Fall TV Roundup, Week 13

We're past Thanksgiving and into December. The networks are giving over to re-runs and holiday specials, but the streaming sites are still getting their last few hits out to close 2019. And I'm here to be your guide. In these weekly posts I review the pilot and second episode of new scripted series this Fall. Don't see a new show listed below? Check previous weeks.

Streaming Series:
Merry Happy Whatever, Now Streaming on Netflix (Premiered November 28)
About: Once you hit Thanksgiving, it's all about Christmas. And Netflix has already been pouring through original Christmas films, but now they're adding a series. "Merry Happy Whatever" is about a couple (Bridgit Mendler and Brent Morin) head from Los Angeles, where they live and are coupled up, for a visit with her family in Philadelphia over the holidays. For Matt (Morin), it's a chance to try and take things to the next level and propose marriage. But that won't come easy with her father, a policeman named Don Quinn (Dennis Quaid), who has a unique and serious way of doing things. This eight-episode series takes place in that 10-day visit in the run up to the holiday. And that's the set up for all the dramatic tension and the comedy in the series. I like Quaid quite a bit, and I think this has a decent cast, but this would be a thin premise for holiday movie, let alone an eight-episode season. Even at only a half hour or so per episode, that's a big commitment and things move a little slowly. This reminded me a lot of some of the sitcoms that have landed with a thud this Fall on the network, so despite the holiday trapings, this just didn't hook me.
Pilot Grade: C-
Second Episode: C-