ROSEANNE: Tuesday 8PM on ABC – In the Queue Television continues its remembrance of things past with ABC’s reboot of ROSEANNE, which last aired a new episode in 1997. Like NBC’s Will & Grace, this Roseanne is a skillful resuscitation that features the original cast (although in this case, not the original writing staff), […]
PROVEN INNOCENT: Friday 9PM on FOX PROVEN INNOCENT is even worse than you might expect from a broadcast drama that premieres on a Friday in February. The creator is David Elliot, whose previous scripts have mostly been action movies (GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra, the Mark Wahlberg vehicle Four Brothers), and the writing […]
WELCOME TO SWEDEN: Thursday 9PM on NBC – Potential DVR Alert WELCOME TO SWEDEN has one of the more unusual provenances of any show on a US broadcast network. It was commissioned by Swedish television, where it aired last spring–and which explains its heavy use of subtitled Swedish dialogue. Although it includes some familiar […]
BLACK-ISH: Wednesday 9:30PM on ABC – Worth A Look PLAYERS: Star and Executive Producer Anthony Anderson, and recurring guest star/EP Laurence Fishburne. (And Executive Producer Larry Wilmore, although he’s leaving the show to take over the Stephen Colbert slot on Comedy Central.) Series creator Kenya Barris. Pilot director James Griffiths. A supporting cast headed […]
EMPIRE: Wednesday 9PM on FOX – Potential DVR Alert The producer/writer/director Lee Daniels creates films that are compellingly moving (Precious), insane (The Paperboy) or both (The Butler), so it’s a wonder that it’s taken him this long to come to television. Working alongside his Butler screenwriter Danny Strong, he’s now given us EMPIRE, an […]
HUNTERS: Monday 10PM on Syfy – If Nothing Else Is On… HUNTERS has production values that suggest it’s intended as one of Syfy’s more A-level entries (it’s shot in Australia rather than Canada), but mostly its premiere hits B-movie beats. Created by veteran TV writer/producer Natalie Chaidez, whose credits include everything from Heroes and […]
CHARMED: Sunday 9PM on CW CW’s reboot of CHARMED wants to be a lighthearted supernatural romp, but it also seeks to push as many topical buttons as it possibly can. So while the basic story of a trio of young women witches provides a built-in tale of female empowerment, the new pilot also comes […]
Read All Our Fall Pilot Reports here. MOM: Monday 9:30PM on CBS starting Sept. 23 – Worth A Look The Chuck Lorre sitcom machine is a major reason that CBS is the most successful of the Big Four networks. The Big Bang Theory is the biggest scripted hit on broadcast television, and while 2 […]