Reviews

SHOWBUZZDAILY Review: “Saturday Night Live” with Dakota Johnson

Posted March 1, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  50 Shades of Grey has only been playing in theatres for 2 weeks, but it’s plunged so quickly from its opening weekend that Dakota Johnson already seems a bit like the answer to a pop culture trivia question.  Nevertheless, the star of the presumed franchise (produced by Universal, which also owns NBC, which also […]

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Reviews

THE SKED SEASON PREMIERE REVIEW: “Nurse Jackie”

Posted April 15, 2013 by Mitch Salem

  NURSE JACKIE:  Sunday 9PM on Showtime NURSE JACKIE had a strong, dramatic season last year that may have been its best.  But the ratings weren’t anything to speak of (a 0.2-0.3 in 18-49s, and fewer than a million total viewers), and series co-creator/showrunners Liz Brixius and Linda Wallem left the show rather messily (from […]

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Reviews

THE SKED Season Finale Review: “The Last Ship”

Posted August 25, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  Once it became clear that, for the most part, THE LAST SHIP was science fiction only in the strictest sense (there was science and it was fiction), it was fairly enjoyable for the neo-Tom Clancy-esque action-adventure it aspired to be.  Much of Season 1 was, for all intents and purposes, a Cold War saga, […]

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Midseason Premiere

SHOWBUZZDAILY Series Premiere Review: “Rebel”

Posted April 9, 2021 by Mitch Salem

  REBEL:  Thursday 10PM on ABC Krista Vernoff is one of network TV’s most prized showrunners.  She’s successfully guided Shonda Rhimes’s Grey’s Anatomy into a remarkable 17th season of success (which will be extended further if the necessary deals are made), and when she took over Station 19, that show became an effective one-two punch […]

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Pilot Reports

THE SKED’S MIDSEASON PILOT REPORT: NBC’s “1600 Penn”

Posted August 2, 2012 by Mitch Salem

  1600 PENN:  TBD Midseason on NBC – If Nothing Else Is On… Disclaimer: Network pilots now in circulation are not necessarily in the form that will air in the Fall. Pilots are often reedited and re-scored, and in some cases even recast or reshot. These critiques shouldn’t be taken as full pilot reviews, but […]

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Reviews

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Finale Review: “Empire”

Posted May 24, 2017 by Mitch Salem

  In a season that was loaded with bad news for the broadcast networks, none may have been more distressing than the ratings trajectory of EMPIRE.  With all due respect to This Is Us, Empire was the last network show to provide reassurance that not just solid hits but actual blockbusters were still possible–at its […]

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Pilot + 1

SHOWBUZZDAILY Pilot + 1 Review: “Marry Me”

Posted October 22, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  MARRY ME:  Tuesday 9PM on NBC Previously… on MARRY ME:  Annie (Casey Wilson) and Jake (Ken Marino) are a longtime couple who have finally become engaged.  That unleashes a whole new set of neuroses in them, which they will weather with their friends, recently divorced Gil (John Gemberling), vain Dennah (Sarah Wright Olsen), and […]

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Reviews

SHOWBUZZDAILY Series Finale Review: “Downton Abbey”

Posted March 7, 2016 by Mitch Salem

  In this era of peak TV, there are more shows than ever that we devour, that we obsess about and are thrilled by and that shock us and tear us apart.  There are fewer, however, that we simply love.  Julian Fellowes’s DOWNTON ABBEY was a canny mix of the old-fashioned and new-fangled, aristocracy porn […]

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