Fall TV Roundup — Week Four

Fall TV is in full swing, so it's time to analyze all the new shows. In these weekly posts I review the pilot and second episode of new series. If you don't see a new show below, please check previous weeks.

Monday Nights:
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Mondays at 8 p.m. on the CW (Premiered October 12)
About: This series was originally pitched for Showtime, who rejected it. It was then picked up by the CW and is the lone new series to debut on the network this fall. That's a lot of pressure, and the potential for an odd fit. Rachel Bloom is a relative unknown, but talented. And the show's format is odd. It's an hour long comedy musical. Yes, musical. The pilot featured a couple lavish musical numbers which were great. It remains to be seen how often musical numbers are featured going forward, but that added a lot to the humor in the series. But I like the cast, I liked the story, and I liked the way it was put together. This was one of the better pilots I've seen, and the best new comedy of the season.
Pilot Grade: B+

Fargo, Mondays at 10 p.m. on FX (Premiered October 12)
About: As with all anthology shows, each season is like a new show with a new cast (sometimes) and story. That's the case with "Fargo," which explores the Sioux Falls Incident in 1979 for this year's mystery. The pilot, which introduced the players and set the scene, was near perfect. This season features a great cast — including Ted Danson, Patrick Wilson, Jean Smart, Jesse Plemmons, and Kirsten Dunst. The action in the pilot got things going in a hurry while setting the scene for what looks like an action-packed season. Showrunner/writer Noah Hawley has a feel for this kind of storytelling, and he maps it out perfectly again with this pilot for season two. The first season was one of the best shows of 2014, and this season looks like it will match that feeling.
Pilot Grade: A-

Tuesday Nights:
Grandfathered, Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on FOX (Premiered September 29)
About: This new sitcom features John Stamos as an aging playboy who finds out he has a grown, adult son and a granddaughter, changing his life. There are some talented people in the cast, and the premise has some promise. But the final production just doesn't live up to that. It's been an awful fall for FOX, and "Grandfathered" is one of the reasons why. It's a boring half hour that's a waste of the talent in the cast. I'm not sure what they're going for, but it's not working.
Pilot Grade: C-
Second Episode: C-

The Grinder, Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. on FOX (Premiered September 29)
About: "The Grinder" is the better of the two new FOX comedies, and is possibly their best new show of the fall. That's not high praise. I've tried all five of their new fall series and didn't like any of them. This show — starring Rob Lowe and Fred Savage — has a good cast and potential in its premise. There were moments I enjoyed in the pilot. But the second episode was boring and repetitive. This feels like the kind of concept that would work great for a 90-minute movie, but it will be a stretch for a weekly series. At least at this point. This is the better of the two comedies, but it's not compelling.
Pilot Grade: C
Second Episode: C-

Wednesday Nights:
American Horror Story: Hotel, Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on FX (Premiered October 7)
About: This is the fifth iteration of "American Horror Story," and the first without Jessica Lange. Instead, Lady Gaga is in a kind of lead role. Watching the pilot, that seemed fitting. "Hotel" is the creepiest, strangest, and grossest of the "AHS" volumes I've seen so far. The pilot had a lot of sado-sexual violence, and that was disturbing. It would be fair to say I was greatly put off by the pilot of "Hotel," and think this could be a volume that goes to too dark of places. There were sequences in the first episode that made me wonder how it was able to be shown on basic cable. The past two volumes started in an interesting place and, to me, faded. This one has started in a very disturbing place, and I shudder to think where it might be going.
Pilot Grade: D

Code Black, Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on CBS (Premiered September 30
About: This new medical series — about a busy ER in Los Angeles — is one of the better pilots I've seen this fall. It's the best of the new shows I've seen on CBS. But no one is watching it. It could be the time slot or people are burned out on medical shows. Whatever the reason, I've enjoyed the first two episodes but am starting to think it's not long for the airwaves of CBS, which is still the ratings king among the traditional four networks. I like Marcia Gay Harden and Luis Guzman, and I thought both episodes had good moments and good production. This is a medical series more in the vein of "ER," and not a prime time soap opera like "Grey's Anatomy." Hopefully this series can find an audience.
Pilot Grade: B-
Second Episode: C

Thursday Nights:
Benders, Thursdays at 10 p.m. on IFC (Premiered October 1)
About: This is a show about a hockey team and the wild characters that make it up. It's neither interesting or funny, and that's a problem. Through two episodes, I'm not sure what kind of show this wants to be, but I'm sure I don't care about any of the characters. This is a complete miss to me.
Pilot Grade: D-
Second Episode: D-

Gigi Does It, Thursdays at 10:30 p.m. on IFC (Premiered October 1)
About: This series features David Krumholtz in drag as an older grandmother. That's the humor in the set up. Krumholtz plays an aging, Jewish widow who speaks her mind no matter what. Then she freaks out normal people in different situations. Hilarity ensues, or does it? I didn't care for either of the two episodes I saw. I'm sure it works for someone, but it didn't work for me. It's mildly better than "Benders," but that's not saying much.
Pilot Grade: D
Second Episode: D-

Friday Nights:
Dr. Ken, Fridays at 8:30 p.m. on ABC (Premiered October 2)
About: Ken Jeong is a funny guy, and he was a medical doctor before becoming an actor. That should help his sitcom. It does a bit. I liked the second episode a bit more than the pilot, but this is far from being a great comedy. There's some potential here because of the cast, but I need to see more development. Fortunately it doesn't have much competition in its time slot. Unfortunately, it's a Friday night show and that's a tough sell. Still, in a fall that's been a wasteland for TV comedies, I thought this show had some potential.
Pilot Grade: D
Second Episode: C

Saturday Nights:
The Last Kingdom, Saturdays at 10 p.m. on BBC America (Premiered October 10)
About: This might be BBC America's answer to "Game of Thrones" or "Vikings." It's about a time when English Lords had to contend with Vikings for control of the British Isles. The pilot introduced the world and the central characters. It was adapted from novels by Bernard Cornwell, so those who've read the books will probably more easily get into the series. Still, I thought it got better as it went along and I'm curious to see where this show is going.
Pilot Grade: C

Streaming Series:
Casual, Wednesdays on Hulu (Premiered October 7)
About: This comedy from writer/director Jason Reitman stars Michaela Watkins is about a brother and sister sharing a house while the sister (Watkins) guides her teenage daughter and tries to recover from the recent implosion of her marriage. The pilot was dry and slow, to me, and I'm still not sure where this series is going. I have some faith in the production team and in the cast, but it needs to get better for me to hang with it.
Pilot Grade: C

Red Oaks, Now Streaming on Amazon (Premiered October 9)
About: This is the latest comedy from Amazon. It's pilot was part of the pilot presentation in September 2014, and I didn't care for it then. Now the whole first season (10 episodes) are available on Amazon. I watched the second episode of this series — set in the 1980s and following a group of employees at a swanky country club — and I still didn't care for it. The humor doesn't work for me, and I couldn't invest in any of the characters or the set up. This wants to be like "Adventureland," but it's not nearly that clever.
Pilot Grade: C-
Second Episode: D