Spring TV Roundup, Week One

In these weekly posts I look at the new shows this Spring, reviewing the pilot and second episodes. And this last week brought a lot of new shows.

Tuesday Nights:
Weird Loners, Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m. on FOX (Premiered March 31)
About: This is the latest sitcom from FOX, another quirky show about 30-somethings looking for love and connection. It's paired with "New Girl," and the tone of both shows would seem to to work well. That being said, the pilot is wildly uneven. There are some talented performers in this show — including Becki Newton and Zachary Knighton — but the pilot wasn't the greatest use of their talents or storytelling. Comedy pilots can be rough — you have to establish characters, build a world, and be funny in about 20 minutes. And the characters and set up for this show are slightly more complicated than most. That being said, I was all out on the pilot until the end, when they sat on a bench watching a wedding and re-enacting bad lip-reading theater. That sequence showed chemistry, comedy, and possibility that had been missing from the rest of the pilot. This wasn't a great first offering, but it feels like there's some potential here.
Pilot Grade: C-

Younger, Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on TV Land (Premiered March 31)
About: This is the latest series from Darren Star ("Sex in the City," "Beverly Hills 90210") about a 40-something woman, Sutton Foster, who poses as 26 to jump start her career after a divorce leaves her with nothing. This sounds like the set up to a romantic comedy, possibly starring Sandra Bullock, that does decent Box Office and you forget about it two days later. Instead, this is meant to be a weekly half-hour series. From that standpoint, it doesn't work. The first two episodes of the series aired on Tuesday night. There are some amusing moments, and Foster is likable enough — though I'm not sure I believe the ad campaigns touting her as a huge star. But not for a second did I believe she was 26, and that's a real problem. The schtick of this show fades by the end of the pilot, and I don't know how it gets carried on long-term. Perhaps this is the perfect kind of show for the audience that tunes in for "Hot in Cleveland," but there is a lot more fizzle than sizzle in this show.
Pilot Grade: C-
Second Episode: C-

Wednesday Nights:
Man Finds Food, Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on Travel Channel (Premiered April 1)
About: I can't be totally unbiased here because I love Adam Richman. I've loved all his shows — Man vs. Food, The Best Sandwich in America, and Food Fighters. With this new show, Richman travels to different cities and highlights hidden gems — both in terms of the restaurants themselves and hidden menu items you have to try. I love traveling food shows, and in fact it helps inform my vacation itinerary. The show is breezy, it flows well, and it's wildly entertaining. The food looks great, too, and I love the way that Richman takes the camera into the kitchen and shows how these dishes are made.
Pilot Grade: B+
Second Episode: B+

Thursday Nights:
Lip Sync Battle, Thursdays at 10 p.m. on Spike (Premiered April 2)
About: This is probably the most surprising new show to premier this week. It's a simple concept — two celebrities square off, each performing two lip sync numbers, vying for the championship belt. The first two episodes aired on Thursday night, with The Rock facing Jimmy Fallon in the pilot and Common battling John Legend in the second episode. The show will vary, slightly, based on how good the celebrity guests are and how much they got into it. I preferred the first episode slightly, but it was a really fun half hour. This is another show that's light, breezy, and flows really well. It's a simple concept but it's entertaining.
Pilot Grade: B+
Second Episode: B+

Olympus, Thursdays at 10 p.m. on SyFy (Premiered April 2)
About: Not sure what SyFy is going for with its original programming, but whatever it is "Olympus" feels like a swing and a miss. After the pilot episode, I have no idea what the show is about and, worse yet, I'm not even really interested enough to find out. There was no character development, no real explanation for the plot, and no sense of the purpose. I also wonder why it's on SyFy. There were a few glimpses of supernatural elements and mythology here, but not enough to give one a sense of the show's purpose or point. This feels like an epic failure.
Pilot Grade: F

Sunday Nights:
A.D. The Bible Continues, Sundays at 9 p.m. on NBC (Premiered April 5)
About: "The Bible" mini-series, which debuted on History in 2013, was a surprise hit. It drew plenty of viewers and prompted NBC to pick up a sequel of sorts — one focused on the Acts account of the early church. The producers have sought to create something faithful to Scripture in order to share their faith with the masses, and NBC is in desperate need of a hit. The pilot for this 12-hour limited/mini-series focused mainly on the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and the immediate aftermath before He rose from the dead. It covers ground covered in a more limited fashion in "The Bible." This follow up has more famous actors, a bigger budget, and better production values. But the pilot was still a little uneven and plodding. I'm curious to see what happens when they dive into the book of Acts, but the pilot was also underwhelming in terms of ratings. It remains to be seen if this draws the same kind of audience as the competition grows — with AMC airing "Mad Men" and HBO airing "Game of Thrones" in the same time slot.
Pilot Grade: C

Happyish, Sundays at 9:30 p.m. on Showtime (Premiered April 26)
About: "Happyish," the long gestating Showtime comedy that was originally developed as a starring vehicle for Phillip Seymour Hoffman doesn't officially premier for a couple weeks. But Showtime gave the pilot a preview behind the season finale of "Shameless" on Sunday night. Steve Coogan is in the lead role now, but the show has it's own off-beat sort of humor. It wasn't great, but it was oddly compelling at times. The show has a great cast, and there is potential in looking at a sour puss adult who is trying to re-make himself to succeed in his career. Coogan is a great talent, and he's got some good people to work with in this show, including Bradley Whitford and Kathryn Hahn. This also feels like a premise worth exploring — that real life for most people isn't the idyllic dream we have in our youth. The pilot was rough around the edges, but there is something here that could be worth exploring, especially with this cast.
Pilot Grade: C+

The Lizzie Borden Chronicles, Sundays at 10 p.m. on Lifetime (Premiered April 5)
About: This series is the follow up to the Lifetime original movie starring Christina Ricci as Lizzie Borden. The film followed her murdering her parents and getting off after the trial. This series picks up with a now free Lizzie trying to carve out a life for herself — often literally — while facing the scrutiny of the community and being somewhat of a social outcast. Though the historical accounts remain murky on whether she really killed her parents, the series suggests that was just the first in a series of killings. The show wants to be a historical, female "Dexter." But with the odd cuts and even odder soundtrack, the pilot was close to unwatchable. I can't imagine tuning in for this series each week.
Pilot Grade: F

American Odyssey, Sundays at 10 p.m. on NBC (Premiered April 5)
About: This is the second half of NBC's new Sunday night lineup. It got less acclaim, but it was the better hour of TV. This does feel like a lot of the network's shows the past few years — focused on a cabal of shadowy people and organizations and a government cover up — but there was something about the pilot that worked for me. It's yet another series that reinforces how distrustful we've become of our government and of the War on Terror, but it's also the story of a mother trying to get home to her kids and a man trying to follow his conscience despite personal cost. The pilot put a lot of balls in the air, so it remains to be seen how the show puts them back together and how it can sustain this plot for the long haul. Still, I'm intrigued to see where the show goes from here.
Pilot Grade: B-

Wolf Hall, Sundays at 10 p.m. on PBS (Premiered April 5)
About: This series, based on the novels from Hilary Mantel follows the rise of Thomas Cromwell during the reign of King Henry VIII. The six-episode series is based on the trio of novels and has a fascinating historical setting. The series is populated by fine actors, including Mark Rylance as Cromwell and Damien Lewis as Henry VIII. This is the kind of fascinating and in-depth historical drama that PBS can offer, and feels like it will be an interesting Spring adventure.
Pilot Grade: A-