Author Archive
 

 

Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 12.24.2017

  OPENINGS:  As we noted on Friday, the 3-day weekend studio estimates are lower than they’d otherwise be, due to lower pre-holiday moviegoing on Saturday and especially Sunday.  That will all change on Christmas D...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

EARLY SUNDAY CABLE RATINGS: “Mad Men” Up, “Devious Maids” Soft, Wallenda Wins

  Cable ratings will be fragmentary until tomorrow, but here are some numbers worth noting: MAD MEN‘s Season 6 finale was, despite some viewers’ misgivings about this season, the show’s highest-rated fina...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Pilot + 1 Review: “Murder In the First”

  MURDER IN THE FIRST:  Monday 10PM on TNT Previously… on MURDER IN THE FIRST:  San Francisco homicide detectives Terry English (Taye Diggs) and Hildy Mulligan (Kathleen Robertson) are investigating two crimes conn...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Series Premiere Review: “Black Box”

  BLACK BOX:  Thursday 10PM on ABC – Change the Channel In ABC’s (partial) defense, BLACK BOX wasn’t intended to run during the regular broadcast season.  It was meant to be seen in summer, when standar...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

Toronto Film Festival Reviews: “The Whale” & “Chevalier”

  THE WHALE (A24 – December 9):  The fall film festivals usher in awards season, and no performance this year screams “Oscar bait” more than Brendan Fraser’s in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale.�...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SHOWBUZZDAILY REVIEW: “Oblivion”

  OBLIVION:  Worth A Ticket – Dramatically Uneven, But Visually Spectacular OBLIVION is amazing to look at.  Even though it takes place in the same post-apocalyptic landscape where movie and TV audiences seem to sp...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 1.19.2020

  OPENINGS:  For a year lean on powerhouse franchises and expected to be tough at the box office, Hollywood’s 2020 is off to a heartening start.  Following last week’s strong performance by 1917, this week...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Series Premiere Review: “The Odd Couple”

  THE ODD COUPLE:  Thursday 8:30PM on CBS – If Nothing Else Is On… As Chandler Bing might say:  Could there be a more CBS show than a reboot of a 45-year old multicamera sit-com, with a star 10 years from his...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED’S THURSDAY NETWORK SCORECARD – 1/31/13

NBC looks to its past–and faces its present. NBC:  30 ROCK had a nice send-off, a 1.9 that was up half a point from last week as old fans gathered to watch the gang one last time.  But “catastrophic” doesn&#...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SHOWBUZZDAILY REVIEW: “The Odd Life of Timothy Green”

  THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN:  Not At Any Price – Should Have Been Pruned   When Disney decided to make THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN, it probably shouldn’t have put the word “odd” in the t...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Up All Night”

> Some shows find their creative voices during the course of their first season–but even after a super-sized order of 24 episodes that ended last night, UP ALL NIGHT is still floundering. On paper, Up All Night seemed to ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

BEHIND THE WEEKEND BOXOFFICE – 6/16/13

  OPENINGS:  In some ways, the most important number of the weekend was the $71.6M that MAN OF STEEL (Warners) earned outside the US and Canada.  Although it’s lower than the $113.1M domestic weekend ($125.1 with T...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

Friday Box Office: “Dunkirk” Victorious, “Girls Trip” Strong, “Valerian” Crashes

  There’s a reason why Christopher Nolan may be, along with James Cameron, the last filmmaker who can truly demand blank checks from Hollywood.  His WWII recreation DUNKIRK (Warners), devoid of name stars (apologies...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED NIELSENWAR CHRONICLES – Thursday

  There was a time, not that many years ago, when Thursday was the night that network television was all about.  Fueled by the enormous amounts movie studios spend to promote their openings the next day, the night was stu...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SERIES PREMIERE REVIEW: “Mr. Selfridge”

  MR. SELFRIDGE:  Sunday 9PM on PBS To get the obvious over with quickly, MR. SELFRIDGE, PBS’s attempt to find a partner for its blockbuster hit Downton Abbey, isn’t in that show’s league.  Instead it&#...
by Mitch Salem