Midseason Pilots

THE SKED Pilot Review: “Killer Women”

Posted January 7, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  KILLER WOMEN:  Tuesday 10PM on ABC – Worth A Look KILLER WOMEN can’t keep up the pace of its Kill Bill-inflected opening, but it’s a fun ride nonetheless.  The premise, adapted from an Argentine format (one of the producers is Sofia Vergara) by US series developer Hannah Shakespeare, is straightforwardly procedural:  Molly Parker (Tricia […]

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Pilot + 1

THE SKED Pilot + 1 Review: “We Are Men”

Posted October 7, 2013 by Mitch Salem

  WE ARE MEN:  Monday 8:30PM on CBS Previously… on WE ARE MEN:  Carter (Chris Smith), whose recent engagement stopped short of the altar, has joined a colony of men without women at a San Fernando Valley apartment complex.  Frank (Tony Shalhoub), Stuart (Jerry O’Connell) and Gil (Kal Penn) are all in various stages of […]

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Midseason Finale

THE SKED Fall Finale Review: “Revenge”

Posted December 15, 2013 by Mitch Salem

  Improved isn’t the same as good, and the first half of REVENGE‘s third season has languished in the gulf between those two.  Under new showrunner Sunil Nayar (who replaced series creator Mike Kelley), Revenge has backed away from the extreme idiocy of last year’s The Initiative storyline, with its quasi-government conspiracies, its psychotic long-lost […]

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Pilot + 1

THE SKED Pilot + 1 Review: “Chicago PD”

Posted January 16, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  CHICAGO PD:  Wednesday 10PM on NBC Previously… on CHICAGO PD:  Sergeant Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) is a tough-as-nails cop out of the Dick Wolf school of tough cops, and he runs a tough squad, although he has a heart of sufficient gold to rescue street kids who come his way.  His tough squad includes […]

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Articles

OSCARLAND: Post-Mortem on Hollywood’s Yearly Selfie

Posted March 3, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  The only thing more boring than a typical Oscars is one without surprises, and the closest thing to a major upset this year turned out to be Disney’s loss in the Best Animated Short category.  (The studio almost instantly rebounded with the much more important Animated Feature prize for Frozen.)  All the conventional wisdom […]

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Reviews

THE SKED Series Finale Review: “Once Upon A Time In Wonderland”

Posted April 4, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  Would ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND have fared better if scheduled as originally planned, in the role of Sunday 8PM filler between the two half-seasons of its parent Once Upon A Time, instead of being sent to fend for itself on Thursdays?  In the short term, probably so, as Once fans might well […]

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Pilot + 1

THE SKED Series Premiere Review: “Playing House”

Posted April 30, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  PLAYING HOUSE:  Tuesday 10PM on USA – If Nothing Else Is On… Created by and starring real-life best friends Jessica St. Clair and Lennon Parham, PLAYING HOUSE is, as sisterhood comedies created by and starring real-life best friends go, less edged and genuine than HBO’s recent Doll & Em (which was the work of […]

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Reviews

THE SKED Season Finale Review: “The Vampire Diaries”

Posted May 16, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  The fifth season of THE VAMPIRE DIARIES was great fun as usual, although also a bit sloppier than the norm.  That could well be the result of series mastermind Julie Plec having to spread her time between Diaries, the new Originals, and whatever her duties were on The Tomorrow People, of which she was […]

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