Posts Tagged ‘soap’
 

 

THE SKED MIDSEASON FINALE REVIEW: “The Vampire Diaries”

  Among other things, the midseason finale of THE VAMPIRE DIARIES gets credit for the season’s most subversive use of Christmas carols, playing cheerily under ancient vampire Klaus (Joseph Morgan) as he first slaught...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Season Finale Review: “Nashville”

  It took some down-to-the-wire negotiations between ABC and production studio Lionsgate, but NASHVILLE made its way to a Season 3 renewal this week.  (And barring further ratings collapse, that makes a Season 4 more like...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Ringer”

> RINGER could have been a hell of a movie. It happens sometimes with TV shows.  Remember Daybreak, featuring Taye Diggs as a cop who had to relive the same day over and over again, Groundhog Day style, until he could solv...
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 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
 

 
 

THE SKED SEASON PREMIERE REVIEW: “Smash”

  SMASH:  Tuesday 10PM on NBC The intermission that began last May is over, and what SMASH desperately wants you to know isn’t just a second season but a full-fledged Version 2.0 kicks off with the self-aware lyric ...
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
 

 
 

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’S PILOT (+ 1) REVIEW: “Red Widow”

  RED WIDOW:  Sunday 10PM on ABC The “2-hour premiere” of RED WIDOW actually consisted of the pilot that was shot before last year’s upfronts, combined with the first regular episode (both halves written...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “The Client List”

  There’s something inherently fascinating about the contortions that Lifetime, one of the squarest of cable networks, has to go through to balance the titillation factor of its hit series THE CLIENT LIST with what i...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Dallas”

  The title of tonight’s season finale of DALLAS was “Revelations,” but really it had only one reveal worthy of a SPOILER ALERT, and even that one was increasingly guessable as the hour went on, for anyon...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Season Premiere Review: “Revenge”

  REVENGE:  Sunday 9PM on ABC REVENGE went off the rails last season, both creatively and in the ratings (its Season 2 finale managed just a 1.7).  When it was over, series creator Mike Kelley found himself bumped off hi...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED’S PILOT + 1 REVIEW: “The Fosters”

  THE FOSTERS:  Monday 9PM on ABCFamily Previously… on THE FOSTERS:  San Diego cop Stef (Teri Polo) and charter school assistant principal Lena (Sherri Saum) are a gay couple raising a blended family:  Stef’...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED MIDSEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Scandal”

  SCANDAL has been having a barn-burner of a Season 2, emerging as a pulpier, crazier Homeland (not that Homeland hasn’t been pretty crazy the last couple of weeks), a DC-set melodrama where everybody is lying to som...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED FALL FINALE REVIEW: “Revenge”

  REVENGE, in its second season, demonstrates the perils of stretching a good thing too far.  (Also being stretched:  ABC’s concept of a “fall finale,” since unlike shows like Revolution and The Walking...
by Mitch Salem