Author Archive
 

 

THE SKED’S BUSTED PILOT THEATRE: “Identity”

> See A Word About Busted Pilots IDENTITY is so clearly a Jerry-Bruckheimer-for-CBS procedural that it comes as a shock to realize that it was neither produced by Bruckheimer nor developed for CBS.  In fact, Mark Gordon...
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
 

 

 

THE SKED’S MIDSEASON RETURN: “Grey’s Anatomy”

> Even diminished from the powerhouse it once was, GREY’S ANATOMY is the foundation of ABC’s drama schedule, and its return to the air after a nearly 2 month absence should lift the network’s Thursday consider...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Series Premiere Review: “The Brink”

  THE BRINK:  Sunday 10:30PM on HBO – If Nothing Else Is On… THE BRINK will make you appreciate the precision and verbal dexterity of Veep.  Actually, although it’s an HBO political satire, The Brink ge...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Toronto Film Festival Review: “Room”

  Despite its compact scale, Emma Donoghue’s bestselling novel ROOM was a daunting candidate for film adaptation, because so much of its impact depends on its very specific narrator’s voice, a 5-year old named ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Exodus” Doesn’t Reach the Promised Land

  The holiday movie season is getting off to a very slow start this weekend–and since this is the same time last year when the 2d Hobbit opened to $73.6M, the early December date can’t be blamed for it.  (This...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

Roger Ebert (1942-2013): The Balcony Is Closed

  Roger Ebert, after enduring cancer with extraordinary fortitude for over a decade, passed away today.  Ebert was one of the smartest, hardest-working and most passionate film critics of his generation, and almost certai...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

PREMIERING TONIGHT: THE SKED PILOT REVIEW – CBS’s “Mom”

  Read All Our Fall Pilot Reports here. MOM:  Monday 9:30PM on CBS starting Sept. 23 – Worth A Look The Chuck Lorre sitcom machine is a major reason that CBS is the most successful of the Big Four networks.  The Bi...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY EARLY FRIDAY BOXOFFICE – 4/20/12

> According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, THINK LIKE A MAN (Screen Gems/Sony) is overperforming in a big way, and should easily take the first non-Hunger Games weekend in over a month.  Man‘s opening day is est...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED’S FRIDAY NETWORK SCORECARD – 3/30/12

> Don’t give up on Fringe just yet. FOX:  Maybe all the fans really were at The Hunger Games last week.  FRINGE had a huge rebound to 1.2 last night, which still put it in 3d place for the hour (this is Fringe, ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY @ SUNDANCE 2013: “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”

  There’s a tendency to compare any slow-moving, beautifully-photographed drama with an abundance of natural imagery to the films of Terence Malick, but that’s unfair to the very particular surreal spirituality...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Season Finale Review: “Ray Donovan”

  Despite an abundance of first-rate acting, RAY DONOVAN may have been the biggest disappointment of the summer.  Ann Biderman’s dark family drama didn’t succeed at any of the things it seemed to be trying to ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED MIDSEASON PREMIERE REVIEW: “Community”

> COMMUNITY returns to the NBC schedule at 8PM on Thursday, March 15. WHERE WE WERE:  Greendale Community College, of course!  Where the school mascot is a Human Being and the Dean (Jim Rash) is to be seen in outfits ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 10.15.2017

  OPENINGS:  HAPPY DEATH DAY (Blumhouse/Universal) opened so well at $26.5M that inevitably, despite the fact that it appears to tell a completely closed-end story, talk of a franchise has started.  You can’t blame...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Series Premiere Review: “Mob City”

  MOB CITY:  Wednesday 9PM on TNT As a writer and director, Frank Darabont has never been in a hurry.  His The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Majestic and The Mist all run over 2 hours (Green Mile is over 3), ...
by Mitch Salem