Posts Tagged ‘tv review’
 

 

THE SKED SERIES PREMIERE REVIEW: “Motive”

  MOTIVE:  Thursday 9PM on ABC – Change the Channel It’s a paradoxical truth that when TV’s “summer” begins, cable networks get adventurous and creative, and the US broadcast networks get gen...
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 FINALE REVIEW: “Mr. Selfridge”

  Think of MR. SELFRIDGE as the methadone to Downton Abbey‘s pure heroin.  It’s not remotely the real thing, but it serves to feed the craving through these many months until Downton returns in January 2014. ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: SNL with Ben Affleck

  In contrast to last week’s Kristin Wiig-fest, tonight’s season finale of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE didn’t give victory laps to all the franchise characters Bill Hader and Fred Armisen have contributed to the ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Nikita”

  With its endless governmental and quasi-governmental conspiracies and its sci-fi technology, NIKITA has always flirted with sheer silliness, and in its Season 3 finale the show went all the way.  Its ratings have also f...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Elementary”

  ELEMENTARY is a very classy, enjoyable network procedural that has the misfortune of existing at the same time as the altogether more dazzling BBC/PBS Sherlock, which has the same premise:  Sherlock Holmes as a modern-d...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Scandal”

  The people on SCANDAL just can’t talk fast enough.  There’s so much invective they need to get out of their mouths, so much self-justification and passionate, furious strategizing, so much spin, that the wor...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “The Vampire Diaries”

  I get it:  teen vampires, ick.  THE VAMPIRE DIARIES is never going to win a major Emmy–it’s never even going to win a Golden Globe.  But there isn’t a long-running show on television that hums along ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Beauty & the Beast”

  It helps, when watching CW’s BEAUTY & THE BEAST, not to think too much about “Beauty and the Beast”.  Not the 1987 TV show, and certainly not the movies and other adaptations of the story.  Jay Ry...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Grey’s Anatomy”

  As hard as it is to create a compelling, successful television series, it’s much harder to keep one going year after year, after cast changes and writer changes and timeslot changes and network management changes a...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SERIES FINALE REVIEW: “The Office”

  Has any great television series ever had the protracted, agonizing death of THE OFFICE?  We’re used to shows that stay on the air past their prime, and to those with disappointing or even disastrous finale episode...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED PILOT REVIEW: “The Originals”

  Planted spin-off pilots are almost always awkward, and THE ORIGINALS, which aired as an episode of The Vampire Diaries, was no exception.  The timing of Originals was particularly odd in the Vampire universe, because it...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “CSI”

  As of this week, there’s just one CSI left standing on CBS, and after 13 years, it’s the original recipe.  Having survived the bump in its creative road a couple of seasons ago when the misguided hire of Lau...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Arrow”

  The success of ARROW was a big win for CW and for DC Comics this season.  The appeal of CW’s single-girl soaps was running thin, while DC has been reeling from the otherworldly success of arch-rival Marvel’s...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “New Girl”

  NEW GIRL only got better this season.  There are TV comedies that are good at silly (Happy Endings, The Neighbors), and there are some that are great at soulful (Parks & Recreation more than any).  But combining si...
by Mitch Salem