Winter TV Roundup, Week 11

Spring officially begins on Wednesday, or so the Calendar tells us. We'll see. In the meantime, while many shows are preparing to wrap up their season, the networks and cable outlets are still rolling out new shows for us to sample. And that doesn't even include the ever-present flood from streaming services, including three new shows just this Friday. There's a lot to watch, and these weekly posts are meant to help sift through the crowded waters. In these weekly posts I look at the pilot and second episode of new scripted series. Don't see a new show listed below? Check previous weeks.

Monday Nights:
The Fix, Mondays at 10 p.m. on ABC (Premiered March 18)
About: Marcia Clark will always be remembered for the O.J. Simpson trial. It didn't go her way, and in the aftermath she was hounded by the media. In recent years, thanks to an award-winning documentary and award-winning scripted series, we've started to think about her differently. But she's never let go of the case, clearly. "The Fix" is a new legal thriller she co-created and helped write. It stars Robin Tunney as a D.A. who is hounded by the media and drops out of the spotlight after losing a high profile case where a popular actor was accused of stabbing his ex-wife and her friend to death. Sound familiar? Well, it should as it closely mirrors her experience. But in "The Fix," the same actor is caught up in another murder of another girlfriend eight years later, giving the prosecutor a chance to come out of seclusion and seek redemption. It's sort of like a fantasy for Clark, obviously, and the show could be a bit like wish fulfillment as the chronically abusive actor who played the race card to escape justice once might not be so lucky a second time. There's the bones of something potentially interesting there, and I've liked Tunney in other projects in the past. That being said, the pilot was dull and slow. It took forever to reach what felt like an obvious concluding point. And with only 10 episodes, you'd like a little more forward motion. I hope the show brings Clark some piece, and it's an interesting idea. We know in real life Simpson ended up in prison for a subsequent crime, with a sentence that many feel was motivated by the fact public sentiment had swung away from him in the years after his acquittal. Will fiction mirror real life? Will justice prevail? The answer is clearly going to be yes, so it has to be about the journey. So far, that journey isn't overly compelling.
Pilot Grade: C-

Sunday Nights:
Now Apocalypse, Sundays at 10 p.m. on Starz (Premiered March 10)
About: Sometimes new shows just aren't good, but maybe they are on brand. Starz has long been regarded as the outsider among pay cable channels, owing more of its appeal to the salaciousness of its content than its story and characters. (Sorry "Outlander" fans.) That's certainly true of "Now Apocalypse," which wants to be weird, but mostly uses that weird to slide into aggressive sex scenes. In fact, the 29-minute second episode was almost entirely sex scenes, as was the pilot. And it's not very good or interesting, unless you just want to watch sex scenes. I won't belabor the point here, but suffice to say it was not for me, and it was not good in any way.
Pilot Grade: F
Second Episode: F

Streaming Series:
Shrill, Now Streaming on Hulu (Premiered March 15)
About: This latest Hulu comedy comes from Aidy Bryant, who stars as Annie. It's based on the book "Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman," written by Lindy West, who co-created and worked on the series. The first season is six episodes, none longer than 29 minutes, so it's a quick watch. (I saw the whole thing.) Annie is a large woman who has struggled with acceptance from society and herself. She has talent as a writer, but her boss at her publication (John Cameron Mitchell) dismisses her, in large part, because of her appearance. She wants love, but her regular hook up Ryan (Luka Jones) doesn't treat her as an equal. And her mother (Julia Sweeney) and father (Daniel Stern) love her, but she doesn't always feel like her mother supports her. The first season is mostly about Annie trying to reconcile that treatment with the confident woman she wants to be, and by they end we get a sense of where she's going. The first season has some moments that work well, mostly thanks to Bryant and the charisma that made her a star on "Saturday Night Live." That being said, it's not perfect, and is at times quite uneven. I liked it OK, and found some of what it said about how people are treated and the issues that come with a negative body image to be quite moving. But at times I thought the structure was too much. It has a great performance and some potential, and I'd be curious to see where it would go in a season two, but the first season is an acquired taste to be sure.
Pilot Grade: C
Second Episode: C

Turn Up Charlie, Now streaming on Netflix (Premiered March 15)
About: This is another comedy, this time from Idris Elba, who stars as Charlie, a DJ who has hit on hard times. Charlie gets a shot when his best friend from childhood (JJ Feild), now a famous actor, turns up back in London. His wife (Piper Perabo) is a famous DJ that could be the key to helping Charlie get another bite at the apple, but first he has to survive as a nanny to the couple's feisty daughter, Gabrielle (Frankie Hervey). An unexpected friendship breaks out between Charlie and Gabrielle, and Charlie gets his chance again. Will he blow it? This is another short series, featuring just eight episodes in the season, none longer than 28 minutes. (I've seen them all.) I like Elba, and I like that this tries to show him in a bit of a goofier and softer role. There are also times where I thought the humor worked. But, like "Shrill," it doesn't feel like a fully polished project. And its mix of humor and drama don't always lead to a lot of obvious laughs. This is one that I finished, and at times I enjoyed it, but I'm not totally sure where another installment would go, or if I'd even want one.
Pilot Grade: C
Second Episode: C

Love, Death and Robots, Now Streaming on Netflix (Premiered March 15)
About: This anthology series features 18 animated shorts in its first collection. They all range in times, but none is more than 20 minutes, so it's a short watch. I watched the first, which was about under ground fighting and love, and the second, which featured three robots talking about the world and how it had changed (and was a tight 11 minutes). That was more than enough for me. This is creative, to be sure, but it's for a niche audience. I didn't get into the format, and some are very short so you need to connect with the stories quickly. I just didn't here. This is the kind of broad swing Netflix can take, and it will find an audience. I'm just not it.
Pilot Grade: C-
Second Episode: C