Read All Our Fall Pilot Reports here and Midseason Pilot Reports here. RAKE:  Thursday 9PM on FOX starting Midseason TBD – Worth A Look FOX’s high-profile midseason dramedy RAKE wastes no time in establishing its protagonist Keegan Deene’s (Greg Kinnear) lovable-heel bona fides.  In the opening minutes, we see Key (as he’s called) with […]

  CHICAGO FIRE:  Tuesday 10PM on NBC At a time when network programmers’ fingers are ever-jumpier on their cancellation buttons, NBC has done an unusually good job nurturing CHICAGO FIRE into a success.  The show, which mixes firefighting procedural plots with more serialized storylines, got a slow start, but it was noticeably boosted whenever it […]

  THE VAMPIRE DIARIES:  Thursday 8PM on CW Walter White, that student of change, would enjoy this fifth season of THE VAMPIRE DIARIES.  Behind the camera, showrunner Julie Plec is now splitting her time with the Diaries spin-off The Originals, and is also an Executive Producer of The Tomorrow People; Executive Producer Caroline Dries wrote […]

  THE CARRIE DIARIES:  Friday 8PM on CW When THE CARRIE DIARIES was almost unaccountably renewed by CW despite its awful ratings, even by that network’s standards (supposedly because of online and DVR strength as well as appeal to the young female demo–although the latter wouldn’t make the network’s move of the show to Fridays […]

  Today’s CW announcement that in March, THE TOMORROW PEOPLE will move to Monday nights, swapping the hit Arrow for the untested Star-Crossed as its lead in, probably starts the clock ticking on the show’s remaining time to prove itself.  The series has made a few steps to improve since its underwhelming pilot, but it’s […]

  SHAMELESS:  Sunday 9PM on Showtime The Gallagher family is undergoing transitions as Season 4 of Showtime’s SHAMELESS begins, and the tone is considerably less rambunctious than in previous seasons.  That’s not to say that bad behavior doesn’t still abound, but it’s a less brazen and unfettered, and comes labored with thoughts about consequences. As […]

  THE FOSTERS seemed sturdier in the first half of its season than in its second.  Series creators Brad Bredeweg and Peter Paige loaded up so strenuously on sudsy, often ham-handed melodrama that it’s threatened to extinguish the fine little character moments that originally distinguished the series.  Tonight’s season finale had more of the same–and […]

  SALEM:  Sunday 10PM on WGN America – If Nothing Else Is On… There’s more than vanity to the desire of just about every cable network to have at least one original scripted series (although that’s part of it).  There’s also a clear dollar and cents value to original scripted programming, which pays off in […]