> See A Word About Busted Pilots It’s entirely possible that BAD MOM wouldn’t have worked as a network TV series.  It represented an unusual attempt for a broadcast network (ABC) to step into the “edgy” sitcom territory that’s been the property of cable networks like HBO, Showtime and FX, and the pilot was clearly […]

  GOOD GIRLS:  Monday 10PM on NBC – Potential DVR Alert GOOD GIRLS is one of the more promising pilots of the broadcast season–even if it’s itching not to be a broadcast series.  Jenna Bans’ script is a #MeToo slant on Breaking Bad and Fun With Dick and Jane, and as that list may suggest, […]

> THE FIRM:  Thursdays 10PM on NBC – Change the Channel THE FIRM isn’t NBC’s #1 priority for midseason–that would clearly be Smash.  (In other news, there’s no truth to the rumor that NBC has decided to change its corporate name to “Smash–The Monday After the Super Bowl”.)  But The Firm is the inheritor of […]

  Read All Our Fall Pilot Reports here. REIGN:  Thursday 9PM on CW – Potential DVR Alert The CW is often–and rightly–considered a network of very limited ambitions, with just two modes of operation:  rom-com soap and supernatural soap.  But its new REIGN, while well fortified with suds, is as big a swing for the […]

  DICE:  Sunday 9:30PM on Showtime – Change the Channel The journey of Andrew Dice Clay from an explosively successful poster child (and, many would say, cynical exploiter) of comedy political incorrectness to a long sentence in the showbiz wilderness and then a new career as an increasingly respected character actor, with solid recent performances […]

  THE WHISPERS:  Monday 10PM on ABC – If Nothing Else Is On… What would the horror genre do without its creepy children?  Whether possessed by some sinister entity, born to be supernatural embodiments of evil or simply homicidal, the mix of presumed innocence with wicked actions has always been a fundamental thriller trope, no […]

> This year’s WONDER WOMAN pilot did not fly under the radar.  Produced by Warner Bros Television for NBC, it was the subject of speculation before it was even placed with a network, scrutiny while it was being produced, and analysis after it had been rejected.  With the exception of Terra Nova and Smash, it […]

  SINGLE PARENTS:  Wednesday 9:30PM on ABC ABC’s post-Modern Family Wednesday sitcom SINGLE PARENTS was created by Elizabeth Meriwether and JJ Philbin, respectively the creator and a senior writer/producer of New Girl (the pilot is credited to Philbin from a story by both of them), and it’s an attempt to extend that show’s brand of […]