Winter TV Roundup, Week 2

Winter is here, and so, too, are new shows. Hurray! In these weekly posts I look at the new shows of this winter. I review pilots and second episodes of new shows this winter. If you don't see a new show listed below, please check previous posts.

Monday Nights:
Eye Candy, Mondays at 10 p.m. on MTV (Premiered January 12)
About: This show is based on an R.L. Stine novel of the same name. Stine is known as the "Stephen King" of children's literature, and is famous for "Goosebumps," among other works. I have never read the source material, but given what I knew of Stine's work and the fact this show is on MTV, I expected something more mild. I don't mean that as a criticism. This show centers on a young woman, Lindy (Victoria Justice), who has had a rough life. Her sister was kidnapped right in front of her and, three years later when the show picks up, she's still trying to find her sister and help others find their missing loved ones. She's a great computer hacker, which gets her in hot water with the authorities, but she lives a quiet life. When her friends put her on a dating Website, things get dicey. She becomes the focal point of an equally talented computer hacker, one who also happens to be a murderer. This leads to a few bodies dropping in the pilot, and some steely resolve from Lindy in wanting to bring the killers to justice. This feels like a different kind of show for MTV — which also veered into more traditional drama over the summer with "Finding Carter." This show had tension in the pilot and a dark edge, something that many other shows have tried to capture. This isn't cable dark — like "True Detective" — but it feels like a better job of nailing the tone that network shows — like "Stalker" and "The Following" — try to nail. The pilot was well paced and engrossing, much more than I expected. Justice did a good job in the lead role and I could see this being a fun mystery. A lot of it depends on how the rest of the season shapes up, but I'm intrigued.
Pilot Grade: B-

Tuesday Nights:
Marvel's Agent Carter, Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on ABC (Premiered January 6)
About: "Agent Carter" is the latest to roll of the Marvel assembly line, and it will take the place of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D" this winter. It is an eight-episode limited series, but I wouldn't be surprised to see this get another run (again possibly spelling "S.H.I.E.L.D.) next winter. The series picks up shortly after the events of the original "Captain America" movie and focuses on Carter (Haley Atwell), a key figure in that film, as she works in the early days of S.H.I.E.L.D. when it was called S.S.R. It looks like this initial run will be about Carter proving her mettle and proving the innocence of Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper). The premier featured the first two episodes, giving a flavor for the series and the tone. Atwell does a great job in the lead role, and the period element adds some fun. The pilot episode was a little too stiff and too reliant on "Captain America" flashbacks, but the second episode picked up the pace and had more interesting story and action. Atwell also has good back-and-forth with James D'Arcy, who plays Stark's butler Jarvis. I think this will be a fun little run that will fill in more of the Marvel universe.
Pilot Grade: C
Second Episode: C+

Wednesday Nights:
Empire, Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on FOX (Premiered January 7)
About: This is possibly the most ambitious new show on TV. It's a one-hour soap opera that's also a musical that's also a family drama about people running a Hip-Hop record label. It's headlined by Terrence Howard, who plays the head of the company Lucious Lyon, and Taraji P. Henson, who plays his ex-wife Cookie. The pilot set up the conflicts — Cookie went to jail to protect the family while Lucious built his empire. Now that Cookie is free, she wants her rightful place in the empire. They are also fighting for control of their three sons, and Lucious is dealing with a health diagnosis that means he needs to find an heir to the throne, and quick. The show also has original music from Timbaland. I was excited about the idea, but in practice I didn't care for the pilot. It was a lot of flash, but not a lot of interesting substance. There was a lot of drama, a lot of quirky lines, and a lot of music that wanted to be great but just wasn't. This has been the breakout of the TV season, drawing a ridiculously high rating for its opening episode, but I wonder how many will come back for episode two. I like Howard and Henson, and I think there's potential in this premise, but I wasn't sold on the characters and world established in the pilot.
Pilot Grade: C

Hindsight, Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on VH1 (Premiered January 7)
About: In this somewhat Golden age of television, everyone is getting into original programming. Last week VH1, which was once known as a music channel, jumped into the fray with "Hindsight," an original dramedy about a woman who, on the eve of her second marriage, is taken back in time twenty years to 1995 to the day of her first wedding. She gets a chance to enjoy that time period all over again and, with the advantage of knowing how it all played out the first time, making different choices. In the pilot, she mulls going through with her first marriage but, ultimately, decides to flee the church as the ceremony begins. That change in history marks the end of the pilot, and the beginning of a whole new adventure. Laura Ramsey takes the lead role here, and does a nice job in the pilot of establishing the conflict and the tone. The pilot was a little too in love with capturing the quirks of 1995, from the fashion to the music. But the premise remains interesting — with the advantage of hindsight, could you make different choices and improve your life. There was enough to like in the pilot to be curious how this series develops.
Pilot Grade: C+

Thursday Nights:
Babylon, Thursdays at 10 p.m. on Sundance (Premiered January 8)
About: This is a co-production with the BBC, and centers on the London police department. The commissioner, Richard Martin (James Nesbitt), is having a rough go of it. To improve the perception of him and his department he hires an American, Liz Garvey (Brit Marling), to serve as his director of communication. Mishaps and hilarity ensue. This limited series comes from Danny Boyle, the director behind "Trainspotting" and "Slumdog Millionaire." It has a kinetic look and style, which ramps up the action on the screen and feels like it ramps up the pace. The show itself is a hybrid — part drama and part comedy. But it doesn't really nail either tone. Nesbitt and Marling are good actors, which helps make the pilot somewhat interesting. But it's a little hard to get into this series and to figure out what the production team is trying to accomplish. For that reason, the jury is still out. Still, the pilot had its moments and it's possible to see this developing into something interesting.
Pilot Grade: C+

Sunday Nights:
Togetherness, Sundays at 9:30 p.m. on HBO (Premiered January 11)
About: This is the latest comedy from HBO. Like most of the rest of its comedies, it's not your typical sitcom, and it's infused with plenty of drama. This comes from brothers Mark and Jay Duplass, and stars Mark in the lead role as one half of a married couple (the other half is Melanie Lynskey) trying to raise kids and live their lives in Southern California. Complicating things is Lynskey's sister, Tina (Amanda Peet), who is a hot mess and Mark's friend, Alex (Steve Zissis), a struggling actor who was just evicted from his home. With Tina and Alex crashing, focal couple Brett and Michelle have an even bigger task ahead in living their day-to-day lives. There is plenty of fodder here from all the characters, and the pilot felt grounded in real issues handled in a real, somewhat comedic, way. The actors in the principle roles do a nice job and the pilot sets up well. I could see this developing into a modest hit for HBO.
Pilot Grade: B-