Summer TV Roundup, Week 8

We're nearing the longest day of the year (that should be Thursday), which means we're in the heart of summer. And we're still getting new summer TV options, but are they any good? I explore the pilot and second episode of new scripted series this summer. Don't see a new show listed below? Check previous weeks.

Wednesday Nights:
Condor, Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on Audience Network (Premiered June 6)
About: We've reached an era of peak TV where everyone is producing original content, and trying to find a story to hook viewers. Audience Network is the original content channel that is provided by DirecTV for its viewers, and they've had some limited success coming up with series. "Condor" is their latest attempt to provide value and hook viewers (remember, with the rise in streaming services Cable and Satellite providers have to find a way to provide an edge, hence the forays into original programming). "Condor" is loosely based on the Robert Redford film "Three Days of the Condor," and boasts a strong cast. Among those in starring roles are Brendan Fraser, William Hurt and Mira Sorvino. But the series centers on Max Irons, who plays low-level analyst Joe Turner. He created an algorithm that worked a little too well, making him a target. The first episode set the stage and ended with an attack on Joe's covert base, leaving all his co-workers dead. The second episode expanded the story and the players, and saw Joe on the run and accused of being the mastermind. We know he's not, and presumably the rest of the season is about uncovering the conspiracy and proving his innocence. I like the cast, and the idea has merit, but the first two episodes were painfully slow and dull at times. I think I'd prefer to just find the old movie and spend a couple hours watching that to completion than invest in this protracted journey each week, despite the quality of the performers in it. It's a big swing for DirecTV, but this one doesn't seem to have landed.
Pilot Grade: C
Second Episode: C

Thursday Nights:
American Woman, Thursdays at 10 p.m. on Paramount (Premiered June 7)
About: The half hour has become the most dexterous format in TV, and here Paramount's latest foray into scripted television is using the half hour(ish) slot to tell a story that's sometimes funny, often dramatic and captures the struggles of women in the work place and in life in the 1970s. Alicia Silverstone takes the lead as a mother who has little formal education and training that is thrust into the work place to provide for her family after her husband has an affair and turns out to be a criminal, leaving them broke. Soon the trappings of her comfortable former life begin to fade as she comes to grips with the idea she's going to have to fight for her family in a society that doesn't afford her many opportunities. It has the potential to be an inspiring story, and I like Silverstone as a performer. But the first two episodes fell a bit flat for me. The period setting and the stories felt a little too familiar, and the show has taken a little too long to get going. (You don't even really get to the crux of the format until the end of the pilot.) And given the shorter episodes, the stories about her friends, one (Jennifer Bartels) trying to move up the corporate ladder and another (Mena Suvari) in a relationship with a man who's actually using her for her wealthy while hiding his attraction to men, feel like a distraction. They capture the period, but they split focus off the main story, and none of them have moved much beyond cliches and expected plot points through two episodes. Even during the slower summer period, you need more of a hook.
Pilot Grade: C
Second Episode: C-