Author Archive
 

 

NIELSENWAR 2014-15 Trailer Review: “Empire”

  EMPIRE:  Midseason TBD on FOX THE FACTS:  Think Nashville, but with a hip-hop beat and an A-level pedigree.  Music tycoon Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) is dying–although not just yet–and has to decide who...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 5.15.2022

  OPENINGS:  No one, including its studio, expected much from the remake of FIRESTARTER (Blumhouse/Universal, also on Peacock), and it delivered a weak $3.8M that suggests an eventual $10M US total.  Economics become mur...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

OscarLand: The Nominations

  The Oscar nominations are here, and the biggest surprise is how few surprises they provide.  The closest thing to a shock was in the Best Actress category, where Ruth Negga and Isabelle Huppert were in, and that meant A...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY’s Thursday 8.11.2022 Top 150 Cable Originals & Network Finals UPDATED

  BROADCAST FINALS ABC:  PRESS YOUR LUCK dropped 0.09 to 0.44, GENERATION GAP was steady at 0.41, and THE CON ticked up to 0.27. CBS:  BIG BROTHER gained 0.03 to 0.76.  The rest of the night had reruns at 0.31/0.32/0.22...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Pilot + 1 Review: “Black Sails”

  BLACK SAILS:  Saturday 9PM on Starz Previously… on BLACK SAILS:  In 1715, Nassau and the waters around it weren’t yet controlled by any government, and existed instead as the domain of independent pirates a...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 8.18.2019

  OPENINGS:  GOOD BOYS (Good Universe/Universal) easily led the weekend with $21M, a solid start for a comedy that probably had production/marketing costs under $75M.  It was somewhat frontloaded with a 12% Saturday drop...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

Behind the Friday Box Office: 3/28/14

  OPENINGS:  NOAH (Paramount/Regency) got the start it wanted and needed with $15.2M on Friday ($1.6M of that from Thursday night), which–unless word of mouth sinks the ark–should mean a $40M weekend.  The da...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

NIELSENWAR: Early Notes From the Front

  We’re a bit more then 2 weeks into the Fall 2014 TV season, most of the new series have had their debuts, and a few selected hours aside, the results aren’t pretty.  We’re going to take a capsule loo...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

The Sked: Thursday Ratings 1.7.2016

  Fair starts for the new scripted arrivals. DEMOGRAPHIC DETAIL: For each broadcast program (or hour segment), the chart below displays preliminary key advertiser demographics (adult 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54 ratings), audie...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: Middling “Focus” Sharp Enough For Win; “Lazarus” Stays Dead

  You’ll be hearing quite a bit of spin over the next few days about how relatively inexpensive FOCUS (RatPac Dune/Warners) was to produce, $50-65M depending on the source.  That number, however, ignores the lavish ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SERIES FINALE REVIEW: “Top of the Lake”

  Although frequently tortuous to watch, TOP OF THE LAKE wasn’t really Snob TV, where a Famous Filmmaker slums their way through a series.  It’s more that narrative has never been of particular interest to Jan...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED PILOT REVIEW: “Dallas”

  DALLAS – Wednesday 9PM on TNT:  If Nothing Else Is On…   DALLAS is a gusher, all right.  TNT’s disinterment of the 1980s blockbuster soap is loaded with so many emptily portentous glares and melo...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY’s Thursday 10.13.2022 Top 150 Cable Originals & Network Finals with NFL TNF UPDATED

[NFL Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video added to chart below]   BROADCAST FINALS ABC:  STATION 19 gained 0.02 to 0.53, GREY’S ANATOMY slipped 0.02 to 0.53, and ALASKA DAILY was down 0.06 to 0.26. CBS:  Y...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED: Exit David Letterman

  In about a year, the reboot of the network late-night talk shows will be complete, now that David Letterman, cranky genius of the format, has announced that sometime in 2015 he’ll be retiring.  With Jimmy Kimmel&#...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Toronto Film Festival Reviews: “Roma” & “Green Book”

  ROMA (Netflix – Dec. 14):  Alfonso Cuaron is one of the master filmmakers of this era, and Roma confirms that all over again.  It’s a deceptively simple memory piece, a semi-autobiographical story set in th...
by Mitch Salem