Author Archive
 

 

THE SKED: FOX Midseason Schedule – “Idol” Gets Shorter and More

  FOX announced most of its midseason decisions today, and there were a few surprises.  Biggest was the reduction of AMERICAN IDOL‘s Thursday night results show to 30 minutes, with the new sitcom SURVIVING JACK at 8...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Series Premiere Review: “Dracula”

  DRACULA:  Friday 10PM on NBC – If Nothing Else Is On… A century of vampire movies and TV shows has taught us that undead is by no means the same as lifeless, but NBC’s new excavation of DRACULA doesn&#...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Bad Grandpa” Does Good

  Amid its very public internal tumult today, Deadline managed to post some preliminary box office numbers, and if they hold up, BAD GRANDPA (Paramount) will take over first place for the weekend.  Its reported $11.5M Fri...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Season Premiere Review: “The Carrie Diaries”

  THE CARRIE DIARIES:  Friday 8PM on CW When THE CARRIE DIARIES was almost unaccountably renewed by CW despite its awful ratings, even by that network’s standards (supposedly because of online and DVR strength as we...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED NETWORK SCORECARD – 10/24/13

  NBC:  The regular Friday line-up got off to a solid start.  GRIMM, at 1.8, was just about where the show had been last spring (and up 0.2 from last season’s finale).  The better news was that DRACULA looks to be...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

BEHIND THE FRIDAY BOX OFFICE – 10/24/13

  OPENINGS:  BAD GRANDPA (Paramount) cost only $15M to produce, and although that’s somewhat misleading (when worldwide marketing is added, the total cost becomes more like $75M+), it’s still headed for easy s...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED REVIEW: “Saturday Night Live” with Edward Norton

  Edward Norton, a very fine actor who’s shown occasional comic chops, is the oddest choice to host SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE in recent memory.  It’s been a long, long time since he was anywhere near the forefront o...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

EARLY WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: “Bad Grandpa” Holds Well For Easy Win

  Considering its genre and target audience, BAD GRANDPA (Paramount) did very well in its second day, according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, slipping just 4% to $12M.  By comparison, the three Jackass movies went d...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

BEHIND THE WEEKEND BOX OFFICE – 10/27/13

  OPENINGS:  BAD GRANDPA (Paramount) romped to 1st place at the multiplexes this weekend with $32M, but perhaps more notably, it also made $8.4M in just 16 overseas territories.  That’s the same level as Jackass 3D...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED NETWORK SCORECARD – 10/27/13

  For viewers not watching sports or zombies last night–however few of them there were–TV offered a gangbusters episode of The Good Wife and a superb hour from Masters of Sex (although the less said about Homeland,...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

NIELSENWAR: Last Stop Before Sweeps

  As we approach the start of November sweeps on Halloween night, most of the networks are locking in their back order/cancellation plans, with one conspicuous exception. First, some big-picture numbers: Network Weekly Ave...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED NETWORK SCORECARD – 10/28/13

  The World Series had surprisingly little meaningful effect on the other networks. FOX:  WORLD SERIES GAME 5 had a preliminary 3.8, which probably won’t go much beyond a 4 in final numbers.  There hasn’t been a ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Sunday Cable Scorecard – 10/27/13

  AMC:  In the single least-surprising development of the season (perhaps the century), THE WALKING DEAD has just been renewed for a 5th season.  Slightly more surprisingly, it appears as though Scott M. Gimple, with sur...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED NETWORK SCORECARD – 10/29/13

  An atypical night yielded some unusual results. NBC:  Adding a second hour of THE VOICE inevitably boosted the night for NBC, which took Tuesday by half a rating point, a wider margin than last week.  But that Voice episod...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

OSCARLAND: Xmas at Marty’s

  The big news this week in Oscarland was the confirmation that Martin Scorsese’s WOLF OF WALL STREET (Paramount), starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew McConaughey, Jonah Hill and many more, which wasn’t finish...
by Mitch Salem