Author Archive
 

 

THE SKED Series Premiere Review: “Looking”

  LOOKING:  Sunday 10:30PM on HBO – Worth A Look HBO’s LOOKING is distinctive for the obvious reason that it’s a dramedy about gay characters, of a completely different order than the network universe of...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Season Finale Review: “Betrayal”

  All the way to the very end, BETRAYAL couldn’t get it right.  Although it hasn’t technically been canceled (as a matter of policy, networks don’t give up their legal rights to shows until the last poss...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Season Premiere Review: “The Following”

  THE FOLLOWING:  Monday 9PM on FOX (starting Jan 27) The blood-drenched, increasingly grandiose literary pretensions of THE FOLLOWING grew tiresome by the end of last season’s run.  It seemed like very good news t...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

OSCARLAND: Producers Guild Produces a Tie

  The Producers Guild of America didn’t clarify much of anything tonight by giving its Best Picture award to both 12 YEARS A SLAVE and GRAVITY.  That provided all 3 of the presumed frontrunners with a prize for the ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

Behind the Weekend Box Office – 1/19/14

  OPENINGS:  After a 15% Saturday bump to $16.7M, RIDE ALONG (Universal) seems assured of beating Cloverfield‘s $46.1M record for the 4-day Martin Luther King Day weekend (Ride Along is reporting $41.2M for Fri-Sun,...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Review: “Saturday Night Live” with Drake

  Tonight’s footnote to SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE history was that it featured the debut of new cast member Sasheer Zamata, who is, not incidentally, an African-American woman–“not incidentally” only beca...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

OSCARLAND: “American Hustle” Takes Top Prize At the SAG Awards

  AMERICAN HUSTLE walked away with the big prize at tonight’s Screen Actors Guild Awards, winning the accolade for Best Ensemble Cast of a Motion Picture.  Although the Ensemble Cast Award is commonly considered SAG...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Behind the Friday Box Office – 1/17/14

  OPENINGS:  Kevin Hart has been hanging around the edges of being a movie star for a few years now, and RIDE ALONG (Universal) makes it official.  With a $14.5M Friday start, it could challenge Cloverfield for the Marti...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED NETWORK SCORECARD – 1/17/14

  FOX:  Any hope that ENLISTED could find itself some helpful word-of-mouth faded as its 2d episode fell 0.1 from the premiere to 0.6.  It was again 0.1 below RAISING HOPE, itself down 0.1 to 0.7.  Neither could compla...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Ride Along” In the Driver’s Seat

  Although it also stars (and is produced by) Ice Cube, RIDE ALONG (Universal) goes down in the books as a big win for Kevin Hart, the focus of the movie’s marketing campaign.  Based on preliminary numbers at The Ho...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Pilot + 1 Review: “Enlisted”

  ENLISTED:  Friday 9:30PM on FOX Previously… on ENLISTED:  The brothers Hill–demoted hero soldier Pete (Geoff Stults), cynical Derrick (Chris Lowell) and earnest, dumb Randy (Parker Young)–all serve on...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED NETWORK SCORECARD – 1/16/14

  American Idol‘s woes continued last night.  (So did everyone else’s.) FOX:  On a year-to-year basis, Thursday’s plunge for AMERICAN IDOL was even worse than Wednesday’s, down an awful 1.7 from last ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Film Review: “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit”

  JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT:  Watch It At Home – Tom Clancy’s Hero Is Plugged Into A Routine Action Movie The fourth movie incarnation of Tom Clancy’s emblematic hero Jack Ryan (in 5 films) finds him muc...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED: Showtime Premiere Dates

  It’s Showtime’s turn at TCA, so along with announcing some series pick-ups (Happyish with Philips Seymour Hoffman, and the probably self-explanatory The Affair), some premiere dates were unveiled. On Sunday, ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

UPDATED: THE SKED CABLE/NETWORK SCORECARD – 1/15/14

  AFTERNOON UPDATE:  AMERICAN IDOL gained 0.1 in final numbers, but at 4.7, it was still nowhere near last year’s 6.0 premiere.  SVU, SUPER FUN NIGHT and THE TOMORROW PEOPLE all lost 1.0 from their already unimpressive...
by Mitch Salem