Fall Pilots

PREMIERING TONIGHT: THE SKED PILOT REVIEW – NBC’s “The Blacklist”

Posted September 23, 2013 by Mitch Salem

  THE BLACKLIST:  Monday 10PM on NBC – If Nothing Else Is On… NBC has made it very clear that its top fall priority is the launch of the new Monday drama THE BLACKLIST.  The show has been given the network’s plum post-The Voice slot, and clearly, NBC sees the series as a more consistent […]

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Pilot Reports

SHOWBUZZDAILY Series Premiere Review: “Scream”

Posted July 1, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  SCREAM:  Tuesday 10PM on MTV – If Nothing Else Is On… There aren’t a lot of sure things in Hollywood, but here’s one:  you can always make some money by gathering together a group of teens and killing them off one by one.  It’s been true since at least 1978’s Halloween (and its zillions […]

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Pilot Reports

SHOWBUZZDAILY Series Premiere Review: “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah”

Posted September 28, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  THE DAILY SHOW WITH TREVOR NOAH:  Mon-Thurs 11PM on Comedy Central After one night of THE DAILY SHOW WITH TREVOR NOAH, we conclusively know this:  Comedy Central isn’t bleeping the word “shit” anymore.  It was a fairly big deal when the network let Jon Stewart liberally use the cattle-related version of the word as […]

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Midseason Premiere

SHOWBUZZDAILY Series Premiere Review: “The Real O’Neals”

Posted March 2, 2016 by Mitch Salem

  THE REAL O’NEALS:  Tuesday 8:30PM on ABC – Change the Channel Whatever its other ailments, over the past few years ABC has had an extraordinary run of diverse, smart family sitcoms,–an area where other networks have struggled badly–with Fresh Off The Boat, Black-ish and The Goldbergs building on Modern Family and The Middle.  (Even […]

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Pilot Reports

SHOWBUZZDAILY Series Premiere Review: “FBI”

Posted September 26, 2018 by Mitch Salem

  FBI:  Tuesday 9PM on CBS Dick Wolf and CBS have always seemed as made for each other as the leads of a rom-com.  And as in that genre, only outside interference has kept the King and Network of Procedurals from falling into a passionate airport-gate embrace before now.  In this case, it’s been their […]

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Pilot + 1

SHOWBUZZDAILY Pilot + 1 Review: “The Librarians”

Posted December 15, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  THE LIBRARIANS:  Sunday 8PM on TNT Previously… on THE LIBRARIANS:  In the long-term absence of head Librarian Flynn Carsen (Noah Wyle), a trio of apprentices preserve magical historical artifacts and keep the world safe from their use:  history/literature/mechanical genius Jacob Stone (Christian Kane), mathematical savant Cassandra Cillian (Lindy Booth), and master thief and hacker […]

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Reviews

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Finale Review: “Succession”

Posted August 6, 2018 by Mitch Salem

  The most tantalizing question of the Summer 2018 TV season is whether Jesse Armstrong, the creator of HBO’s slow-boil triumph SUCCESSION, knew what he was doing all along, or if the first 3-4 episodes were as uncertain as they seemed at the time.  In that beginning phase, Succession felt like Billions for The Gang […]

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Reviews

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Premiere Review: “The Last Ship”

Posted June 20, 2016 by Mitch Salem

  THE LAST SHIP:  Sunday 9PM on TNT The world was saved at the end of THE LAST SHIP‘s second season.  Not only was a cure found for the virus that had caused a nearly apocalyptic pandemic, killing off most of Earth’s population, but the dearly departed Dr. Scott (Rhona Mitra) perfected a way to […]

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