Author Archive
 

 

THE SKED: CW Midseason Changes

  CW announced a set of sensible changes for its midseason schedule today, cutting its losses on the shows that aren’t working and trying to save its flailing Mondays. The adjustments will phase in over a month or so...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Fall Finale Review: “The Tomorrow People”

  Today’s CW announcement that in March, THE TOMORROW PEOPLE will move to Monday nights, swapping the hit Arrow for the untested Star-Crossed as its lead in, probably starts the clock ticking on the show’s rema...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Fall Finale Review: “Nashville”

  How much guitar string does NASHVILLE have left?  Last night’s fall finale had a 1.4 rating in 18-49s, half a point below last season’s–which was already considered a major disappointment.  When you&#...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

UPDATED: THE SKED CABLE/NETWORK SCORECARD – 12/12/13

  AFTERNOON UPDATE:  As expected, CBS bore the brunt of the final ratings corrections once the NFL game was removed.  THE BIG BANG THEORY dropped 0.2 to 5.3 (still up 0.3 from last week), THE MILLERS fell 0.3 to 2.6 (sti...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

MIDNIGHT BOX OFFICE: Smaug Still Guarding His Gold From “Hobbit”

  Warner Bros and Peter Jackson are very, very lucky that THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG is a significantly better movie than last year’s An Unexpected Journey, which will give it strong word of mouth, because e...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Fall Finale Review: “Reign”

  REIGN rang down the curtain on the first piece of its season (it returns on January 23, having managed to hold onto its post-Vampire Diaries timeslot) in fine historical romance style.  The script, by series co-creator ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Fall Finale Review: “The Vampire Diaries”

  It’s been an odd, spotty half-season for THE VAMPIRE DIARIES.  For one thing, it’s been more like two mini-seasons:  the story of all-powerful, unkillable vampire-witch-whatever Silas, which would have been...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Fall Finale Review: “Grey’s Anatomy”

  GREY’S ANATOMY doesn’t get much attention these days, not even compared to its creator Shonda Rhimes’s shinier Scandal—Grey’s is just a soap–but after 10 years, it still knows how to p...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Fall Finale Review: “Scandal”

  The concept of a “finale” as an event calling for special plot revelations and narrative shockers is almost irrelevant to SCANDAL, where every episode brings massive twists.  This is a show, after all, set i...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Season Finale Review: “Haven”

  Season 4 of HAVEN was its most ambitious by far.  Under showrunners Matt McGuinness and Gabrielle Stanton, the series delved into its own mythology more deeply than it ever has before, moving past its initial rote Troub...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED FRIDAY NETWORK SCORECARD

  Embattled ABC fared the best on a slow night. ABC:  LAST MAN STANDING was down 0.2 from last week to 1.2, but things improved after that, as THE NEIGHBORS held at 0.9, SHARK TANK was easily the highest rated show of the...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

BEHIND THE FRIDAY BOX OFFICE – 12/13/13

  Well, bah humbug. OPENINGS:  Start the spin machine:  THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (Warners/MGM) has opened with $31.1M, $6M below the start for last year’s An Unexpected Journey.  That’s more than ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Review: “Saturday Night Live” with John Goodman

  The most inventive part of tonight’s SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE really wasn’t, because it was almost certainly unintentional.  Nevertheless, it was sort of brilliant, in a “found art” sort of way.  Soo...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

BEHIND THE WEEKEND BOX OFFICE – 12/15/13

  OPENINGS:  THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (Warners/MGM) had a better Saturday hold than last year’s An Unexpected Journey (-22% vs. -25%), suggesting that positive word of mouth is kicking in, and no doubt ea...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Season Finale Review: “Witches of East End”

  In this new era of serialized television drama, plot–and the skill with which it’s doled out–is more important than ever.  An overall clumsiness with the handling of its storylines is what’s held...
by Mitch Salem