Salem (TV series)

Salem
Genre	Supernatural horror Drama Thriller
Created by	Brannon Braga Adam Simon
Starring	Janet Montgomery Shane West Seth Gabel Tamzin Merchant Ashley Madekwe Elise Eberle Iddo Goldberg Xander Berkeley Joe Doyle Oliver Bell
Theme music composer	Marilyn Manson Tyler Bates
Opening theme	"Cupid Carries a Gun"
Composer	Tyler Bates
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	36 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Brannon Braga David Von Ancken Kelly Souders Josh S. Barry Jeff Kwatinetz Joe Menosky Elizabeth Sarnoff Tricia Small Adam Simon Jon Harmon Feldman Richard Shepard Brian Wayne Peterson Josh S. Barry
Producers	Brannon Braga Coby Greenberg David Von Ancken Danielle Weinstock
Production location	Shreveport, Louisiana
Cinematography	Mark Vargo Michael Goi Sarah Cawley
Editors	Rick Tuber Scott Boyd Dan Liu Carole Kravitz Aykanian Monty DeGraff John Duffy Jo Francis Nina Lucia Misha Syeed
Running time	45 minutes
Production companies	Beetlecod Productions Prospect Park (2014–15) The Firm (2016–17) Fox 21 (2014) Fox 21 Television Studios (2015–17)
Original release
Network	WGN America
Release	April 20, 2014 – January 25, 2017

Salem is an American supernatural horror television series created by Brannon Braga and Adam Simon, loosely inspired by the real Salem witch trials in the 17th century.

The series premiered on WGN America on April 20, 2014, becoming the network's first original scripted series. As the network's first and highest-rated series, it was renewed for a second season on May 15, 2014. A third season was commissioned on July 11, 2015 and premiered on November 2, 2016. On December 13, 2016, it was announced that WGN had cancelled the show after three seasons, with the final episode airing on January 25, 2017.

Plot overview

The series stars Janet Montgomery as Mary Sibley, a powerful witch who controls the Salem witch trials by exacerbating hysteria among the Puritans while executing her plan of summoning the Devil. Problems arise when her long lost love, John Alden (played by Shane West), returns to Salem, complicating Mary's plans. The show has prominent elements of Gothic romance.

Cast and characters

Main

Actor	Character	Seasons
		1	2	3
Janet Montgomery	Mary Walcott/Mary Sibley	Main
Shane West	Captain John Alden	Main
Seth Gabel	Cotton Mather	Main
Tamzin Merchant	Anne Hale	Main
Ashley Madekwe	Tituba	Main
Elise Eberle	Mercy Lewis	Main
Iddo Goldberg	Isaac Walton	Main
Xander Berkeley	Magistrate Hale	Main	Guest
Oliver Bell	John / the Devil (Samael)	Guest	Main
Joe Doyle	Baron Sebastian von Marburg		Main

Recurring

Actor	Character	Seasons
		1	2	3
Michael Mulheren	George Sibley	Recurring
Azure Parsons	Gloriana Embry	Recurring		Recurring
Sammi Hanratty	Dollie Trask	Recurring
Stephen Lang	Increase Mather	Recurring	Guest
Lucy Lawless	Countess Palatine Ingrid Von Marburg		Recurring
Stuart Townsend	Dr. Samuel Wainwright		Recurring
Samuel Roukin	The Sentinel / Beelzebub			Recurring
Marilyn Manson	Thomas Dinley			Recurring

Production

Development

The series first appeared as part of WGN America's development slate in July 2012, under the title Malice. On June 4, 2013, WGN America bypassed the pilot stage and placed a series order for 13 episodes, under the new title Salem. On November 8, 2013, filming of the series began in Shreveport, Louisiana, on an expansive set reflecting 17th-century Massachusetts. On May 15, 2014, Salem was renewed for a 13-episode second season by WGN America. On July 11, 2015, Salem was renewed for a 10-episode third season by WGN America. It began production on January 21, 2016. In December 2016, a month after the third-season premiere, it was announced that the series had been cancelled. Its series finale aired on January 25, 2017.

Casting

Casting announcements began in October 2013, with Ashley Madekwe first cast in the role of Tituba. Seth Gabel was the next actor cast, in the regular role of Cotton Mather. Janet Montgomery and Xander Berkeley were cast in the lead role of Mary Sibley and the role of Magistrate Hale, respectively. Shane West later signed onto the series regular role of John Alden. Also cast was Tamzin Merchant as Anne Hale. Elise Eberle was later cast in the series regular role of Mercy Lewis. On the June 1, 2014 episode, Stephen Lang joined the cast in the recurring role of Increase Mather.

For the second season, Lucy Lawless and Stuart Townsend joined Salem in the recurring roles of Countess Marburg and Samuel Wainwright, respectively. Joe Doyle and Oliver Bell also joined the second season in regular roles of Baron Sebastian Marburg and Mary's lost son, respectively. During the third season, singer Marilyn Manson joined the cast in a recurring role as barber and all-around problem solver Thomas Dinley.

Music

The majority of Salem's score was composed by Tyler Bates. Bates selected "Cupid Carries a Gun", a song he co-wrote with Marilyn Manson and recorded by the band for their album The Pale Emperor, as the show's title track.

Episodes

Home media

The first season was released on DVD in the United States on October 28, 2014, by Fox Home Entertainment. The second season was released on DVD on April 5, 2016, and is manufactured by Amazon's CreateSpace MOD Program. As of November 2023, the third season has not been commercially released on DVD or Blu-ray in the United States. It was released on DVD in the United Kingdom and Australia, and the complete series was released in a boxed set in Australia.

Reception

Critical reception

Salem scored 49 out of 100 based on 16 critic reviews on Metacritic, which the site characterizes as "mixed or average reviews". On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season scored 54% and an average rating of 5.5 out of 10 based on 26 critic reviews. The critical consensus reads: "While the horror scenes are well-executed, Salem lacks enough substance to sustain even a guilty-pleasure interest." Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times, upon reviewing the first season, said the show is "brash and well executed... perversely entertaining". He went on to say that "when Salem isn't being deliberately outrageous, it's cultivating a dynamic that could be fruitful as things move along. Here in the 21st century, science and reason rule, but in a world of sorcery, clinging to rationality just makes you stupid." Mark Dawidziak of The Plain Dealer gave the first few episodes a positive review, saying "Slowly drawing you into its heightened version of that Puritan community, Salem casts its spell with an opening episode that is a witch's brew of romance, fear, deceit, revenge, hysteria, evil and uncertainty." Zack Handlin of The A.V. Club called the series "a collection of shallow stock characters and ramshackle plotting" that attempts tacky exploitation of a tragedy. Brian Lowry wrote in Variety that although the series is not bad, it "plays like a rather flat supernatural soap".

Ratings

Season	Timeslot (ET)	Episodes	Premiered		Ended		Average viewers (in millions)
			Date	Premiere viewers (in millions)	Date	Finale viewers (in millions)
Season 1	Sundays 10/9c	13	April 20, 2014	1.52	July 13, 2014	0.43	1.7
Season 2		13	April 5, 2015	0.51	June 28, 2015	0.34	1.1
Season 3	Wednesdays 9/8c	10	November 2, 2016	0.27	January 18, 2017	0.23	TBA

The series premiere rose to 3.4 million viewers in Live+7 ratings, and had more than 1.5 million viewers in adults 18–49. The season two premiere rose 150% in adults 18–49 in Live+7 ratings, from 0.2 to 0.5, while it rose to 1.5 million viewers in Live+3. The second episode rose 300% from 0.1 to 0.4.

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominee(s)	Result
2015	Fangoria Chainsaw Awards	Favorite Actress on Television	Janet Montgomery	Nominated
	Saturn Awards	Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series	Salem	Nominated
2016	Fangoria Chainsaw Awards	Best TV Actress	Janet Montgomery	Nominated
		Best TV Make-Up/Creature FX	Matthew Mungle, Clinton Wayne	Nominated
		Best TV Series	Salem	Nominated
		Best TV Supporting Actor	Seth Gabel	Nominated
		Best TV Supporting Actress	Lucy Lawless	Nominated
2017	Fangoria Chainsaw Awards	Best TV SFX	Matthew Mungle, Clinton Wayne	Nominated
		Best TV Supporting Actor	Seth Gabel	Nominated
		Best TV Supporting Actress	Tamzin Merchant	Nominated