Midseason Pilots

THE SKED PILOT REVIEW: “Mixology”

Posted February 26, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  MIXOLOGY:  Wednesday 9:30PM on ABC – Worth A Look MIXOLOGY is the most ambitious of ABC’s new comedies, although “ambitious” in this case means resembling one of those omnibus rom-com movies that simultaneously tell half a dozen stories, all turning out to be tangentially related to each other.  At its best, that subgenre is […]

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Midseason Pilots

THE SKED PILOT REVIEW: “About A Boy”

Posted February 22, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  ABOUT A BOY:  Tuesday 9PM on NBC (Preview Tonight at 11:05PM) – If Nothing Else is On… ABOUT A BOY, which NBC will preview tonight at the close of Olympics coverage ahead of its regular timeslot premiere on Tuesday, has a daunting pedigree.  It’s based on the excellent 2002 Paul Weitz/Chris Weitz feature film […]

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Midseason Pilots

THE SKED Pilot Review: “Resurrection”

Posted March 10, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  RESURRECTION:  Sunday 9PM on ABC  – Potential DVR Alert The restrained tension of RESURRECTION‘s pilot may remind you of early, suburban Spielberg, and of M. Night Shyamalan before he became a punchline.  The premise, based on a novel called “The Returned” by Jason Mott (and also perhaps inspired by the unrelated French miniseries that ran […]

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2016-17 TV Season

UPDATED – NIELSENWAR UPFRONTS: ABC Fall Schedule

Posted May 17, 2016 by Mitch Salem

  ABC’s fall line-up is a mix of the audacious and the not-so-much. UPDATED with reactions to trailers, which are available here.     ABC needed to shake things up for next season, and to an extent it has, although even if things go well, there will be more to do.  It’s relying on its […]

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2014-15 TV Season

NIELSENWAR 2014-15 Trailer Review: FOX’s “Backstrom”

Posted May 12, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  BACKSTROM:  Midseason TBD on FOX THE FACTS:  Rainn Wilson plays your basic difficult-but-brilliant homicide detective in a procedural based on a series of Swedish mystery novels, adapted for television by Hart Hanson, the creator of Bones.  Backstrom is grumpy and dismissive of his colleagues, and unhealthy in his eating, drinking and general living habits, […]

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2016-17 TV Season

NIELSENWAR UPFRONTS: Fall CW Schedule

Posted May 19, 2016 by Mitch Salem

  CW will continue to be DC Comics (and Greg Berlanti) TV. For a network that only ordered three new shows (two of them for fall), CW has made quite a few changes in its new schedule, with DC Comics properties anchoring 4 nights of the week (and veteran Vampire Diaries the 5th) for stability, but […]

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2016-17 TV Season

UPDATED: NIELSENWAR UPFRONTS: Fall CBS Schedule(s)

Posted May 18, 2016 by Mitch Salem

  Conservative CBS is making lots of changes next fall. UPDATED with reactions to trailers, which are available here.     No network preaches the “Everything is just fine in broadcast TV” scripture louder than CBS, but the fact is that its biggest hits (The Big Bang Theory, NCIS, Survivor) are aging, and the network […]

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2014-15 TV Season

NIELSENWAR: The CW Fall Schedule

Posted May 14, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  CW had a successful season in 2014-15. launching the smash hit THE FLASH and the critical darling JANE THE VIRGIN.  There wasn’t reason to change much, and the network didn’t.  Here’s a look (new shows are in ALL CAPS, new timeslots are in italics): MONDAY 8PM:  CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND (trailer here) 9PM:  Jane the Virgin […]

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