Posts Tagged ‘drama’
 

 

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

A lot can happen between the creation of a TV pilot in the spring and the production of episodes for the regular season: a writing/producing team is hired, audience focus groups weigh in, networks and studios (which may have ha...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “The Big C”

The problem with making a show about someone dying of cancer is that no one really wants to watch a show about someone dying of cancer.  Viewers will roll along with the dark and disturbing, but by and large they draw the line...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Nurse Jackie”

After 3 seasons of telling more or less the same story, Season 4 of Showtime’s NURSE JACKIE took a leap that revitalized the show.  Jackie Peyton (Edie Falco), having successfully concealed her drug addiction, her adulte...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “The Client List”

Tonight’s season finale of Lifetime’s very softcore (so soft it’s basically liquid) prostitution hit THE CLIENT LIST was more guilty than pleasure.  The hour, written by Producer Barbara Nance (from a story b...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Girls”

Lena Dunham’s GIRLS has been all over the place this season, so it made sense that its season finale would come out of nowhere.   We knew last week that when Jessa (Jemima Kirke) got a talking-to from former employer Ka...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SHOWBUZZDAILY LA FILM FEST REVIEW: “People Like Us”

  PEOPLE LIKE US:  Watch It At Home – Not The First Movie Like This   Sam Harper (Chris Pine) is a guy we’ve met before.  He’s the fast-talking, self-absorbed hustler who gets along in life by shee...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Fairly Legal”

  There were a lot of nips and tucks in the now-concluded 2d season of USA’s FAIRLY LEGAL.  The show overall had a less comedic feel, and the heroine, Kate Reed (Sarah Shahi), was turned into more of an adult, which...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED SEASON PREMIERE REVIEW: “Suits”

SUITS – Thursdays 10PM on USA   WHERE WE WERE:  On a precipice.  Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams) was a hustler with limited formal education but a photographic memory.  He used his talents, among other things, to tak...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED: “Dallas” Drills For Ratings

TNT’s much-hyped reboot of the venerable soap DALLAS got off to a good start, with a total viewership of 6.9 million people.  That’s the biggest launch of the year on basic cable, although it’s not even a rec...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED PILOT REVIEW: “Dallas”

  DALLAS – Wednesday 9PM on TNT:  If Nothing Else Is On…   DALLAS is a gusher, all right.  TNT’s disinterment of the 1980s blockbuster soap is loaded with so many emptily portentous glares and melo...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED PILOT REVIEW: “Bunheads”

  Back in 2000, the rapid-fire fizzy dialogue of Gilmore Girls prompted some to spread an utterly unfounded rumor that Amy Sherman-Palladino, its creator and chief writer, didn’t actually exist, and that Girls was re...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Mad Men”

The title of MAD MEN‘s Season 5 finale was “The Phantom,” and as is almost always the case with Matthew Weiner’s opus, it had several meanings.  (Weiner shared credit for the finale’s script with ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SEASON PREMIERE REVIEW: “True Blood”

HBO’s version of a summer drive-in movie is back. WHERE WE WERE:  In the midst of multiple cliffhangers.  Telepathic waitress and series heroine Sookie'(Anna Paquin) had just seen her best friend Tara (Rutina Wesley) ge...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SHOWBUZZDAILY REVIEW: “Lola Versus”

LOLA VERSUS:  Watch It At Home – An Unmemorable Woman   LOLA VERSUS‘ ambition is pretty clear:  it wants to be the 2012 version of Paul Mazursky’s 1978 comedy-drama AN UNMARRIED WOMAN, which is to say c...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SEASON PREMIERE REVIEW: “Necessary Roughness”

  WHERE WE WERE:  Dr. Dani Santino (Callie Thorne) was a happy suburban wife and mother who provided therapy to a few clients on the side, when her entire life was disrupted by a nasty divorce that left her in need of a g...
by Mitch Salem