Winter TV Roundup, Week 12

We've reached the final week of March, and Spring has officially sprung. In fact, it's supposed to be 70 degrees here tomorrow. But having lived outside of California for seven years now, I know that you can't count your chickens before Mother's Day. I'm sure there's another snow storm or two lingering out there somewhere. In the meantime, we've hit that time of year when the Networks launch some short run series to see if they gain traction. Sometimes it hits, sometimes it doesn't. After all, "Grey's Anatomy" launched on March 27, 2005, and now is in its 15th season and is the longest running medical show in history. Will any of these March/April debuts hit? Let's find out. In these weekly posts I review the pilot and second episode of new scripted shows this winter. 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: This series, co-created by Marcia Clark, plays out a bit like a fantasy what if. A female district attorney who handled, and lost, a double homicide case involving a famous African American actor gets another bite at the apple eight years later when the same actor's new girlfriend turns up beaten to death. You can see the appeal of this for Clark, and for ABC since productions about the OJ Simpson trial have done well in recent years. Clark certainly has gotten a degree of sympathy from re-visiting the facts of the original case and its aftermath, but that goodwill might be squandered with this series that feels a bit shallow. The second episode tried to throw in a red herring and play it out, but it was so stilted I can't imagine how this case plays out over eight more episodes. And, if the show plays out as expected it will be a disappointment, yet nearly any potential twist would be a disappointment, too. Robin Tunney is a fine actress, but her character is fairly thin here. Yet, her character is about the only one that has any sort of attempt at depth. The rest feel more like caricatures at this point. And the story isn't that compelling, either. This feels like something of a flop, and one that I don't expect to see around next season.
Pilot Grade: C-
Second Episode: C-

Tuesday Nights:
The Village, Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on NBC (Premiered March 19)
About: NBC struck gold a few years ago with "This Is Us," a family drama that's become their signature scripted series and drawn in a lot of viewers over the past three seasons. It makes sense that NBC seeks to capitalize on that by finding the next "This Is Us." With "The Village," an ensemble emotional drama centered on a group of folks living their lives and depending on each other while sharing an apartment building in New York, they're hoping to find it. And both the premier and this second episode are seated behind the final episodes of this season of "This Is Us" to help the cross-over audience find it before the show settles into the "This Is Us" time slot and has to fly on its own. The pilot introduced the patchwork cast of characters, and a litany of cliches. There's the pregnant teen who is the daughter of a woman that was an unwed teenage mother. The mother with immigration issues. The kid caring for his grandfather, a veteran who still has something to contribute. The Iraq war vet who was injured and carries emotional scares as deep as the physical ones. And the strong woman who cares for everyone else while hiding a cancer diagnosis. There was a lot happening, and the emotional manipulation in the storytelling was fairly obvious. AND YET, there was something about the pilot that I found at least partially engaging and endearing. I famously wasn't taken with "This Is Us," as I didn't enjoy most of the characters, nor did I care for the plot twist. The plot twist here is a bit more subtle (though not that unexpected), and I could more easily see getting into the characters in this one. I wasn't sold, but the pilot was engaging enough that I wondered how it would follow up.
Pilot Grade: C+

Wednesday Nights:
Pretty Little Liars: Perfectionists, Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on Freeform (Premiered March 20)
About: This latest drama from Freeform is a spin-off of one of the networks' successful series, "Pretty Little Liars." This one also comes from the novel by Sara Shephard, and features two of the original series stars, Sasha Pieterse and Janell Parrish, in their original characters as Alison and Mona, respectively. This time their staff at a boarding school, and as before there's a lot going on with the students. The pilot lays out some of the characters and the world, and predictably ends with the murder that will set events in motion. The cast includes prime time soap opera vets like Kelly Rutherford, and should do well with the target audience. I wasn't a "Pretty Little Liars" fan and didn't follow the show, but I got the idea. I thought the pilot was a little plodding and slow, but I realize I'm not the target audience here. Freeform has done well adding spin-offs of popular titles like "Blackish" and "The Fosters" in the past few years, and should do well with this, too.
Pilot Grade: C

Streaming Series:
The Act, Now Streaming on Hulu (Premiered March 20)
About: True crime stories, particularly anthologies, have been all the rage the past few years. Hulu finally tries to jump in with "The Act," whose first season tackles the case of Dee Dee and Gypsy Rose Blanchard. The first two episodes of the eight-episode season dropped on Wednesday, with subsequent episodes dropping each Wednesday for the next six weeks. The first season focuses on this infamous true life case, which has been the subject of a couple documentaries. Patricia Arquette takes the role of mother Dee Dee and Joey King takes the role of her daughter Gypsy Rose. While the story takes place over years to chronicle the unhealthy and abusive relationship, it also jumps to the end so you know exactly where it's all going. (Though you can also easily look up the true life details, and most probably will.) Both women are strong in their roles, particularly King who has to go through a lot to bring Gypsy Rose to life. The supporting cast is good, too, and includes veteran performers like Chloë Sevigny and AnnaSophia Robb. I thought the first two episodes flowed forward just fine, but I wasn't taken with the story, at least not enough to continue. The performances are strong, but the story is a bit slow and creepy, and I wasn't taken with the characters enough to continue on this journey. It will be interesting to see if this works for Hulu, and if it leads to a second season.
Pilot Grade: C
Second Episode: C-