Fall TV Roundup, Week 2

In these weekly posts I look at the pilot and second episode for new shows. If you don't see a new show below, check previous weeks. Thanks to advanced availability, I reviewed pilots for "A to Z," "Selfie," and "Forever" last week. "Forever" premiers on Monday night, September 22.

Tuesday Nights:
Utopia, Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on FOX (Premiered September 7)
About: FOX was hoping this reality show — which airs on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. and Fridays at 9 p.m. — would be an addictive hit in the United States, as it is overseas. So far, that hasn't really happened. The idea is simple — 15 people leave their lives for a year, head to a compound in California, and are charged with creating their own society. On paper, this seems like a fascinating idea. And, it also taps into the kind of success shows like "Big Brother" have had in terms of offering a live feed for people to check in on between episodes. Again, this seems like a good marketing idea. But in practice, the show has fallen flat. The ratings steadily dropped over the three episodes in its first week — Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday — and they weren't great to begin with. So if this was a good idea, why hasn't it caught on? I think the simple answer is the group of people in the show aren't that likable, and over the first four hours (three episodes), all this has been is people fighting and being ugly to one another. In the third episode, the show got a casting shake up, so that might change things. That being said, I don't have a lot of hope for this show. It was fine, and if nothing else was on, I could see watching this. But that's not the case. And starting tonight, it will face more competition. Tonight it will go against an episode of "Dancing With The Stars," and next Tuesday the No. 1 scripted show on TV — "NCIS" — will be in the Tuesday night at 8 p.m. time slot. The chance for "Utopia" to take off was last week, and it didn't. Worse yet, nothing about the content of the show suggests it should be something you need to make it a point to watch. It remains a fascinating possible concept, but this show isn't good.
Pilot Grade: C-
Second Episode: C-

Friday Nights:
Z Nation, Fridays at 10 p.m. on SyFy (Premiered September 12)
About: We live in a post-"Walking Dead" world. That's the highest rated show on Cable, and it's inspired a number of suitors and imitators. This summer "The Strain" on FX was supposed to do for that network what "The Walking Dead" did for AMC, but it didn't. Now comes the next challenger, "Z Nation," which premiered on Friday night on SyFy. The show comes from the production team behind "Sharknado." Now, I will be the first to admit that "The Walking Dead" isn't exactly prestige TV, but it is in comparison to "Sharknado." So you can imagine what "Z Nation" was like. There was a lot of too loud music, a lot of weird action and violence, very little character development, and not a lot of reason to tune in each week. Those hoping that this would be good will be disappointed. There isn't much to like here. The characters are poorly developed, as is the world of the show. I understand that this is going to be some kind of road show, but it's hard to tell exactly what's going on here. The pilot was confusing, violent, and poorly constructed. That gives you an idea of what the show will be like moving forward. This isn't "The Walking Dead," not even close.
Pilot Grade: D