Summer TV Roundup, Week 18


Labor Day is the unofficial end to summer, and is the end of course this weekend is the end of our new summer TV content. While the new Fall Season on network is a few weeks away, fret not friends, there is new original Fall content beginning as early as tomorrow... But for now, we look at the last of the new shows for summer. In these weekly posts I look at the Pilot and Second Episode of new original scripted (and sometimes unscripted) shows this Summer. Don't see a new show listed below? Check previous weeks.

Streaming Series:
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, Now Streaming on Netflix (Premiered August 30)
About: For Labor Day weekend Netflix and Amazon offered original series, hoping to grab the streaming crowd for the long weekend. For Netflix, that came in the form of puppets with a spectacular voice case. Jim Henson released "The Dark Crystal" as a film in 1982 and it has had a cult following ever since. Now, more than 30 years later, this prequel series has arrived. If you were a fan of the style and content of the original, you don't need to be sold on this series. That's not really me, so I came into this a little skeptical. And while I think they do a good job and the voice cast, which includes Taron Egerton, Alicia Vikander, Lena Headey and Mark Hamil, among others, is quite good. But you have to enjoy this style and content, and that's where this didn't really grab me. I have had a soft spot for the Muppets all my life, and in my youth I enjoyed Fraggle Rock, but the Dark Crystal was never one of my faves. The first two episodes here were fine, but I just didn't get sucked in. Doubtless, this will have its fans.
Pilot Grade: C
Second Episode: C

Carnival Row, Now Streaming on Amazon Prime (Premiered August 30)
About: The other new weekend streaming entry is a murder mystery set in an alternate Victorian-Era style world where humans and fairies co-exist. It stars Orlando Bloom and Kara Delevingne, and it has its moments where the style is quite striking. But the story is weird, and at times hard to follow. The characters are a bit strange, too, and through two episodes I wasn't quite sure what all was going on. It's an eight-episode season, with all episodes between 45 minutes and a hour. There's some potential here, but I wasn't taken with the series.It's trying hard to be edgy, but that doesn't quite play as well as the writers hope. Amazon has taken big swings of late with its original content, but this is a swing that doesn't pay off.
Pilot Grade: D
Second Episode: D

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