Read All Our Fall Pilot Reports here and Midseason Pilot Reports here. SUPER FUN NIGHT:  Wednesday 9:30PM on ABC starting October 2 – If Nothing Else Is On… Anyone who’s seen Rebel Wilson confidently walk away with chunks of Pitch Perfect, Bachelorette or Bridesmaids knows that she’s a breakout comic talent, and possibly even […]

  RISE:  Tuesday 9PM on NBC – In the Queue RISE creator Jason Katims practically demands that viewers compare his new series with his classic Friday Night Lights.  The song that accompanies the opening scene sounds like it came off the Lights soundtrack, director Mike Cahill (an indie filmmaker whose best-known works are Another Earth […]

  PITCH:  Thursday 9PM on FOX – Potential DVR Alert Dan Fogelman is a busy man.  He’s not only the creator of This Is Us, which debuted strongly two nights ago, he’s also co-creator (with Rick Singer) of the buzzy PITCH.  And gues what, this pilot has a twist in its final moments too. The Pitch twist is the […]

  AMERICAN CRIME:  Thursday 10PM on ABC – Potential DVR Alert Recently, the broadcast networks have started kicking the tires of what we think of as “cable” oriented programming, by which we mean serialized, darker, more emotionally ambiguous and less genre-bound stories that require serious attention from viewers.  This kind of programming is against broadcast TV’s […]

  ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND:  Thursday 8PM on ABC – Worth A Look ABC ordered ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND to series on the basis of a 20-minute presentation, which was then expanded to one-hour (with commercials) length for tonight’s series premiere.  That may explain why the initial section of the premiere, […]

  RECTIFY:  Monday 10PM on Sundance Channel (2-hour premiere at 9PM on April 22) Taking a leaf from the Hollywood studio playbook, Sundance Channel is promoting its new series RECTIFY as being “from the producers of Breaking Bad,” and it’s even airing reruns of the AMC series alongside Rectify episodes to reinforce the connection.  While […]

  COMMON LAW:  Fridays 10PM on USA – Change the Channel CBS may own the world of serious procedurals, but USA Network has the patent on the jocular ones.  Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Suits, In Plain Sight, Fairly Legal…  the list goes on and on.  In every show, there’s a quirky protagonist (“Characters Welcome”) who […]

> Disclaimer:  Network pilots now in circulation are not necessarily in the form that will air in the Fall.  Pilots are often reedited and rescored, and in some cases even recast or reshot.  So these critiques shouldn’t be taken as full reviews, but rather as a guide to the general style and content of the […]