Author Archive
 

 

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: How Hot Is “Catching Fire”?

  Early numbers at Deadline have the opening day (including Thursday night) of THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (Lionsgate) at $67.5M, $200K above the launch of the original Hunger Games.  That makes it slightly puzzling t...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Season Premiere Review: “Nikita”

  NIKITA:  Friday 9PM on CW Although the cast, crew and studio would no doubt have liked it to go longer, a 6-episode final season for NIKITA isn’t a bad thing.  From CW’s point of view, it fills in the gap b...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED FRIDAY NETWORK SCORECARD – 11/22/13

  CW:  The premiere of the final season of NIKITA may make CW wonder why it bothered, with a virtually invisible 0.2.  That was even worse than the 0.3 for THE CARRIE DIARIES, even with last week. NBC:  After more than...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

BEHIND THE FRIDAY BOX OFFICE – 11/22/13

  OPENINGS:  THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (Lionsgate) came up from initial Friday estimates to $70.5M, the 7th highest single day box office in US history (behind the final Harry Potter, The Avengers, The Dark Knight, ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

BEHIND THE WEEKEND BOX OFFICE – 11/24/13

  OPENINGS:  We noted here yesterday that if THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (Lionsgate) could just hold on as well on its first Saturday as The Hunger Games had, a $160M weekend was within its grasp.  That’s exact...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Fall Finale Review: “The Walking Dead”

  For all its gigantic, game-changing success, THE WALKING DEAD seems fated always to be a dramatically uneven series.  Under new showrunner Scott M. Gimple (who, contrary to previous practice, will keep his job in the al...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Series Premiere Review: “Getting On”

  GETTING ON:  Sunday 10PM on HBO – Worth A Look It’s probably safe to assume that when a network launches a short run of a new series to air only during the holiday season, and that show isn’t at all ho...
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
 

 

 

THE SKED NETWORK SCORECARD – 11/24/13

  Live events remain one of the last bastions of network TV. ABC:  Despite facing a monster football game, the AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS were up a full 1.1 over last year’s edition to 4.5, towering over the numbers ABC has ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Not So Fast, “Catching Fire”

  Yesterday’s studio estimate for THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (Lionsgate) seemed high, with a Sunday drop predicted to be by far the lowest in the Top 10, so it’s not much of a surprise to see the weekend n...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

NIELSENWAR: Welcome To The Break

  NOTE: Season To Date and Weekly Network Ratings Charts Are Below Tonight is the last Monday of November sweeps, and with some variation (most notably because of baseball on FOX), most network series have been airing new...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

NIELSENWAR: The Midseason Battles Begin, “Walking Dead” Chews On Fall Finale Record

  NOTE:  Season To Date and Weekly Network Ratings Charts Are Below NBC made a surprise move today, announcing that THE BLACKLIST, rather than following the pattern of last season’s Revolution and airing only with T...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Midseason Premiere Review: “Major Crimes”

  MAJOR CRIMES:  Monday 9PM on TNT MAJOR CRIMES isn’t the kind of series to go for “game-changing” alterations, so the back half (actually 8 episodes) of its second season, which resumed tonight after a ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Midseason Finale Review: “Hart of Dixie”

  The crises on HART OF DIXIE, perhaps the most amiable hour on network television, tend to be fairly low-intensity, and tonight’s midseason finale–a Hanukkah episode, of all things, not something you often see...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Midseason Finale Review: “Beauty & the Beast”

  New showrunner Brad Kern (working with series creators Sherri Cooper and Jennifer Levin) has made plenty of changes to BEAUTY & THE BEAST, but mostly they haven’t been improvements.  The gothic romanticism of ...
by Mitch Salem