Pilot Reports

PREMIERING TONIGHT: “How To Live With Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life)” PILOT REVIEW

Posted April 3, 2013 by Mitch Salem

    HOW TO LIVE WITH YOUR PARENTS (FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE):  Wednesday 9:30PM on ABC –  Change the Channel There isn’t much to be said for the exhaustively titled midseason comedy HOW TO LIVE WITH YOUR PARENTS (FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE), but within the subgenre of sitcoms about adults living […]

Full Story »

Fall Pilots

PREMIERING TONIGHT – THE SKED SERIES PREMIERE REVIEW: CW’s “Reign”

Posted October 17, 2013 by Mitch Salem

  Read All Our Fall Pilot Reports here. REIGN:  Thursday 9PM on CW – Potential DVR Alert The CW is often–and rightly–considered a network of very limited ambitions, with just two modes of operation:  rom-com soap and supernatural soap.  But its new REIGN, while well fortified with suds, is as big a swing for the […]

Full Story »

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 […]

Full Story »

Pilot Reports

THE SKED Pilot Review: “Penny Dreadful”

Posted May 8, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  PENNY DREADFUL:  Sunday 10PM on Showtime starting May 11 – Potential DVR Alert Showtime’s PENNY DREADFUL is an elegant addition to TV’s horror canon.  It’s been created and its initial 8-hour season has been entirely written by John Logan, whose A-list scripts include Gladiator, The Aviator, Sweeney Todd, Rango and Skyfall, and its pilot […]

Full Story »

2014-15 TV Season

THE SKED Fall Pilot Report: NBC’s “State of Affairs”

Posted August 11, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  STATE OF AFFAIRS:  Monday 10PM on NBC starting November 17 – If Nothing Else Is On… PLAYERS:  Star and Executive Producer Katherine Heigl, who developed the series for herself and pitched it to all the networks, hoping to spark a bidding war (which never really happened).  Series creator and pilot director Joe Carnahan, a […]

Full Story »

Midseason Premiere

SHOWBUZZDAILY Series Premiere Review: “Backstrom”

Posted January 23, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  BACKSTROM:  Thursday 9PM on FOX – Change the Channel BACKSTROM is literally FOX’s try at being CBS:  the project, based on a series of Swedish mystery novels, was originally developed for the silver-haired network and a pilot was ordered, but CBS ultimately passed.  FOX’s in-house studio was the show’s production company, and its creator is […]

Full Story »

Pilot Reports

SHOWBUZZDAILY Series Premiere Review: “Impastor”

Posted July 15, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  IMPASTOR:  Wednesday 10:30PM on TV Land – Change the Channel TV Land’s brand was built primarily as a repackager of vintage sitcoms, and when it entered the world of original content, it initially did so with shows that tried to duplicate their appeal:  basic multi-camera comedies like Hot In Cleveland and The Exes that starred former stars of […]

Full Story »

Midseason Premiere

SHOWBUZZDAILY Series Premiere Review: “Superstore”

Posted December 1, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  SUPERSTORE:  Monday 8PM (starting January 4) on NBC – If Nothing Else Is On… If a weak form of The Office‘s DNA seems to flow through NBC’s new sitcom SUPERSTORE, which previewed tonight before beginning its regular run on January 4, it’s not a coincidence:  the series was created by Justin Spitzer, a writer/producer […]

Full Story »