Author Archive
 

 

AFI FEST Film Review: “Her”

  HER:  Buy A Ticket – Tetrabytes of Love From Spike Jonze HER, which was presented at the AFI Film Festival before opening in theatres next month, is the first film Spike Jonze has directed from his own original s...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED: “The Killing” Will Not Die!

  Michael Myers and Freddie Kreuger have nothing on THE KILLING, a series that seems to be perpetually death-defying.  After the 2-season search for the killer of Rosie Larsen, with a conclusion that seemed to satisfy no ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Series Premiere Review: “Ground Floor”

  GROUND FLOOR:  Thursday 10PM on TBS – If Nothing Else Is On… As cable networks have stolen more and more of the glory from broadcasters, with TV movies, miniseries, and quality 1-hour dramas now largely in t...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED: “The Simpsons” Rakes In More D’Oh

  Just in case THE SIMPSONS hadn’t made enough billions for 20th Century Fox Television (the in-house production studio of FOX network), its producers and the larger corporate entity, today the show closed a deal wit...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

UPDATED: THE SKED NETWORK/CABLE SCORECARD – 11/14/13

  AFTERNOON UPDATE:  With the NFL game calculated out, both NBC and FOX suffered across-the-board declines that neither network–but especially NBC–couldn’t afford.  So there were new series lows for PARKS &...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

AFI FEST Film Review: “Inside Llewyn Davis”

  INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS:  Buy A Ticket – 1960s Folk Music A La The Coens INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS, which screened as the Closing Night presentation of the AFI Film Festival in advance of its regular run next month, is Joe...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED NETWORK SCORECARD – 11/13/13

  This was the first Wednesday in a while not to feature special circumstances (World Series games, the CMAs), and things returned pretty much to normal. ABC:  All the network’s shows were within 0.1 of their last regul...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED NETWORK SCORECARD – 11/12/13

  Agents of SHIELD has lost its superpowers. ABC;  One might reasonably have expected AGENTS OF SHIELD to benefit from the arrival of the blockbuster new Thor movie in theatres last weekend (the series is even planning a spin...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

AFI FEST Film Review: “Lone Survivor”

  LONE SURVIVOR:  Buy A Ticket – A Powerfully Visceral Tale of War Peter Berg’s LONE SURVIVOR, which was shown at the AFI Film Festival tonight in advance of its release late next month, is a docudrama in the ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

UPDATED: THE SKED NETWORK/CABLE SCORECARD – 11/10/13

  TUESDAY UPDATE:  SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL adjusted to a 7.8 rating, a bit lower than we’d estimated.  On CBS, once the football overrun was adjusted out, 60 MINUTES had a 3.1, considerably below our estimate, but th...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED NETWORK SCORECARD – 11/11/13

  A small but good sign for NBC. NBC:  THE BLACKLIST was only up 0.1 last night to 3.0–and even that might not hold in final numbers, since it started at 10:01PM–but the highly-promoted episode, which featured a B...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

AFI FEST Film Review: “Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom”

  MANDELA: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM:  Watch It At Home – More Like a Trudge The movies haven’t figured out what to do with Idris Elba.  The powerful, fiery actor has been spectacular on TV, first on The Wire and ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

NIELSENWAR: A Veterans Day Look At Veteran Network Series

  NOTE:  Season To Date and Network Week-to-Week Charts Are Below With today’s CW announcement that THE ORIGINALS, REIGN and THE TOMORROW PEOPLE have received full back orders, we know where we are with just about a...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

BEHIND THE WEEKEND BOX OFFICE – 11/10/13

  OPENINGS:  THOR: THE DARK WORLD (Disney) held essentially even on Saturday, an excellent result for a franchise movie, especially where a chunk of its “Friday” number had come from Thursday night screenings....
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

BEHIND THE FRIDAY BOX OFFICE – 11/8/13

  OPENINGS:  The $31.6M first day for THOR: THE DARK WORLD (Disney) was about 24% higher than the $25.5M opening for the first Thor, an increment likely to reduce as the movie’s run continues, since sequels tend to ...
by Mitch Salem