Fall TV Roundup, Week 12

We're nearing winter, and the new shows debuting this fall are slowing down. Now it's mostly those late release network offerings and some Cable options. As always, I review pilots and second episodes of new shows. If you don't see a new show listed below, please check previous weeks.

Monday Nights:
State of Affairs, Mondays at 10 p.m. on NBC (Premiered November 17)
About: This is the latest drama from NBC, one that slips into the "Blacklist" time slot behind "The Voice." So NBC has high hopes for the series, which is also a come back to television vehicle for Katherine Heigl. The series feels like a bit of a mishmash of a lot of different series, including "Homeland" and "The Blacklist." It's about a woman working for the CIA as an analyst that prepares the daily briefing for the President. There's some secrets and ongoing mysteries, and Heigl's character has a tragic past that's led to some troubling personal behavior. It feels like a lot of cliches here, particularly with Heigl's character. Much like Carrie Matheson on "Homeland," the audience is led to believe she's great at her job but prone to a number of destructive tendencies — drinking and random hook ups — but the show does little to really make you feel like that's the case. There are some good actors here, but the pilot was a little boring. Then there's the whole premise — Heigl's character works at the CIA, but she doesn't manage assets, she's not in the field, and she's not running operations. She looks up world events, makes a book, and gives it to the President with some recommendations. Not entirely sure that will work each week, which is likely why the show tried to set up a lot of back stories and possible ongoing mysteries. There's some potential here, I guess, but there's also a lot of potential for this to fall apart. I guess we'll see as the series progresses.
Pilot Grade: C

Wednesday Nights:
The Game, Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on BBC America (Premiered November 5)
About: This original series on BBC America feels like the network's attempt to capitalize on the format of "The Americans," the FX series about Russian spies in America in the 1980s. This show is told from the point-of-view of the British spy team trying to thwart a Russian spy mission in England in the 1970s. There is a lot of wire tapping, going under cover, and discussions in smoke filled rooms. In typical British fashion the show moves along at a little slower pace, but there is a lot of intrigue and potential here. Through two episodes the show has gone through a slow burn, and it's not quite clear how things are going to play out. It's also not clear what some of the characters might be hiding, but that's part of the fun of the journey. "The Game" isn't a great show, but it has the potential to develop into something compelling. Through two episodes, it's hard to tell.
Pilot Grade: C
Second Episode: C

Saturday Nights:
The Missing, Saturdays at 9 p.m. on Starz (Premiered November 15)
About: This limited series is a co-production of Starz and BBC. It's an eight-episode journey into the search for a missing boy. James Nesbitt plays a man who's desperate to find his son, even eight years after the boy first disappeared in France. (Nothing good comes of going to France, or French culture in general, in my opinion). The show's pilot, through flashbacks, shows the progress of Nesbitt in uncovering a new lead in the present as well as the events that first transpired eight years earlier. The show also shows you the cast of characters in each time frame, and how these events — and the subsequent search — changed the course of their lives. Frances O'Conner plays the boy's mother, who has since split with Nesbitt's character and tried to build a new life. But she's haunted by the loss of her son. This is a series that, in it's pilot episode, not only set out a compelling story and mystery but did a lot of great work in exploring the layers of grief and how that impacts the parents of missing children. This has the potential to be a riveting and haunting limited series.
Pilot Grade: B