Midseason Finale

THE SKED Midseason Finale Review: “Suits”

Posted August 21, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  SUITS is USA Network’s last remaining scripted hit, yet it finds itself in a bind:  with tonight’s midpoint of Season 4, it’s taken its original premise–Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams) having been hired as a law firm associate by partner Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht), even though Harvey knew that Mike had never attended law […]

Full Story »

2014-15 TV Season

THE SKED Fall Pilot Report: ABC’S “Manhattan Love Story”

Posted August 19, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  MANHATTAN LOVE STORY:  Tuesday 8:30PM on ABC starting September 30 – Change the Channel PLAYERS:  Series creator Jeff Lowell, who’s been a writer/producer on sitcoms going back to Cybill two decades ago, but who’s creating a series himself for the first time.  Stars Jake McDorman and Analeigh Tipton.  Pilot director Michael Fresco.  Brillstein Entertainment […]

Full Story »

Midseason Finale

THE SKED Midseason Finale Review: “The Fosters”

Posted August 19, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  Almost every quality series, at one point or another, takes a wrong turn (remember the Friday Night Lights murder storyline?); the mark of one with staying power is whether it can bounce back.  THE FOSTERS was in danger of going over the edge at the end of its first season, piling one melodramatic plot […]

Full Story »

Midseason Premiere

THE SKED Midseason Premiere Review: “Dallas”

Posted August 18, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  DALLAS:  Monday 9PM on TNT As TNT pushes its action-oriented “Boom” branding campaign (successfully with The Last Ship, not so much with Murder In the First nor apparently the new Legends), DALLAS seems more and more like a remnant not just of an earlier era of television, but of its own network’s past.  The […]

Full Story »

Pilot + 1

THE SKED Pilot + 1 Review: “Outlander”

Posted August 17, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  OUTLANDER:  Saturday 9PM on Starz Previously… on OUTLANDER:  Claire Randall (Caltriona Balfe) is, shortly after the end of World War II, a former Army nurse vacationing in Scotland with her ex-Intelligence Officer historian husband Frank (Tobias Menzies)–until she drops out of time and finds herself living in 1743, among the Scottish rebels against the […]

Full Story »

2014-15 TV Season

THE SKED Fall Pilot Report: ABC’s “Selfie”

Posted August 16, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  SELFIE:  Tuesday 8PM on ABC starting September 30 – If Nothing Else Is On… PLAYERS:  George Bernard Shaw.  (And Lerner & Loewe, whose My Fair Lady made Pygmalion into a fixture of pop culture.)  Series creator Emily Kapnek, of Suburgatory.  Stars John Cho and Karen Gillan.  Pilot director Julie Anne Robinson.  Warner Bros. Television. […]

Full Story »

2014-15 TV Season

THE SKED Fall Pilot Report: FOX’s “Gracepoint”

Posted August 16, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  GRACEPOINT:  Thursday 9PM on FOX starting October 2 – Potential DVR Alert PLAYERS:  Broadchurch, the wildly successful limited (and now continuing) British TV series, of which Gracepoint is a remake.  Broadchurch returnees, including series creator Chris Chibnall, director James Strong and star David Tennant.  A cast surrounding Tennant that includes Anna Gunn, Nick Nolte, […]

Full Story »

Pilot + 1

THE SKED Pilot + 1 Review: “The Knick”

Posted August 16, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  THE KNICK:  Friday 10PM on Cinemax Previously… on THE KNICK:  New York’s Knickerbocker Hospital circa 1900 is a highly respectable institution, funded by wealthy benefactors and with a conscientious staff, but to modern eyes, it’s little more than a sewer, with “state of the art” operating procedures that seem savage and conditions that are […]

Full Story »