Author Archive
 

 

NIELSENWAR: The Kevin Reilly Exit

  The clock starts ticking on a network head’s job the second that he or she takes it, and today time ran out for Kevin Reilly, Entertainment Chairman of the FOX television network.  (Everyone is being extremely civ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Film Review: “The Fault In Our Stars”

  THE FAULT IN OUR STARS:  Worth A Ticket – John Green’s Beloved Book Is Well Treated By the Screen It’s almost impossible to describe the plot of John Green’s YA novel THE FAULT IN OUR STARS witho...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Pilot + 1 Review: “Gang-Related”

  GANG-RELATED:  Thursday 9PM on FOX Previously… on GANG-RELATED:  Ryan Lopez (Ramon Rodriguez) is an LAPD detective on the city’s inter-agency anti-gang task force, working for Sam Chapel (Terry O’Quin...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THURSDAY NIGHT BOX OFFICE: “Maleficent” Spreads Its Wings, “Million Ways” Dies

  MALEFICENT (Disney) made it clear very quickly that it’s not going to play strictly as a family movie, earning a strong $4.2M in Thursday night screenings that began at 7PM.  That’s better than the Thursday ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Film Review: “Maleficent”

  MALEFICENT:  Watch It At Home – Only Jolie Casts a Spell The conflicting agendas driving the new MALEFICENT don’t leave much room for the movie itself.  Like Wicked and Once Upon A Time, it’s a revisi...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Film Review: “Edge of Tomorrow”

  EDGE OF TOMORROW:  Watch It At Home – Needed To Hit Reset One More Time There’s a lot of inventiveness in EDGE OF TOMORROW, which combines the premise of Groundhog Day with a War of the Worlds-like plot̵...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Maleficent” Soars, “A Million Ways” Perishes

  MALEFICENT (Disney) performed as well as its Thursday night start suggested it might, at the high-end of expectations according to preliminary Friday numbers at Deadline and elsewhere.  The revisionist fairy tale surged...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Series Premiere Review: “Crossbones”

  CROSSBONES:  Friday 10PM on NBC – Potential DVR Alert Viewers of Starz’s Black Sails will find much that’s familiar in NBC’s summer pirate adventure CROSSBONES.  We’re back in the Caribbea...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

UPDATED: THE SKED CABLE/NETWORK FRIDAY SCORECARD – 5/30/14

  NETWORK UPDATE:  CROSSBONES couldn’t hold its preliminary number, and slipped 0.1 to a 1.0 premiere.  WHAT WOULD YOU DO went up 0.1 to 1.2, and the SHARK TANK rerun was likewise up to 1.1. FRIDAY CABLE:  There w...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Behind the Friday Box Office – 5/30/14

  OPENINGS:  MALEFICENT (Disney) didn’t come cheap–with worldwide marketing, its price-tag will top $300M.  But it seems to be money well spent, as its $24.2M Friday should propel it into a $70M+ weekend.  I...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Season Premiere Review: “Orange Is the New Black” (Episodes 1-3)

  One of the ways the emergence of Netflix as an important programming platform has changed the way we regard “television” is in its obliteration of the concept of a series “season” as something tha...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

EARLY WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: “Maleficent” Loses A Bit of Magic, “A Million Ways” Still Dead

  Based on preliminary numbers at Deadline and elsewhere, MALEFICENT (Disney) gained just 6% on Saturday from its Friday start, not a great bump for a family movie, giving it around $25.5M on Saturday and a weekend that no...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Season Finale Review: “Da Vinci’s Demons”

  The farther it gets from the historical person named Leonardo Da Vinci, the better Starz’s DA VINCI’S DEMONS tends to be as a series.  In its 2d season, it went very far–all the way to South America, i...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Behind the US/International Weekend Box Office – 6/1/14

  OPENINGS:  MALEFICENT (Disney) is claiming a $70M weekend, and like all round-number estimates, that should be viewed with some skepticism.  But even if it dips slightly in final numbers tomorrow, it’s a fine sta...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

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

  NETWORK UPDATE:  THE BACHELORETTE gained 0.1 from preliminary numbers. SATURDAY CABLE:  ORPHAN BLACK (BBCAmerica) slipped a tiny bit to 0.23, while IN THE FLESH was demoted to 11PM and stayed at 0.03.  In the 10PM slot, T...
by Mitch Salem