Author Archive
 

 

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “War Dogs” Leads Weak Openings, “Ben-Hur” Crashes

  The stretch of box-office beginning in mid-August is one of the weakest of the year, and this weekend’s arrivals did nothing to change that tradition.  WAR DOGS (RatPac/Warners) had the best of the low starts, wit...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Finale Review: “Roadies”

  In recent years, Cameron Crowe has had trouble keeping his scripts coherent even when they only have to last 2 hours.  It probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise that giving him 10 hours to play with was asking...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 9/4/16

  OPENINGS:  THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS (DreamWorks/Reliance/Participant/Disney) brings to an ignominious end the distribution relationship between DreamWorks and Disney.  Their final shared title disappointed on every lev...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Series Premiere Review: “Hunters”

  HUNTERS:  Monday 10PM on Syfy – If Nothing Else Is On… HUNTERS has production values that suggest it’s intended as one of Syfy’s more A-level entries (it’s shot in Australia rather than Can...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Premiere Review: “Wayward Pines”

  WAYWARD PINES:  Wednesday 9PM on FOX WAYWARD PINES was never intended to be a continuing series, especially once FOX dumped what was once intended as a prestige project from Executive Producer M. Night Shyamalan into it...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Series Premiere Review: “Preacher”

  PREACHER:  Sunday 9PM on AMC – Potential DVR Alert It’s not quite clear what on earth AMC’s new PREACHER is after watching its pilot, but it’s certainly intriguing.  Based on a celebrated comic ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE BIJOU: Lights Out For “The Dark Tower”

> Once upon a time, there was a series of fantasy adventures by a hugely bestselling author, and a grand, ambitious plan to film them all.  In the end, they were adapted into gigantically successful movies, and the last on...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY SUNDAY NETWORK SCORECARD – 10.9.2016

  Broadcast coverage of the 2d PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE was down from Round 1, but the fracas was also covered on only 3 of the major networks. DEMOGRAPHIC DETAIL: For each broadcast program (or hour segment), the chart below ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Pilot + 1 Review: “Designated Survivor”

  DESIGNATED SURVIVOR:  Wednesday 10PM on ABC Previously… on DESIGNATED SURVIVOR:  When the US government gathers in a single location, one low-ranking official is kept apart in case of catastrophe.  Thus Secretar...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Premiere Review: “Secrets & Lies”

  SECRETS & LIES – Sunday 9PM on ABC – Change the Channel Everything about the return of ABC’s SECRETS & LIES feels a bit off.  Even the scheduling of the quasi-anthology series (different storie...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Series Premiere Review: “Lethal Weapon”

  LETHAL WEAPON:  Wednesday 8PM on FOX – Change the Channel By the time the LETHAL WEAPON movie franchise reached its 4th installment, it was virtually a TV series anyway, so there’s no reason for moral outrag...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

HARRY POTTER: One Record Down

> The Hogwarts Express has started its journey:  last night’s midnight showings of HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS (PART 2) blew past the previous midnight record of $30M (Twilight:  Eclipse) and grossed an...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

COUNTING TO 10: The Emmy Nominations

> The Emmys, of all show-business awards, lend themselves least to surprise.  That’s because they’re the only group that nominate and award continuing series, meaning that the same high-quality shows repeat yea...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

NIELSENWAR UPFRONTS: Fall CW Schedule

  CW will continue to be DC Comics (and Greg Berlanti) TV. For a network that only ordered three new shows (two of them for fall), CW has made quite a few changes in its new schedule, with DC Comics properties anchoring 4 ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Finale Review: “American Crime”

  ABC’s AMERICAN CRIME is Serious and Important, but how good is it?  John Ridley’s series takes on the biggest topics–all of them, it seems–from race to class to sexual orientation to school viole...
by Mitch Salem