Author Archive
 

 

UPDATED: THE SKED CABLE/NETWORK SCORECARD – 3/23/14

  UPDATE:  The big change came early in the evening, as 60 MINUTES adjusted down 0.6 to 2.0, reflecting the deduction of the time zone viewers who were actually watching NCAA TOURNAMENT coverage.  That overrun rose 0.1 to 4....
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Season Finale Review: “The Fosters”

  THE FOSTERS seemed sturdier in the first half of its season than in its second.  Series creators Brad Bredeweg and Peter Paige loaded up so strenuously on sudsy, often ham-handed melodrama that it’s threatened to ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

NIELSENWAR: On “The Good Wife” and The Business of Plot Twists

  {Note:  SPOILERS will follow the weekly and season-to-date ratings below.} None of the networks are anywhere a 2 rating at this point of the season, with CBS on top last week thanks to its Mon-Wed line-up and less than ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

UPDATED: THE SKED CABLE/NETWORK SCORECARD – 3/21/14

  UPDATE:  The NCAA TOURNAMENT games on CBS adjusted to 1.0/1.3.  HART OF DIXIE lost 0.1 in final numbers, lessening its chances of survival.  SHARK TANK and 20/20 went up 0.1. FRIDAY CABLE:  The NCAA TOURNAMENT primet...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Season Finale Review: “Girls”

  Throughout its third season, reactions to GIRLS seemed to depend to a large extent on the particular vision of the series that viewers had.  Season 3 of Lena Dunham’s show was notably less conceptual and experimen...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Pilot + 1 Review: “Crisis”

  CRISIS:  Sunday 10PM on NBC Previously… on CRISIS:  On its way to a field trip in New York, a class of students from a Washington DC private school are kidnapped by a large and well-organized group of captors, an...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

Behind the Weekend Box Office – 3/23/14

  OPENINGS:  DIVERGENT (Summit/Lionsgate) had an unusual trajectory for a YA movie, with a relatively unimpressive start but then much less of a Saturday drop than others in its genre.  The result was a $56M weekend (the...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

EARLY WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: “Divergent” Holds Well, “Muppets” Still Soft

  We won’t have confirmed Saturday numbers for several more hours (or final figures until Monday), but based on preliminary grosses at Deadline, DIVERGENT (Summit/Lionsgate) held surprisingly well on its second day o...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Season Premiere Review: “Da Vinci’s Demons”

  DA VINCI’S DEMONS:  Saturday 9PM on Starz In its second season, Starz’s DA VINCI’S DEMONS continues to be less fun than it seems like it should be.  The series concerns a “Leonardo Da Vinci̶...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Behind the Friday Box Office – 3/21/14

  What was supposed to be an exciting pre-summer weekend at the box office is instead looking rather blah. OPENINGS:  Compared to recent YA disasters like The Mortal Instruments and Beautiful Creatures, DIVERGENT (Summit/...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Divergent” and “Muppets” Underperform; “God’s Not Dead” A Sleeper

  It’s clear, based on preliminary numbers at Deadline, that DIVERGENT (Summit/Lionsgate) isn’t going to reach prerelease hopes of an opening in line with the $69M of the original Twilight, much less that movie...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THURSDAY NIGHT BOX OFFICE: “Divergent” Solid, Not Overwhelming at $4.9M

  DIVERGENT (Summit/Lionsgate), in case you hadn’t heard, is purportedly The Next Big YA Thing.  It’s off to a $4.9M start in Thursday night shows that began at 8PM, and that’s a solid but–for this...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

UPDATED: THE SKED CABLE/NETWORK SCORECARD – 3/20/14

  AFTERNOON UPDATE:  AMERICAN IDOL managed to salvage a shred of dignity (for this week, anyway) by gaining 0.1 in adjusted numbers to hit 2.0.  HELL’S KITCHEN also climbed 0.1, as did THE VAMPIRE DIARIES and PARENTHOO...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

UPDATED: THE SKED CABLE/NETWORK SCORECARD – 3/19/14

  AFTERNOON UPDATE:  SURVIVOR widened its lead over AMERICAN IDOL by 0.1, and that was the only change from this morning for the new episodes.  On ABC, reruns of THE MIDDLE, SUBURGATORY and MODERN FAMILY all went up 0.1 (but...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Series Premiere Review: “Doll & Em”

  DOLL & EM:  Wednesday 9PM on HBO – If Nothing Else Is On… HBO’s romance with quirky British comedies of discomfort (and with the look and feel of micro-budgeted indie film) continues with DOLL &...
by Mitch Salem