Pilot Reports

SHOWBUZZDAILY Series Premiere Review: “Fosse/Verdon”

Posted April 10, 2019 by Mitch Salem

  FOSSE/VERDON:  Tuesday 10PM on FX A pair of shadows loom over FX’s limited series FOSSE/VERDON.  One is the ultra-meta fact that its story has to some extent been told by Bob Fosse himself, in his barely fictionalized 1979 masterpiece All That Jazz, all about a chain-smoking, pill-popping, self-destructive womanizer who was also a brilliant […]

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Reviews

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Premiere Review: “Westworld”

Posted March 16, 2020 by Mitch Salem

  WESTWORLD:  Sunday 9PM on HBO   With most other forms of new entertainment content sidelined for at least the next several weeks, television is likely to be even more at the center of our culture than it already is, and Season 3 of HBO’s WESTWORLD, with its dense mythology and high philosophical ambitions, seems […]

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Articles

THE SKED REVIEW: SNL With Eli Manning

Posted May 6, 2012 by Mitch Salem

    It was perfectly appropriate to dread the news that an athlete was hosting SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE–the show’s history abounds with deadly sports hosts like Michael Phelps and Tom Brady.  And in case that wasn’t enough pressure for tonight’s host Eli Manning, one of the rare exceptions to the rule was his own brother […]

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Articles

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “30 Rock”

Posted May 17, 2012 by Mitch Salem

    The dirty little secret at the heart of 30 ROCK has always been that it doesn’t really have one–a heart, that is.  That doesn’t make the show any less brilliantly written or superbly performed, but it explains why despite all its massive acclaim and zillions of awards, in 6 years on the air […]

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Articles

THE SKED: “Breaking” Ugly

Posted August 2, 2011 by Mitch Salem

> As anyone who’s ever worked at a TV network knows, sometimes the only thing worse than a flop is having a hit on your air.  AMC is learning this lesson the hard way:  it’s endured messy, extended renewal talks for Mad Men and the loss of The Walking Dead‘s showrunner over the past year […]

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Articles

THE SKED’S PILOT + 1 REVIEW: “2 Broke Girls”

Posted September 27, 2011 by Mitch Salem

> A lot can happen between the creation of a TV pilot in the spring and 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 in the off-season) give plenty of notes, both helpful and otherwise, and […]

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Articles

THE SKED’S PILOT + 1 REVIEW: “Hell On Wheels”

Posted November 14, 2011 by Mitch Salem

> A lot can happen between the creation of a TV pilot in the spring and 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 in the off-season) give plenty of notes, both helpful and otherwise, and […]

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Articles

THE SKED’S PILOT + 1 REVIEW: “Alcatraz”

Posted January 17, 2012 by Mitch Salem

> Previously… On ALCATRAZ:  San Francisco cop Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones), whose partner was recently killed, finds herself embroiled in a mysterious case in which an Alcatraz inmate from 40 years ago, apparently long dead, has turned up not having aged a day and committing new murders.  Rebecca learns that all the Alcatraz prisoners who […]

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