Author Archive
 

 

THE SKED NETWORK SCORECARD – 9/18/13

  The rollout of pre-premiere week arrivals continued. CBS:  The fall premiere of SURVIVOR was a heavy 0.6 below last September’s debut, 2.6 compared to 3.2.  However, on the glass half-full side, it was 0.2 abov...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED’S NETWORK SCORECARD – 9/17/13

  FOX continued to reap some benefit from its early premiere week. FOX:  The premiere of DADS had a 2.1, better than last season’s Raising Hope debut (1.7), but facing atypically weak competition on the other ne...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Midseason Finale Review: “Suits”

  SUITS remains easily the smartest and most entertaining show on USA Network (not to mention one of its biggest hits), but its third season so far hasn’t been the equal of its second.  The series, which reached it...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

PREMIERING TONIGHT: FOX’s “Dads”

  Read All Our Fall Pilot Reports here. DADS:  Tuesday 8PM on FOX  – Change the Channel It’s hard to believe that the comedy executives at FOX, who have put such high-quality shows as New Girl, The Mindy Proj...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

PREMIERING TONIGHT: FOX’s “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”

  BROOKLYN NINE-NINE:  Tuesday 8:30PM on FOX – Potential DVR Alert BROOKLYN NINE-NINE is the kind of sitcom that can go very right or extremely wrong:  an ensemble about kooky homicide detectives, anchored by form...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Fall Pilot Report: FOX’s “Sleepy Hollow”

  Read All Our Fall Pilot Reports here. SLEEPY HOLLOW:  Monday 9PM on FOX – If Nothing Else Is On… For what’s supposed to be an original series, SLEEPY HOLLOW feels awfully familiar.  Part of it, of cou...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Under the Dome”

  UNDER THE DOME hasn’t been particularly important as TV drama, but it’s provided some vital information to the broadcast network business.  After years–decades, really–of treating summer as a re...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Season Finale Review: “The Newsroom”

It is, to be honest, somewhat difficult to focus on the clatter of THE NEWSROOM on the same night that Breaking Bad aired one of the most devastating episodes in its history–which made it one of the most devastating h...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW: “Philomena”

  In recent years, the… let’s call it mature audience has been a profitable one, making moderate hits of films like The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Quartet.  This holiday season, the title of choice fo...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

BEHIND THE FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: 9/13/13

  OPENINGS:  INSIDIOUS CHAPTER 2 (FilmDistrict) had the year’s biggest horror start with $20.1M (including $1.5M from Thursday night).  That compares to $17M for The Conjuring, the year’s biggest hit in the...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SERIES FINALE REVIEW: “Burn Notice”

  BURN NOTICE went heavy on action for its final hour, attempting to look like a more expensive show than it actually ever was.  Burn was never a well-respected series (it was memorably ridiculed in an SNL skit as a h...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Rookie Blue”

  ROOKIE BLUE did a solid job of wrapping up its fourth season and setting up cliffhangers for Season 5 (already ordered) with last night’s episode.  Although the Grey’s Anatomy-with-guns police soap has nev...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW: “The Last of Robin Hood”

  THE LAST OF ROBIN HOOD is an odd miss, a sliver of movie history that seems to have all the right elements but never quite jells.  The title refers to Errol Flynn, legendary swashbuckling star of The Adventures of Rob...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW: “Under the Skin”

  A film festival is certainly the place for a feature-length semi-linear flow of unscripted dialogue and bizarre imagery if anywhere is, so welcome to UNDER THE SKIN.  The writer/director Jonathan Glazer has gradually b...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW: “August: Osage County”

  The writer/producer/director John Wells made his reputation as the showrunner of ER, and he’s known as one of the most consistent, professional producers in the network business, with impeccable shows like The Wes...
by Mitch Salem