Posts Tagged ‘Showtime’
 

 

THE SKED: A Good Night For Showtime as “Dexter” & “Ray Donovan” Rise

  It’s encouraging when the ratings for a new series rise off a much-hyped premiere, and RAY DONOVAN managed that last night (in total viewers, at least–we don’t yet have any demo information), up from 1....
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED PILOT + 1 REVIEW: “Ray Donovan”

  RAY DONOVAN:  Sunday 10PM on Showtime Previously… on RAY DONOVAN:  Ray (Liev Schreiber) is a Hollywood fixer who solves the daily difficulties and career-threatening scandals that trouble the lives of stars and s...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SERIES PREMIERE REVIEW: “Ray Donovan”

  RAY DONOVAN:  Sunday 10PM on Showtime – Potential DVR Alert Ray Donovan (Liev Schreiber) is a fixer with plenty to fix.  Professionally, he’s sort of a lower-rent LA version of Scandal‘s Olivia Pope, ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Nurse Jackie”

  It’s impossible to discuss the season finale of NURSE JACKIE–or, as it turns out, its entire fifth season–without talking about its final minute, so I’ll skip to the next paragraph to ward off any...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SERIES FINALE REVIEW: “The Big C: Hereafter”

  Even though death is part of the daily menu of our television and movies, dying–lingering, fatal illness–is much rarer.  We prefer our deaths to be mere starting points for police investigations, or the bypr...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED SEASON PREMIERE REVIEW: “The Big C: Hereafter”

  THE BIG C: HEREAFTER – Monday 10PM on Showtime THE BIG C has spent a lot of time trying not to be the show it was supposed to be.  TV shows, much like people, tend to want to go on for as long as possible, so alth...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SEASON PREMIERE REVIEW: “The Borgias”

  THE BORGIAS:  Sunday 10PM on Showtime Showtime must have a great co-production deal on THE BORGIAS.  Despite what is evidently a handsome budget–certainly far more expensive than what shows like House of Lies or ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “House of Lies”

  Showtime’s HOUSE OF LIES was a bit more ambitious in its second season, and that was a good move, even if the results were uneven.  In its initial season, House was all too clearly a companion piece for Californic...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Californication”

  In its sixth season, Showtime’s CALIFORNICATION barely tried to achieve forward motion.  Every year, occasional novelist and full-time satyr Hank Moody (David Duchovny) toys with reform (which barely lasts an epis...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Shameless”

  In the post-Homeland era of Showtime, SHAMELESS, the network’s Parenthood on crack, has been pushed even farther to the background–and to be sure, the two shows aren’t comparable in terms of seriousness...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED: Sunday’s Showtime, HBO Premiere Ratings

  Despite strong competition in every direction on Sunday night, Showtime had a very strong start for its winter line-up, setting new records for SHAMELESS, HOUSE OF LIES and CALIFORNICATION.  Demo numbers aren’t ye...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED SEASON PREMIERE REVIEW: “Shameless”

  SHAMELESS:  Sunday 9PM on Showtime SHAMELESS often feels like the raging id of its showrunner and (US) creator, pillar of the Hollywood establishment John Wells.  Wells is the man behind ER, the senior producer who gui...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SEASON PREMIERE REVIEW: “House of Lies”

  HOUSE OF LIES:  Sunday 10PM on Showtime Marty Kaan (accent on the “con”) and his management consulting crew are back for a second season at their HOUSE OF LIES tonight on Showtime, and apart from a purge of ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Homeland”

  What kind of show, in the end, is HOMELAND?  Focus groups are often asked simply to describe whatever it is they’ve just seen, and Homeland has tried to be a romance, a thriller, an action adventure, a story about...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Dexter”

  Although there was plenty more going on–too much, in fact–it was fitting that Season 7 of DEXTER came down, in the end, to the women in Dexter Morgan’s life.  One could even say that this season might ...
by Mitch Salem