Salem
WGN America | Release Date: April 20, 2014
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
5
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerApr 17, 2014
Season 1 Review: When Salem isn’t being deliberately outrageous, it’s cultivating a dynamic that could be fruitful as things move along. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterTim GoodmanApr 18, 2014
Season 1 Review: Not all of the acting works all of the time, but the cast holds it together when necessary, guided with assurance by Montgomery, who alone deserves another episode or two just to appreciate. Read full review
70
Cleveland Plain DealerMark DawidziakApr 18, 2014
Season 1 Review: There's plenty of room in the graveyard for Salem, although it's way too early to tell if it can effectively build on the scary and sensual elements introduced in Sunday's premiere. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyJeff JensenApr 14, 2014
Season 1 Review: WGN America's first scripted drama is American Horror Story Lite, a conventional dark fantasy with an unconventional angle on history. [18/25 Apr 2014, p.101] Read full review
63
RedEyeCurt WagnerApr 18, 2014
Season 1 Review: Salem as a whole reflects the difference in the work of West and Montgomery. Yet its wildly uneven premiere has enough going for it to make me watch at least another episode. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesLori RacklApr 14, 2014
Season 1 Review: It’s a poor man’s “American Horror Story: Coven” but with more shrieking and less fun. On the upside, Janet Montgomery makes for an intriguing sorceress. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleyApr 17, 2014
Season 1 Review: West and the rest of the cast perform solidly as well, and once we know the lineup, presumably we’ll dive deeper into the game. Read full review
50
VarietyBrian LowryApr 17, 2014
Season 1 Review: While Salem isn’t bad, necessarily, it doesn’t conjure any magic, either. Read full review
42
Uncle BarkyEd BarkApr 17, 2014
Season 1 Review: Salem is replete with scenes that make little sense. It’s mostly a jumble of decent enough special effects, less-than-decent acting, a script that also should be lashed with “10 hard ones” and lots of blood-curdling screaming. Read full review
40
Washington PostHank StueverApr 18, 2014
Season 1 Review: The writing is merely serviceable; the acting is uninspired; the scary stuff comes off as silly. Read full review
40
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob OwenApr 17, 2014
Season 1 Review: The Salem pilot is rather plodding except when occasionally punctuated by these more gonzo scenes. Read full review
38
People WeeklyPatrick GomezApr 18, 2014
Season 1 Review: The supernatural drama lacks in dramatic tension and suffers without the self-aware humor that made the similarly themed American Horror Story: Coven work so well. [28 Apr 2014]
33
The A.V. ClubZack HandlenApr 18, 2014
Season 1 Review: Salem uses real life to prop up its shallow theatrics, and the result is too distractingly tacky to be enjoyed as pure foolishness. Read full review
30
TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushApr 18, 2014
Season 1 Review: Welcome to Early American Horror Story, which could give you whiplash from all the clashing acting styles, from Seth Gabel's foaming-at-the-mouth over-emoting as zealot Cotton Mather to Shane West's monotonously mumbling and too-modern hero John Alden. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandApr 18, 2014
Season 1 Review: The melodrama is thicker and more implausible than the tarlike gunk oozing out of that tree at the beginning of Sunday's premiere, but there are adequate performances to balance the painfully over-the-top dialogue, at least. Read full review
25
New York PostSara StewartApr 17, 2014
Season 1 Review: It’s like watching the cast of “One Tree Hill” put on a production of “The Crucible.” Read full review
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