The first day of network Upfront presentations features a doubleheader, with NBC followed by FOX.  That means another stack of trailers (unlike NBC, FOX also released the materials for its midseason shows), so let’s take a look.  Reminder:  it’s patently unfair to judge a TV series based on a 3-4 minute trailer, except that […]

  CBS–because it’s CBS–doesn’t release trailers for its new series, but instead provides 3-4 minute behind-the-scenes featurettes.  These are about as informative as the puff pieces you’d find as an “extra” on a Hollywood DVD, and they’re even less reliable as a predictor of series quality than a real trailer would be.  So take them […]

  Another sitcom for NBC’s new “we wouldn’t be edgy if you begged us” Thursday night comedy line-up, as Sean Hayes returns to what’s now “Might-Watch TV” with SEAN SAVES THE WORLD.  Well, let’s give Sean this much:  as gay family sitcoms go, it looks better than The New Normal.  And Hayes seems to have […]

  AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. is The Big One, not just for ABC but for any network this fall.  A spin-off of one of the most successful movies ever made (and part of a gigantically successful ongoing franchise), co-written and directed by the film’s director himself–who just happens to be a brilliant TV auteur in his […]

  Here’s another of CBS’s “behind-the-scenes” blurbs, this time about the thriller HOSTAGES, which will occupy the Monday 10PM slot during the fall (to be replaced by Intelligence) at midseason. All the piece does is establish the show’s premise, which is that Toni Collette plays a Washington surgeon scheduled to operate on the President, and […]

  NBC’s one slightly surprising choice for the fall schedule was DRACULA, not because it doesn’t fit with its Grimm lead-in, but just that its straight-to-series order had been somewhat under the radar in the bustle of pilot season.  NBC’s trailer provides our first glimpse. “Teaser” may be a better word for the piece, since […]

  THE GOLDBERGS, as it will be described in roughly 10 billion places between now and September, is The Wonder Years set in the 1980s, based on the childhood of series creator Adam F. Goldberg, with Jeff Garlin as gruff but loving dad, Wendi McLendon-Covey as mom, and George Segal as grandpa, who’s losing it […]

  No name has more cachet at CBS than Chuck Lorre’s.  He’s given the network The Big Bang Theory, 2 1/2 Men and Mike & Molly, and hopes are high that his MOM, taking over the Monday 9:30PM timeslot this fall, can join those at the top of the ratings heap.  The network’s behind-the-scenes featurette, […]