THE GOODWIN GAMES:  Midseason TBD on FOX – Worth A Look Disclaimer: Network pilots now in circulation are not necessarily in the form that will air in the Fall. Pilots are often reedited and re-scored, and in some cases even recast or reshot. These critiques shouldn’t be taken as full pilot reviews, but […]

  Read All Our Fall Pilot Reports here. THE TOMORROW PEOPLE:  Wednesday 9PM on CW – If Nothing Else Is On… THE TOMORROW PEOPLE is CW sticking with the CW playbook.  The word “rip-off” may be a strong label for a show whose concept dates back to a British TV series that began in 1973, but […]

  SUPER FUN NIGHT:  Wednesday 9:30PM on ABC – Change the Channel ABC’s decision to bury the original pilot for its Rebel Wilson vehicle SUPER FUN NIGHT isn’t unheard-of, but it’s certainly no mark of confidence–the pilot, after all, is what convinced them to order the series in the first place.  (For the record, our […]

  DOMINION:  Thursday 9PM on Syfy – Change the Channel Was there really a pressing need to make a TV series out of the schlock horror movie Legion?  It’s not as though the film was much of a hit ($40M total box office in the US, $68M worldwide), nor is it well-remembered even 4 years […]

  MANHATTAN LOVE STORY:  Tuesday 8:30PM on ABC starting September 30 – Change the Channel PLAYERS:  Series creator Jeff Lowell, who’s been a writer/producer on sitcoms going back to Cybill two decades ago, but who’s creating a series himself for the first time.  Stars Jake McDorman and Analeigh Tipton.  Pilot director Michael Fresco.  Brillstein Entertainment […]

  THE LAST MAN ON EARTH:  Sunday 9:30PM on FOX – Potential DVR Alert THE LAST MAN ON EARTH is both excitingly original and disappointingly cliched, an odd mix that leaves its future prospects somewhat unsettled.  However it ends up, though, FOX and its creator/star Will Forte deserve credit for embarking on a show that’s […]

  THE CARMICHAEL SHOW:  Wednesday 9PM on NBC – If Nothing Else Is On… THE CARMICHAEL SHOW is the latest sitcom to be aired by NBC with a stealth run that suggests one of the network’s programming executives looked at another recently and asked “Do you even remember why we ordered this thing?” and got […]

  AMERICAN CRIME:  Wednesday 10PM on ABC AMERICAN CRIME‘s first season was, if not great network television, certainly ballsy.  John Ridley’s series took on race and class and religion to boot, and it was shot in a self-conscious “art film” way, with lengthy, intense close-ups, a measured pace, and a minimum of both music and […]