Winter TV Roundup, Week 11

Here we are in the back half of March, and the flood of shows continues. There are many, many returning series on TV and Streaming sites. And there's also tons of new shows. In these weekly posts I look at the pilot and second episode of new scripted series this Winter/Spring. I watch, sometimes, so you don't have to! Don't see a new show listed below? Check previous weeks!

Tuesday Nights:
Rise, Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on NBC (Premiered March 13)
About: NBC is looking for a new, emotionally gripping drama to take the place of "This Is Us," the emotionally gripping drama that wrapped up its second season last week. It's turning that slot over to "Rise," a new drama from Jason Katims. Katims previously served as an executive producer on "Friday Night Lights," one of my all-time favorite series, and on "Parenthood," a family drama with a strong cult following that was on NBC for years. So it makes sense that "Rise" would fit into that mold and could be good in that time slot. Or at least that was the plan for NBC. As I mentioned above, I was a HUGE fan of "Friday Night Lights," and I loved the ad campaign for this show. I was also a big "How I Met Your Mother" fan, so the inclusion of Josh Radnor as the lead excited me. "Rise" is one of the shows I most looked forward to seeing premier this Winter/Spring, so I was disheartened even more by what I saw. The show isn't good. Or, rather, the pilot isn't good. It has some of the same cinematic techniques of "Friday Night Lights," and returns the focus to high school and group of scrappy up-and-comers. There's QB1, Robbie (Damon J. Gillespie), and the bad girl, Lilette (Auli'i Cravalho), among others. And there's Radnor as Lou, an English teacher tired of not making a difference who muscles his way into taking over the theater program, throwing out the planned production of "Grease" in favor of the more controversial and daring "Spring Awakening." He also bumps out the long-time assistant director, Tracy Wolfe (Rosie Perez), who was about to get her moment in the sun. So the pilot is Lou cajoling and, allegedly, inspiring as he builds his troupe of players. There's a problem though. As written, Lou is kind of a jerk. He's not really inspiring. And his actions seem really unfavorable to most. He's callous in dealing with Tracy, rough on his son (who obviously has problems, but hasn't been on screen long enough to earn a tough love confrontation), and his students. He basically traps Robbie into being a part of the production under the guise of caring about his academics, and then essentially bullies a boy into coming out and rejecting his Catholic upbringing and parents. Those aren't heroic actions, and they aren't endearing. I found myself puzzled and disappointed throughout much of the first hour. One of the best things about "Friday Night Lights" was the way Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) and his wife Tammy (Connie Britton) took care of these students and built them up. So far, Lou is a far cry from that, and "Rise" is a far cry from the better shows that came before it.
Pilot Grade: C-

For The People, Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on ABC (Premiered March 13)
About: This new drama, produced by Shonda Rhimes, premiered away from the usual Shondaland block on Thursdays and in the timeslot of doom for ABC. That's not a great sign. And when you watch the show, which is about young prosecutors and defense attorneys trying cases for the "Mother Court" in New York, it's not hard to see why. This is a fairly stock drama with characters that settle into formulaic caricatures pretty quickly. I like Britt Robertson, who is the lead, and most of the cast, but the story and the idea felt like a bland combination of a typical courtroom drama and a typical Shondaland show in its relationships. It's full of young, pretty people trying to make their way in a difficult profession while navigating overly complicated love lives. There was a time in my life where that might be enough of a hook, but I found myself wishing this had a more complex story. We'll see if that changes as we move from pilot to more series execution in episode two. But based on the ratings and my experience of episode one, this is a forgettable series that will soon be part of TV history.
Pilot Grade: C

Wednesday Nights:
Life Sentence, Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on The CW (Premiered March 7)
About: This new series stars Lucy Hale as a girl who struggled with terminal cancer for eight years, leading to a series of decisions about her life and getting married, only to find out she was cured. In response, she discovered her idyllic family wasn't quite what she expected, and she didn't know her husband as well as she thought after a whirlwind romance with a ticking clock. Now she has to figure out how to navigate life. The premise isn't terrible, and Hale is perfectly likeable as a lead. My problem with the first episode was none of the characters were particularly likeable. There was some interesting moments in the third act between Hale's Stella and her husband Wes (Elliot Knight). But I didn't enjoy the pilot. The second episode was a minor improvement. The characters were a little less grating, and there was more of an interesting plot hook. That being said, this isn't compelling enough to rise above the rest in an overly crowded marketplace. And it's really, really low ratings don't bode well for its future.
Pilot Grade: C-
Second Episode: C

Back, Wednesdays at 11 p.m. on Sundance (Premiered March 7)
About: This comedy co-production with England is about a man (David Mitchell) who clashes with his one-time foster brother (Robert Webb) after his father dies and leaves a part of the family business to said foster brother. It's mostly about the off-beat clashes between Mitchell and Webb, and the way the rest of the family fawns over Webb at Mitchell's expense. Both men are decently funny, and this is paced as you'd expect for the style of British comedy. It's OK, but it wasn't incredibly compelling.
Pilot Grade: C-
Second Episode: C

Thursday Nights:
Champions, Thursdays at 9:30 p.m. on NBC (Premiered March 8)
About: This latest addition to NBC's Must-See TV re-boot comes from Mindy Kaling (who recurs) and stars Anders Holm and Andy Favreau as a pair of brothers and gym owners in New York whose lives are thrown for a look when Holm's teenage son (J.J. Totah) comes to live with him. The cast here is talented, and there's some potential for the concept. But it just didn't work for me. I didn't connect to the characters in the pilot, though it had a couple interesting moments, and I thought the second episode fell flat, too. This is a case where I like the talent involved in the production and the basic idea, but it just doesn't come together for me. Between this and "AP Bio," which is another series where I like the talent but just couldn't get into the characters, it's been a disappointing Spring comedy slate on NBC.
Pilot Grade: C-
Second Episode: C-

Sunday Nights:
Instinct, Sundays at 8 p.m. on CBS (Premiered March 18)
About: There was a long-running show on ABC called "Castle." It starred Nathan Fillion as a mystery writer who ends up becoming partners with an NYPD detective (Stana Katic) to solve crimes. It's a simple enough formula, and the actors and writing made for a fun enough series that it remained on the air for years. It seems in 2018 that networks are trying to capture that magic again. "Deception," which I'll talk about below, adds the wrinkle of a magician (and a subplot about a framed twin brother) to the formula. "Instinct," which premiered on CBS, brings the focus back to a non-fiction crime writer, but adds the twist that he was a CIA officer. It's also based on a James Patterson book series. These types of shows live or die by the casting, and here they nailed it. Alan Cumming is very likeable as Dr. Dylan Reinhart, while Bojana Novakovic is great as his detective partner, Lizzie. This one didn't have a complicated overarching narrative, which I liked, and isn't focused on the will-they, won't-they romantic implications of the partners, since Reinhart is gay and happily married, and Lizzie is a woman. Instead, it was about their skills, their snappy dialogue, and a formulaic case-of-the-week set up. There is nothing deep or overly complicated about the show, but I liked the actors and the basic premise, which came as a surprise. I was tempted to dismiss this series prior to tuning in, but the pilot was fun in a way I didn't expect. It is actually one of the new shows in 2018 I've enjoyed the most, so I'm curious to see where it goes from here.
Pilot Grade: B-

Deception, Sundays at 10 p.m. on ABC (Premiered March 11)
About: I wrote about "Deception" a bit last week when it premiered. It comes from Chris Fedak, who did "Chuck," and as mentioned above it lands in a familiar formula. This time it's Jack Cutmore-Scott as a world famous magician, and his twin. One is framed for murder and behind bars, so the other plies his skills to help the FBI solve crimes and, hopefully, free his brother. There's an overarching mystery here, but also a case-of-the-week set up. This follows the "Castle" playbook, and is similar to what's being done with "Instinct." I would say the difference here is I wasn't as invested in the casting. Cutmore-Scott is fine, but the twin thing has grown a little tired through two episodes. And his chemistry with Ilfenesh Hadera as the lead FBI agent is a little less compelling (plus I think they are trying to make a push toward a romance I have no interest in.) I also think there's too many characters here right now, and it's a little too busy. That being said, I like some of the writing and the idea grew on me more in episode two than I expected, to the point where I"m willing to give the show a little more run. It will be interesting to see if this show can simplify its formula a bit going forward, but for now it's more entertaining than most of the recent Sunday night additions to the ABC lineup.
Pilot Grade: C+
Second Episode: C+

Streaming Series:
On My Block, now streaming on Netflix (Premiered March 16)
About: If there's anything packing out TV of late, it's coming-of-age stories. This seems to be especially true on Netflix, which gave us "13 Reasons Why" last year and already debuted the fun 1990s-themed series "Everything Sucks!" earlier this winter. And now comes "On My Block," which focus on four incoming freshmen in the mean streets of South Central Los Angeles. I wasn't sure about this before I tried it but, surprisingly, Netflix has found another series that connects, albeit in a different fashion than the other series I mentioned. This one focuses on a different group of kids with different struggles, but I found the blend of humor and drama endearing in the first two episodes. I particularly enjoyed Sierra Capri in the lead role of Monse, and I liked the inter-play between the core four and the other supporting characters. This series presents a coming-of-age story that's vastly different from my own experiences, but the blend of characters, humor, drama, and pacing worked in the first couple of episodes, pulling me into the world, helping me root for these kids, and hoping to see more. That's the goal for all these streaming series, and any series, really, especially in this crowded marketplace. I'm not sure, yet, if I think this is on par with or better than the two I mentioned, but the first two episodes made me curious to see how the 10-episode first season ends. And at less than 30 minutes an episode, it's a breezy watch.
Pilot Grade: B-
Second Episode: B-