Reviews

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Finale Review: “Extant”

Posted September 18, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  It’s a mystery how some network messes ever get on the air, but that wasn’t the case with CBS’s EXTANT.  On the contrary, its path was completely clear.  After the network had a surprise smash hit last summer with Under the Dome, one that came with hardly any risk because of a co-financing deal […]

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Pilots

THE SKED SERIES PREMIERE REVIEW: “Low Winter Sun”

Posted August 11, 2013 by Mitch Salem

  LOW WINTER SUN:  Sunday 10PM on AMC – Potential DVR Alert It’s been more than a decade since The Shield introduced US television to not just corrupt, but murderous cops as protagonists, and–well, it feels like about 15 minutes since the last bleak serialized mystery (actually it was a few days ago, with the US premiere of Broadchurch), […]

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Articles

THE SKED PREMIERE REVIEW: “Rob”

Posted January 13, 2012 by Mitch Salem

> ROB – Thursdays 8:30PM on CBS – Change the Channel We live in a Dickensian era of situation comedies, the best and worst combined on every network.  ABC is the home of both Modern Family and Work It; NBC contains Parks & Recreation and Whitney; FOX has New Girl and I Hate My Teenage […]

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Pilot + 1

THE SKED’S PILOT + 1 REVIEW: “Malibu Country”

Posted November 10, 2012 by Mitch Salem

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 had their own turnover) give plenty of notes, helpful and otherwise, and critics begin to rear […]

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Reviews

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Premiere Review: “Nashville”

Posted December 16, 2016 by Mitch Salem

  NASHVILLE:  Thursday 9PM on CMT (returns January 5) It’s not clear how much of a signpost tonight’s “sneak peek” hour of NASHVILLE Season 5 will turn out to be.  It was the initial hour to air on new post-ABC home CMT (it will re-air as part of the official 2-hour season premiere next month), […]

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Reviews

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Finale Review: “How To Get Away With Murder”

Posted March 18, 2016 by Mitch Salem

  HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER is an edifice built on two foundations:  the acting of Viola Davis as the show’s brilliant and complex criminal attorney Annalise Keating, and the ability of series creator Peter Nowalk and his writing/producing staff to come up with compelling non-stop plot twists.  In Season 2, Davis as usual […]

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Reviews

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Franklin & Bash”

Posted August 14, 2012 by Mitch Salem

  With far less fanfare than last night’s farewell to The Closer, tonight TNT rang down the season’s curtain on FRANKLIN & BASH, a show that can barely be bothered to remember that a season finale is different from any other episode.  This isn’t a series very interested in story arcs or even continuity; it […]

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Articles

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “House Of Lies”

Posted April 3, 2012 by Mitch Salem

> After a full season, it’s still not clear just what HOUSE OF LIES is. The season finale, written and directed by series creator Matthew Carnahan, centered on what became the show’s main storyline in the latter part of its run:  the attempted takeover of the management consulting firm that employs Marty Kaan (Don Cheadle) […]

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