Midseason Finale

THE SKED Fall Finale Review: “The Tomorrow People”

Posted December 12, 2013 by Mitch Salem

  Today’s CW announcement that in March, THE TOMORROW PEOPLE will move to Monday nights, swapping the hit Arrow for the untested Star-Crossed as its lead in, probably starts the clock ticking on the show’s remaining time to prove itself.  The series has made a few steps to improve since its underwhelming pilot, but it’s […]

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Midseason Finale

THE SKED Fall Finale Review: “Arrow”

Posted December 12, 2013 by Mitch Salem

  Not to beat up on Agents of SHIELD more than it already has been, but comparisons between it and ARROW are particularly clear right now since both shows are pursuing essentially the same storyline, in which there’s an evil plan underfoot to inject innocent people with a serum that will transform them into super-soldiers […]

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Midseason Finale

THE SKED Fall Finale Review: “Agents of SHIELD”

Posted December 10, 2013 by Mitch Salem

  For its fall finale (the show is taking a relatively brief break, returning on January 7), AGENTS OF SHIELD turned to its continuing storylines, such as they are.  The script by Co-Producer Shalisha Francis, directed by Holly Dale, went back to the pilot and its story of the Centipede project, which has recurred in […]

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Midseason Finale

THE SKED Fall Finale Review: “The Originals”

Posted December 4, 2013 by Mitch Salem

  THE ORIGINALS and its creator/showrunner Julie Plec have been fearless about plunging viewers of the New Orleans-set supernatural soap into a veritable bayou of mythology.  We’re half a season in, and already swamped by vampires, werewolves, vampire/werewolf hybrids, an impossible unborn hybrid baby, a teen super-witch, an assortment of garden-variety witches, and the occasional […]

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Midseason Finale

THE SKED Fall Finale Review: “The Blacklist”

Posted December 3, 2013 by Mitch Salem

  We’ll find out in just a few weeks exactly how big a hit NBC’s THE BLACKLIST really is, thanks to the network’s announcement that the show will air in January for the first time outside the protective shadow of The Voice as its lead-in.  Until now, it’s been the breakout hit of the fall, […]

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Midseason Finale

THE SKED Fall Finale Review: “The Walking Dead”

Posted December 2, 2013 by Mitch Salem

  For all its gigantic, game-changing success, THE WALKING DEAD seems fated always to be a dramatically uneven series.  Under new showrunner Scott M. Gimple (who, contrary to previous practice, will keep his job in the already-ordered Season 5), the first half of Season 4 got off to a strong start, with an emphasis on […]

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Midseason Finale

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

Posted November 26, 2013 by Mitch Salem

  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 Season 1 (and every other rendition of the tale) has been largely gone, replaced by a colder action-movie aesthetic.  Season 2 […]

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Midseason Finale

THE SKED Midseason Finale Review: “Hart of Dixie”

Posted November 26, 2013 by Mitch Salem

  The crises on HART OF DIXIE, perhaps the most amiable hour on network television, tend to be fairly low-intensity, and tonight’s midseason finale–a Hanukkah episode, of all things, not something you often see on a show where the main characters aren’t Jewish–was no exception.  The major dramatic development of the hour came when the […]

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