Winter TV Roundup, Week 5

 


We’re through January, with the final week of the year’s first month providing a couple interesting new releases. But are they worth checking out? Let this weekly post be your guide as I review the pilot and second episode of new scripted series this Winter. Don’t see a new show listed below? Check previous weeks.

Tuesdays:
Paradise, Streaming Tuesdays on Hulu (Premiered January 27)
About: This new series comes from the creator of This Is Us and stars Sterling K. Brown. So, you might be thinking this will be another saccharin drama. You’d be wrong. This is a different kind of story, despite the reunion. Here, Brown plays a widower who is raising two kids and serving as the primary Secret Service protector to the President of the United States (James Marsden). When an incident happens, it pushes him into investigation mode while he thinks back on their past together. There are a lot of twists in this story, so I won’t say any more about the plot. Suffice to say the pilot sets up a lot of these stories. The first three episodes are available, with the first airing on ABC and dropping a day early just to get people hooked. I enjoyed the pilot and was intrigued by the twist. The second episode felt like something of a drop off, but the third episode might have been the best of the group. Either way, there is enough of a hook here that I want to see where this show goes. The first season is eight episodes, ranging from 50-55 minutes, with episodes dropping weekly on Tuesdays. Brown is great here, and the rest of the cast including Marsden, Julianne Nicholson, Krys Marshall, and Sarah Shahi, are good as well. I like the potential here, though doubtless the twist will turn some off. It worked for me.
Pilot Grade: B-
Second Episode: C

Wednesdays:
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Streaming Wednesdays on Disney+ (Premiered January 29)
About: We’ve seen plenty of takes on Spider-Man over the years, and now we get a new animated series that’s on Disney+ but not connected to any of the existing versions or the larger Marvel world. This follows a young Peter Parker (Hudson Thames) as he becomes Spider-Man and begins his work as a hero in New York. The series has a 10-episode first season being released in four weekly batches—two this week, three the next two weeks, and two the final week. The voice cast includes Eugene Byrd and Coleman Domingo, among others. The first two episodes, each about a half an hour, moved at a good pace and ended with an interesting cliff-hanger in episode two. I didn’t think it was incredible, but it’s engaging and will likely appeal to Comic Book fans.
Pilot Grade: C+
Second Episode: C+


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