Author Archive
 

 

UPDATED: THE SKED CABLE/NETWORK SCORECARD – 1/6/14

  AFTERNOON UPDATE:  Changes from morning numbers were minor.  CASTLE slipped 0.1 to 1.7, an even lower season low, ALMOST HUMAN edged up 0.1 to 1.8, 2 of the BLACKLIST reruns moved up 0.1 to 1.0, and BEAUTY & THE BEAST ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Season Finale Review: “Hostages”

  The failures of HOSTAGES were many, and they separate into two dimensions.  One–the more important to CBS–was commercial; the show proved to be dead in the water from the night it premiered against the launc...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED: There Will Always Be An England (On US TV) – “Downton” Hits New High

  Millions of Americans desperately worried about the plight of widowed Lady Mary knew where to go for their fix of British aristocracy last night, as DOWNTON ABBEY reached yet another new historic high for PBS.  The Seas...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED NETWORK SCORECARD – 1/5/14

  The night was dominated by football and its aftereffects, but there were some other (dimmer) bright spots.  Note:  we don’t yet have a rating for the PBS season debut of Downton Abbey. FOX:  Our projection is th...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Season Premiere Review: “Downton Abbey”

  DOWNTON ABBEY:  Sunday 9PM on PBS In its fourth season as the most successful regular series in PBS history, DOWNTON ABBEY operates as smoothly as a well-staffed ancestral estate.  Even though the larger subject of the...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

BEHIND THE WEEKEND BOX OFFICE – 1/5/13

  OPENINGS:  PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE MARKED ONES (Paramount), with its $18.2M weekend, made less at 2867 theatres than the first Paranormal made at 760, a little more than 4 years ago.  It was also well below the $29M w...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

OSCARLAND: The National Society of Film Critics Dances To Its Own Beat

  The National Society of Film Critics is the only major group that withholds its honors until after year-end, and for the most part its choices today were as idiosyncratic as its scheduling.  With the exception of Best A...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Behind the Friday Box Office – 1/3/13

  OPENINGS:  PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE MARKED ONES (Paramount) was an experiment in several ways–the first installment of the franchise to be a spin-off and not a direct sequel, the first released out of the Hallowee...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED NETWORK SCORECARD – 1/3/14

  NBC:  GRIMM gained 0.2 from its last extremely low airing to reach 1.4, but the number isn’t as good as it looks, since it’s down 0.2 from its 1.6 in the previous week.  DRACULA fell 0.2 from its last airin...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Marked Ones” Stumbles To Start 2014

  Based on preliminary numbers at Deadline, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE MARKED ONES (Paramount) is likely to win Friday but lose the weekend.  Its $8.5M start positions it not only to come in below the wide releases of all t...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

OSCARLAND: Writers Guild Nominations

  The Writers Guild is unusual among awards-giving groups in that it strictly enforces the rule that only screenplays written for films produced under Guild agreements are eligible.  That tends to exclude some of the majo...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THURSDAY NIGHT BOX OFFICE: “The Marked Ones” Kicks Off 2014

  The franchise spin-off PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE MARKED ONES (Paramount) pulled in $1.2M at 10PM shows last night.  That was far below the $4.5M that Paranormal Activity 4 made on its Thursday in October 2012, but it was...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

UPDATED: THE SKED CABLE/NETWORK SCORECARD – 1/2/14

  AFTERNOON UPDATE:  There were no meaningful changes from the morning’s overnight numbers.  As often happens, when the dust settled on CBS, THE BIG BANG THEORY rose 0.1 to 5.4 and THE MILLERS slipped 0.1 to 2.8.  In ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Series Premiere Review: “The Assets”

  THE ASSETS:  Thursday 10PM on ABC – Change the Channel It’s easy enough to see why ABC would like to be in the spy-TV business.  Homeland, whatever its flaws, is a major hit, and The Americans, while not as...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Season Premiere Review: “Community”

  COMMUNITY:  Thursday 8PM on NBC A few days ago, the NY Times had a fascinating article about Pei-Shen Qian, an artist who is almost but not quite a forger.  He doesn’t duplicate actual paintings of the masters; i...
by Mitch Salem