Author Archive
 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Finale Review: “The Fosters”

  There’s a reason why serialized dramas usually have some sort of “franchise” powering them:  a mystery to be solved, patients to be cured, a quest to be undertaken, etc.  Generating compelling stories...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Series Premiere Review: “Happyland”

  HAPPYLAND:  Tuesday 11PM on MTV – Worth A Look After years spent as far away from scripted series as it could get, MTV has been accumulating a tidy set of programming lately that caters to its target demo without ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED: “Game” Keeps The Throne

>The numbers are remaining very impressive for HBO’s smash hit GAME OF THRONES. Last night’s Episode 2 rating was only down 2-3% from the series-record season premiere the previous week. That’s better than the...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Krampus” Comes To Town On Slow Post-Holiday Weekend

  We’re in the 2-week void between Thanksgiving and the Awakening of the Force, and the low-budget KRAMPUS (Legendary/Universal) is the weekend’s only major studio arrival.  According to preliminary numbers at...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

Behind the Weekend Box Office – 4/27/14

  OPENINGS:  THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (Sony) is still several days from its US opening, but the superhero spectacle already has $132M in the bank after a $67.2M 2d weekend in 42 international territories–which don&#...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Pilot + 1 Review: “Extant”

  EXTANT:  Wednesday 9PM on CBS Previously… on EXTANT:  Astronaut Molly Woods (Halle Berry) returns from a 13 month-long solo mission in space with a surprise–she’s pregnant.  Although come to think of...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY FILM REVIEW: “The Purge”

  THE PURGE:  Watch It At Home – Dopey, Violent Allegory Nevertheless Packs a Punch THE PURGE is heavy-handed, borderline reprehensible nonsense–but that’s not to say it doesn’t work.  James DeMon...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Season Finale Review: “Boardwalk Empire”

  It’s a continuing paradox that a show could have as many colorful characters, so terrific a cast, as much plot and incident and history (not to mention sex and violence) and visual style as BOARDWALK EMPIRE does an...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Finale Review: “Scream Queens”

  SCREAM QUEENS was 13 consecutive hours of shrill campiness, and it was only fans of shrill camp who turned out for it–and they were far lower in number than FOX and the Ryan Murphy brain-trust had hoped.  As the M...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED’S FRIDAY NETWORK SCORECARD – 4/20/12

> Network TV takes a snooze. FOX:  On a night when no show on any broadcast network rated higher than 1.4, the closest thing to an event was THE FINDER rising to 1.2 from the previous week’s 0.9.  This is almost...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Series Premiere Review: “Blood & Treasure”

  BLOOD & TREASURE:  Tuesday 10PM on CBS Summer has come to network TV, which means 4 months with tons of unscripted offerings and the occasional downscale scripted series.  The latter is typified by CBS’s BL...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Sundance 2023 Reviews: “The Persian Version,” “The Starling Girl,” & “The Accidental Getaway Driver”

  THE PERSIAN VERSION (Sony Classics):  Maryam Keshavarz’s dramedy won the Sundance Audience Award in the US Dramatic Competition, and it’s a smart mixture of broad comedy and family drama.  The comedy is mos...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Justice League” Falters, “Wonder” Surges, “The Star” Dim

  JUSTICE LEAGUE (RatPac/DC/Warners) was supposed to be the jewel in the DC crown, the Avengers that would push its megafranchise to the next box office level.  That’s what justified spending a reported $450M on pro...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: ‘Parks & Recreation”

  Like the famous tortoise, PARKS & RECREATION has hung in there long enough to become the highest-rated (all-but-certainly) returning sitcom on NBC’s air.  That is, admittedly, a low bar, but it’s still a...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED: “Up All Night,” “Whitney” and “The Playboy Club” Get Some News

> In a move that shows where NBC stands right now, the network has given back order pick-ups to UP ALL NIGHT (which had a 2.1 rating in 18-49s last week) and WHITNEY (with a 2.5).  It’s not clear whether these are th...
by Mitch Salem