Author Archive
 

 

THE SKED Fall Finale Review: “The Walking Dead”

  For all its gigantic, game-changing success, THE WALKING DEAD seems fated always to be a dramatically uneven series.  Under new showrunner Scott M. Gimple (who, contrary to previous practice, will keep his job in the al...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED: Emmy Odds – Theirs and Ours: Drama

>With the help of some online bookmaking sites, we have the latest “official” odds for tonight’s Emmy Awards.  Let’s take a look about what they say about the conventional wisdom, and make some adju...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED REVIEW: “Boss”

> BOSS:  Fridays 10PM on Starz – Potential DVR Alert BOSS is Starz’s bid to be taken seriously as a pay-TV producer of original programming.  Up until now, Starz has been both successful (Spartacus) and no...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Finale Review: “Orphan Black”

  The third season of ORPHAN BLACK was a step up from Season 2, although the show is still the victim of its plotting.  The main narrative for the season was set up in the Season 2 finale, with the discovery that along wi...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED NIELSENWAR CHRONICLES – Friday

  Friday isn’t yet Saturday for the broadcast networks–there’s still plenty of original programming on the night.  But declining ratings and revenues have made it something like the network Island of Mis...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 3.10.2024

  OPENINGS:  KUNG FU PANDA 4 (DreamWorks Animation/Universal), the first new all-ages animated release since the holiday season, arrived at the high end of projections with $58.3M, impressively above the $41.3M start for ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

BEHIND THE WEEKEND BOX OFFICE – 8/11/13

  Here’s an instructive piece of box office math, courtesy of Disney and The Lone Ranger.  Ranger cost (including worldwide marketing) about $350M all told, and it’s going to have global theatrical revenues of...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Premiere Review: “The Newsroom”

  THE NEWSROOM:  Sunday 9PM on HBO In the end, just about everyone seemed to be ambivalent about THE NEWSROOM, and that includes its auteur and shining star, Aaron Sorkin.  The Season 2 finale felt like it could well hav...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY FILM REVIEW: “Now You See Me”

  NOW YOU SEE ME:  Watch It At Home – Don’t Look Too Closely A summer action movie, like a magic act, is only as good as its final trick, and the one in the relatively low-budget NOW YOU SEE ME (which this sea...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Inferno” In Ashes, “Jack Reacher” Collapses, “Moonlight” Expands

  INFERNO (LStar/Columbia/Sony) was expected to earn less than The Da Vinci Code ($217.5M US/$540.7M overseas) and Angels & Demons ($133.4M/$352.6M), which is why Sony spent $75M less to produce the new film.  But tha...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

UPDATED: THE SKED CABLE/NETWORK MONDAY SCORECARD – 6/30/14

  NETWORK UPDATE:  UNDER THE DOME slipped another 0.1 in final numbers, tying its series low.  The resulting 2.1 rating still makes it a sizable hit, but this was hardly the way CBS was hoping to start the new season.  24 a...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY @ TORONTO: “In the House”

Francois Ozon’s IN THE HOUSE is a delicious examination of the pleasures and dangers of addictive narrative.  Storytelling (and corresponding tricks of cinematic structure) has been an interest of Ozon’s throughout...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED’S PILOT + 1 REVIEW: “Partners”

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 ha...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

BEHIND THE FRIDAY BOXOFFICE – 11/16/12

  OPENINGS:  Was it the cash grab of splitting the final novel into 2 movies?  The tabloid antics of its stars?  In any case, “close but no cigar” seems to be the result for THE TWILIGHT SAGA:  BREAKING DAW...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED: Emmy Odds – Theirs and Ours: Comedy

> With the help of some online bookmaking sites, we have the latest “official” odds for tonight’s Emmy Awards.  Let’s take a look about what they say about the conventional wisdom, and make some adj...
by Mitch Salem