Posts Tagged ‘serialized drama’
 

 

THE SKED Season Finale Review: “Witches of East End”

  In this new era of serialized television drama, plot–and the skill with which it’s doled out–is more important than ever.  An overall clumsiness with the handling of its storylines is what’s held...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Fall Finale Review: “Scandal”

  The concept of a “finale” as an event calling for special plot revelations and narrative shockers is almost irrelevant to SCANDAL, where every episode brings massive twists.  This is a show, after all, set i...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Fall Finale Review: “Grey’s Anatomy”

  GREY’S ANATOMY doesn’t get much attention these days, not even compared to its creator Shonda Rhimes’s shinier Scandal—Grey’s is just a soap–but after 10 years, it still knows how to p...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Fall Finale Review: “Reign”

  REIGN rang down the curtain on the first piece of its season (it returns on January 23, having managed to hold onto its post-Vampire Diaries timeslot) in fine historical romance style.  The script, by series co-creator ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Fall Finale Review: “Nashville”

  How much guitar string does NASHVILLE have left?  Last night’s fall finale had a 1.4 rating in 18-49s, half a point below last season’s–which was already considered a major disappointment.  When you&#...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Midseason Finale Review: “Beauty & the Beast”

  New showrunner Brad Kern (working with series creators Sherri Cooper and Jennifer Levin) has made plenty of changes to BEAUTY & THE BEAST, but mostly they haven’t been improvements.  The gothic romanticism of ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Pilot + 1 Review: “Hostages”

  HOSTAGES:  Monday 10PM on CBS Previously… on HOSTAGES:  Ellen Sanders (Toni Collette) is a surgeon scheduled to operate on the President of the United States (James Naughton).  The night before the surgery, her ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

PREMIERING TONIGHT: THE SKED Pilot Report – ABC’s “Betrayal”

  Read All Our Fall Pilot Reports here and Midseason Pilot Reports here. BETRAYAL:  Sunday 10PM on ABC  – If Nothing Else Is On… BETRAYAL is certainly on brand for ABC.  Its pilot, just like the one for Reve...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED Season Premiere Review: “Grey’s Anatomy”

  GREY’S ANATOMY:  Thursday 9PM on ABC In the miracle season of 2004-05, ABC launched three smash hits:  Desperate Housewives, Lost and GREY’S ANATOMY.  Ten seasons later, the only one still around is Grey&#...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED PILOT + 1 REVIEW: “Broadchurch”

  BROADCHURCH:  Wednesday 10PM on BBCAmerica Previously… on BROADCHURCH:  In the small Dorset town of Broadchurch, the body of 11-year old Danny Latimer has been found on the beach, just as the local police force h...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SEASON PREMIERE REVIEW: “Breaking Bad”

  BREAKING BAD:  Sunday 9PM on AMC This is actually the back half of Breaking Bad‘s last season (AMC separated the 16 episodes into two parts for scheduling and budgetary reasons–namely, that actors, writers a...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED SEASON PREMIERE REVIEW: “Hell On Wheels”

  HELL ON WHEELS – Saturday 9PM on AMC Season 3 brings an upwardly mobile turn for HELL ON WHEELS.  Hero Cullen Bohannon’s (Anson Mount) dark mission of vengeance for the death of his wife during the Civil War...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SERIES PREMIERE REVIEW: “The White Queen”

  THE WHITE QUEEN – Saturday 9PM on Starz – Worth A Look Starz’s THE WHITE QUEEN is, apart from a bit of nudity (this is pay cable, after all), a rather old-fashioned historical bodice-ripper.  The bodic...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED’s Pilot + 1 Review: “The Bridge”

  THE BRIDGE:  Wednesday 10PM on FX Previously… on THE BRIDGE:  In the exact center of the bridge connecting El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexico, a killer has placed two half-bodies of murdered women, carefully joine...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED FALL FINALE REVIEW: “Nashville”

  ABC’s NASHVILLE has reached the midpoint of its season as one of the better dramas on network television, and also one of the more frustrating.  Particularly galling is that it seems to falter worst at the things ...
by Mitch Salem