Author Archive
 

 

THE SKED REVIEW: SNL With Zach Galifianakis

  There was an inspired, unexpected piece of comedy toward the end of tonight’s SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, although it was pretty lonely in the mostly bland context of the rest of the episode.  Early in the post-Update ha...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Toronto Film Festival Reviews: “The Wonder” & “What’s Love Got To Do With It?”

  THE WONDER (Netflix – November 16):  In the time of Ireland’s Great Famine, 11-year-old Anna (Kila Lord Cassidy) claims to have survived for 4 months without eating even one bite of food.  Is she a miracle,...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Season Finale Review: “CSI”

  The original CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION turned the corner on its 14th season tonight, and at its age, the show has little interest in reinventing itself beyond the bare minimum.  The days when William L. Petersen st...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY SUNDANCE REVIEW: “The Sleepwalker”

  For SHOWBUZZDAILY’s full set of Sundance capsule reviews, click here.   What kind of filmmaker does Mona Fastvold want to be?  It’s an existential question that comes up often at Sundance, where artisti...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 5.12.2019

  OPENINGS:  POKEMON: DETECTIVE PIKACHU (Legendary/Warners) started strong in the US with $58M, not that far off the $69.1M launch of The LEGO Movie.  Pikachu may not have that movie’s legs, especially with Aladdin...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY BEHIND THE FRIDAY BOXOFFICE – 9/28/12

  What was that about Adam Sandler having career trouble? OPENINGS:  Sony‘s decision to open HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA a week before Disney’s Frankenweenie turned out to be a brilliant move, as Hotel is on track fo...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED PILOT + 1 REVIEW: “Don’t Trust the B— In Apt 23”

> A lot can happen between the creation of a TV pilot in the spring and the production of episodes for the regular season: a writing/producing team is hired, audience focus groups weigh in, networks and studios (which may have ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED: Welcome To “Prime Suspect” Week On NBC

> PRIME SUSPECT had an awful 1.3 rating in 18-49s last week, despite NBC’s having given it a vote of confidence with an order for 6 additional scripts, which would allow for continuous production should the show receive a...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED: A Note About Cable Ratings

  There was some byplay on Twitter today about the way we and other TV ratings sites report cable ratings, and it seems worthwhile to share a few guidelines. Part of the confusion may have been caused by the way that the e...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED’S FRIDAY NETWORK SCORECARD – 3/15/13

A good night for Tom Selleck fans, and not much more. CBS:  BLUE BLOODS was the highest rated show of the night, up 0.3 to 1.7.  However, it’s not clear at this point how much local preemptions for basketball championsh...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY’s State of the Studio: Universal

  We’ve reached the last of our major studio midsummer surveys (we’ll take a look at mini-majors and indie distributors next week), having tackled Disney, Warner Bros, Paramount, Sony,and 20th Century Fox.  Ou...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

UPDATED: Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 6/15/14

  MONDAY UPDATE:  Father’s Day was a holiday, all right… for some movies.  22 JUMP STREET vastly overestimated its appeal to dads, taking a sizable 30% hit on Sunday and falling an ugly $3M below its original...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SERIES FINALE REVIEW: “Weeds”

  A suburbanite with money troubles gets into the drug business, gradually becoming corrupt, paranoid and power-hungry, increasingly alienated from family and former life… Not to take anything away from Breaking Bad,...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

The Sked: PROMO WATCH — Through Monday October 17

>On ABC, Man Up!, Revenge and Once Upon a Time are now the top three on-air promotion priorities over the past week.  Of course, Man Up! and Once Upon premiere this week, and ABC is clearly standing behind Revenge, which h...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office Report – 2.21.2021

  HOLDOVERS: NOMADLAND (Searchlight/Disney, also on Hulu) earned $500K at 1175 theatres after 2 weeks in limited release for which the studio didn’t provide numbers.  That’s, a weekend per-theatre average a bi...
by Mitch Salem