Winter TV Roundup, Week 3

 

We’re in the middle of January and the flow of new content is heating up. That doesn’t even consider that over the course of the next month new network series will fire up as well. But what of the new shows is worth your time to check out? Let this weekly post be your guide as I review the pilot and second episode of new scripted series this Winter. Don’t see a new show listed below? Check previous weeks.

Tuesdays:
Death and Other Details, Streaming Tuesdays on Hulu (Premiered January 16)
About: Since 2019, when we got Knives Out, we’ve seen a rise in these murder mystery stories both on the big screen and the small screen. And that includes a new run of Agatha Christie stories being told on the big screen. Here, we get an original murder mystery story told on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean. Here we find Imogene (Violet Beane), who is still struggling with the death of her mother. But she’s been invited to cruise by her best friend, Anna (Lauren Patten), with the family that took her in after her mother’s death. There she crosses paths with disgraced detective Rufus Cotesworth (Mandy Patinkin), who failed to solve her mother’s murder year’s earlier, letting down a young Imogene. While she wants to avoid Cotesworth, when a guest is murdered and the clues point to Imogene, she teams with him to find the real killer and discover what connection this case has to her mother’s case years earlier. The first two episodes of the 10-episode season dropped Tuesday, with episodes dropping weekly. We’ve seen these murder mystery series rise the past few years. The best of them mix interesting characters with an intriguing case and a bit of fun. This series has that in spades. I was taken with the pilot and greatly enjoyed the deepening of the mystery in the second episode. This is one of my favorite new series so far in 2024, and I’m excited to see where it goes.
Pilot Grade: B
Second Episode: B

Wednesdays:
Wild Cards, Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW (Premiered January 17)
About: We’ve seen plenty of series and movies that are centered on the unlikely partners premise. That’s the case with Wild Cards, a new drama on The CW. Max Mitchell (Vanessa Morgan) is a thief whose father (Jason Priestly) is in prison. We’re introduced to her as she’s in the middle of pulling a job that doesn’t turn out as expected. Cole Ellis (Giacomo Gianniotti) is a cop who hit a rough patch in his career, leading to a demotion. But he’s still a talented detective at heart. With a mysterious thief on the loose, Max and Cole end up paired together. It’s one last shot at redemption for both. By the end of the hour, they’ve proved their ability to solve crimes together and earned a trial partnership moving forward. You know how it’s going to go from the moment the series kicks off, but this isn’t about a destination, it’s about the journey. Morgan and Gianniotti work well together. There was enough chemistry, humor and intrigue to make the pilot work. This could be a fun addition to The CW lineup this Winter.
Pilot Grade: C+

Fridays:
Hazbin Hotel, Streaming Fridays on Prime Video (Premiered January 19)
About: This animated series from Vivienne Medrano began life as an Internet short in 2019. Now it’s an animated series for Prime Video that already has a second season coming. The first season debuted with four episodes on Friday. The rest of the eight-episode season drops the next two Fridays, with two episodes per week. Episodes run about a half an hour, making it a short commitment. The series focuses on the daughter of Satan, Charlie Morningstar (Erika Henningsen), whose novel idea is opening a hotel where souls came come for rehab and a chance to escape Hell. It’s a wild concept and it’s executed to be wild and creative, featuring a unique animated style. The story will either work for you or it won’t, but if it works for you then you’ll be taken with the creativity here. This should also appeal to those who enjoy a good adult animated series. The story wasn’t my cup of tea.
Pilot Grade: C
Second Episode: C

Sundays:
Monsieur Spade, Sundays at 10 p.m. on AMC+ (Premiered January 14)
About: This new series hails from writer/director Scott Frank and stars Clive Owen as private detective Sam Spade. He’s now in semi-retirement in 1963 France when he’s drawn into a murder. This six-episode limited series is one of the bigger offerings of late from AMC+. Owen does a nice job inhabiting the role and the dialogue from Frank is solid and builds the tension in the pilot episode. In fact, it’s not really until the closing moments of the pilot that the crime in question comes clear. I enjoyed the craft and performance here. The pilot was a bit dry at times, but there is time for it to pick up. The bones of something engaging are here.
Pilot Grade: C

Woman in the Wall, Sundays at 10 p.m. on Showtime (Premiered January 21)
About: The latest from Showtime is a British mystery series that previously aired in August in the United Kingdom. It features Ruth Wilson as Lorna Brady, a troubled woman who is haunted by the torture she suffered as a younger woman locked away at a Catholic treatment center. Now, she struggles with visions and black outs. She awakes from one to find a dead woman in her home. At the same time, a priest who served as a torturer for her and others in her small town turns up dead. When a detective (Daryl McCormack) turns up to solve the crime, it puts additional pressure on Lorna, who remains in the dark about whether she might have had a role in the crime and how the woman got in her home. There’s a solid premise here. The pilot spends time building the world and the characters, but it’s an exceedingly slow burn. Answers are also hard to come by. Wilson and McCormack are good performers, which gives this some promise. But the pilot felt a bit dry and lacking in concrete answers and direction. I’d like to see more moving forward, especially in a quick six-episode series.
Pilot Grade: C

Belgravia: The Next Chapter, Sundays at 10 on MGM+ (Premiered January 14)
About: This is a continuation of the series from Julian Fellowes based on his novel of the same name. The original series was six episodes and aired in 2020. This new series expands to eight episodes, jumping the action decades ahead to focus on the offspring of the main characters from the original. This one comes from Helen Edmundson and follows a similar formula of looking at the lives of the wealthy and their servants. There’s plenty of drama in the details and potential scandals. The pilot was dry, lacking in pop for the characters. The second episode was more of the same. For this style to work, you need a strong set of characters to hook you into the world. I didn’t feel that with the original series, and I don’t feel that here. It’s well produced but I found myself disinterested.
Pilot Grade: C-
Second Episode: C-

True Detective: Night Country, Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO (Premiered January 14)
About: This fourth installment of the anthology series takes place in Ennis, Alaska, and comes from a new writer/director in Issa Lopez. It features Jodie Foster as a local police chief who is drawn into a strange and dark supernatural mystery when the residents of a science station disappear and are found frozen in terror in the middle of the open, frozen lands. The second episode deepened the mystery and the connection with the characters. Foster and Kali Reis are good in the lead roles. I enjoyed the investigation and the broadening of the world in the second episode. There was also a sequence in the teaser that was quite good for setting tone. Lopez has a vision for what she wants to do with the narrative and I’m excited to go on this journey.
Pilot Grade: B-
Second Episode: B-