Jim (Jim Gaffigan) lives with wife Jeannie (Ashley Williams) and their 5 children in a cr...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Premiere Review: “Welcome To Sweden”

  WELCOME TO SWEDEN:  Sunday 8PM on NBC WELCOME TO SWEDEN is a comedy so placid that one might need to hold up a mirror to its face to see if its breath can fog the glass, and NBC seems to be trying to keep its second sea...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 7/19/15

  OPENINGS:  ANT-MAN (Marvel/Disney) is claiming a very low 18% Sunday drop in order to reach a $58M weekend estimate, so that number may shrink on Monday.  Even at $58M, Ant-Man opened in the same range as Superman Retu...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Premiere Review: “Hell On Wheels”

  HELL ON WHEELS:  Saturday 9PM on AMC In its 5 seasons on the air, HELL ON WHEELS has never achieved a sustained stability, shifting tones and narrative thrust on an almost seasonal basis as a perpetual bubble show in th...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Ant-Man” Slightly Puny, “Trainwreck” Smashing

  ANT-MAN (Marvel/Disney) appears to be opening at the lower end of the Marvel universe.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, the latest superhero epic had a $23.4M Friday (which includes $6.4 from Thursday nigh...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Series Premiere Review: “Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll”

  SEX&DRUGS&ROCK&ROLL:  Thursday 10PM on FX – If Nothing Else Is On… Denis Leary doesn’t have a world of range, and in his new comedy SEX&DRUGS&ROCK&ROLL, the aging never-quite-st...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

NIELSENWAR: The Emmy Nominations – Some Thoughts

  With the overwhelming amount of quality television these days available on various platforms, the Emmy nominators (of which I’m one, in certain categories) weren’t going to get it all right.  (A full list of...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Series Premiere Review: “The Jim Gaffigan Show”

  THE JIM GAFFIGAN SHOW:  Wednesday 10PM on TV Land – If Nothing Else Is On… Doofus dads are a staple of TV sitcoms, and THE JIM GAFFIGAN SHOW is an affable addition to the canon.  Gaffigan has made a modest ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Series Premiere Review: “Impastor”

  IMPASTOR:  Wednesday 10:30PM on TV Land – Change the Channel TV Land’s brand was built primarily as a repackager of vintage sitcoms, and when it entered the world of original content, it initially did so w...
by Mitch Salem