Reviews

THE SKED SEASON PREMIERE REVIEW: “Louie”

Posted July 4, 2012 by Mitch Salem

  LOUIE:  Thursday 10:30PM on FX WHERE WE WERE:  In the mind of Louis C.K.  It’s a place where a moderately successful working stand-up comic named Louie shares custody of two daughters with his ex-wife and lives a mostly lonely life punctuated by gigs in comedy clubs.  But it’s also a world that can encompass […]

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Midseason Premiere

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Premiere Review: “Parks and Recreation”

Posted January 13, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  PARKS AND RECREATION:  Tuesday 8PM on NBC There will be plenty of time to lament the passing of PARKS AND RECREATION, and what it portends for network TV comedy and especially for NBC.  Well, “plenty” may be overstating it, since NBC is burning off the remaining episodes two at a time, apparently in a […]

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Reviews

THE SKED SEASON PREMIERE REVIEW: “The Newsroom”

Posted July 15, 2013 by Mitch Salem

  THE NEWSROOM:  Sunday 10PM on HBO Aaron Sorkin may have professed not to agree with most of the criticisms aimed at THE NEWSROOM during its initial season, but a look at its Season 2 premiere makes it pretty clear that he was listening.  From the new and altogether less stentorian opening credit sequence (no […]

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Pilot Reports

SHOWBUZZDAILY Series Premiere Review: “Twin Peaks”

Posted May 22, 2017 by Mitch Salem

  TWIN PEAKS:  Sunday 9PM on Showtime – DVR Alert (for some) Trying to recapture what it was like to watch the original premiere of TWIN PEAKS would be like attempting to duplicate the experience of seeing the first moon landing.  Twin Peaks emerged at a time when “Quality TV” meant LA Law, which won […]

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Reviews

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Premiere Review: “Hannibal”

Posted June 5, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  HANNIBAL:  Thursday 10PM on NBC The languidly brutal art-horror thing HANNIBAL has returned, much to the joy of its acolytes.  The series is, without question, unlike anything to be found on even the most adventurous cable or online platform, which makes its continued existence on the wasteland of present-day NBC truly remarkable.  Nevertheless, its […]

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Reviews

THE SKED Season Premiere Review: “Community”

Posted January 2, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  COMMUNITY:  Thursday 8PM on NBC A few days ago, the NY Times had a fascinating article about Pei-Shen Qian, an artist who is almost but not quite a forger.  He doesn’t duplicate actual paintings of the masters; instead, he paints new works with such precise adherence to their styles that (he claims) unbeknownst to […]

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Reviews

THE SKED SEASON PREMIERE REVIEW: “Touch”

Posted February 9, 2013 by Mitch Salem

  TOUCH:  Friday 9PM on FOX Tim Kring’s Heroes is a famous example of a hit series imploding in its second season, but his TOUCH–not nearly as big a success in its first version–is, at least, more intriguing after a Season 2 reboot. Touch started as a sort of New Age “Touched By An Autistic”.  […]

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Pilot Reports

THE SKED Series Premiere Review: “Dominion”

Posted June 18, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  DOMINION:  Thursday 9PM on Syfy – Change the Channel Was there really a pressing need to make a TV series out of the schlock horror movie Legion?  It’s not as though the film was much of a hit ($40M total box office in the US, $68M worldwide), nor is it well-remembered even 4 years […]

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