Author Archive
 

 

NIELSENWAR: The Kevin Reilly Exit

  The clock starts ticking on a network head’s job the second that he or she takes it, and today time ran out for Kevin Reilly, Entertainment Chairman of the FOX television network.  (Everyone is being extremely civ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

UPDATED: THE SKED CABLE/NETWORK TUESDAY SCORECARD – 5/27/14

  NETWORK UPDATE:  The only changes were in reruns:  NCIS rose 0.1 and both CW shows lost 0.1. TUESDAY CABLE:  TNT’s NBA PLAYOFFS game was in charge at 2.6.  The NHL PLAYOFFS on NBC Sports Network WERE AT 0.6.  THE ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Pilot Review: “Halt and Catch Fire”

  HALT AND CATCH FIRE:  Sunday 10PM on AMC – Potential DVR Alert HALT AND CATCH FIRE won’t remind you much of The Social Network.  (Or for that matter of Silicon Valley.)  Set in 1983 Texas and written by fi...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

UPDATED: THE SKED CABLE/NETWORK WEDNESDAY SCORECARD – 5/28/14

  NETWORK UPDATE:  The only changes involved reruns:  0.1 increases for ARROW, MODERN FAMILY and THE GOLDBERGS at 9:30PM.  We didn’t mention it this morning, but it’s also worth noting that ABC’s MOTIVE, i...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

UPDATED: THE SKED CABLE/NETWORK MONDAY SCORECARD – 5/26/14

  NETWORK UPDATE:  THE BACHELORETTE climbed 0.2 in final numbers, while MASTERCHEF and AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR gained 0.1.  (The NINJA WARRIOR clip show, however, lost 0.1.)   MONDAY CABLE:  It was ESPN’s turn for...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

UPDATED: THE SKED CABLE/NETWORK SUNDAY SCORECARD – 5/25/14

  NETWORK UPDATE:  The only change from preliminary numbers was a 0.1 gain for the NASCAR race on FOX. SATURDAY CABLE:  On BBC America, ORPHAN BLACK was up very slightly to 0.25, with follow-up IN THE FLESH barely regist...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

PREMIERING TONIGHT: THE SKED Pilot Review: “The Night Shift”

  THE NIGHT SHIFT:  Tuesday 10PM on NBC – Change the Channel It’s as though NBC and series creators Jeff Judah and Gabe Sachs (they were among the showrunners of the 90210 reboot, and wrote the first Diary of ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

MEMORIAL DAY BOX OFFICE UPDATE: “X-Men” Goes Even Higher

  The studios continued to be bullish on their holiday estimates, with preliminary Monday numbers expecting strong business that may or may not be confirmed in final box office figures tomorrow.  For now, the most optimis...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED (Mid)Season Finale Review: “Mad Men”

  What is it with endings?  Why do they rattle the brains of even the greatest of television’s creative minds?  Half-endings, too, which is what tonight’s finish to the first half of MAD MEN‘s 7th and f...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Behind the Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 5/25/14

  (Note:  Most of the studios aggressively estimated their Sunday declines as being around 10%, even though last year’s Memorial Day Weekend Sunday drops were mostly steeper than that, so there could be a number of ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Review: “The Normal Heart”

  THE NORMAL HEART:  Sunday 9PM on HBO – DVR Alert When Larry Kramer’s just-barely-semi-autobiographical THE NORMAL HEART was first written and performed in 1985, it was as “ripped from the headlinesR...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

EARLY HOLIDAY WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: “X-Men” Slips, “Blended” Climbs Weakly

  Day 2 for X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (20th) was down by a larger margin than expected, according to preliminary numbers at Deadline and elsewhere, from $36M on Friday to $29-30M on Saturday.  If that number holds, it...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

Behind the Friday Box Office – 5/23/14

  OPENINGS:  With $36M on Friday, X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST is assured of going over $100M by Monday, and the only question is by how much.  The day fell a bit below the openings for Godzilla ($38.4M) and Captain Americ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED NETWORK SCORECARD – 5/23/14

  The highest rated shows on network television last night had 1.3 ratings. NBC:  The season finale of HANNIBAL is currently at 0.9, matching last week, but it began at 10:01PM and followed a 1.6 for the last half-hour of...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Season Finale Review: “Hannibal”

  Considering how defiantly unlike the rest of broadcast television HANNIBAL is, not to mention its love of metaphor, it made sense for the show’s Season 2 finale to air entirely on its own, separate from the last ep...
by Mitch Salem