YOUNGER:  Tuesday 10PM on TV Land Although it’s a half-hour rather than an hour, TV Land’s new YOUNGER feels somewhat similar to VH1’s recent Hindsight.  Both are series versions of high concepts that might have been feature films starring, say, Sandra Bullock, a decade or so ago, and both revolve around women on the cusp […]

  LIFE IN PIECES:  Monday 8:30PM on CBS – Change the Channel Two seasons ago, CBS gave us The Millers, which against all odds managed to take the talents of Will Arnett, Beau Bridges, Margo Martindale, J.B. Smoove and Jayma Mays (and that’s not even counting guest stars) and emerge with a show that was […]

  ANGIE TRIBECA:  Monday 9PM on TBS (“binge-a-thon” airs through 7PM January 18) – If Nothing Else Is On… We’ve seen plenty of attempts by networks to “break through the clutter” for their new shows in this era of non-stop premieres, from re-running the pilot in several timeslots to simulcasting episodes on affiliated networks to […]

  ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO – Tuesday 9PM on CW CW has gone back to its WB/UPN roots for ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO, a reboot and update of the Roswell series that debuted on the first of those networks in 1999, then moved to the other.  Once again, it’s a story of romance between an Earth woman […]

> 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 TV pilot reviews, but rather as a guide to the general style and content […]

> THE LA COMPLEX:  Tuesdays 9PM on CW – If Nothing Else Is On… By CW standards, THE LA COMPLEX is close to gritty realism, which is to say it’s a shade less glossy than 90210 and Gossip Girl.  Set in a downscale version of the kind of apartment building/motel familiar to anyone who watched […]

  MAJOR CRIMES:  Monday 9PM on TNT – If Nothing Else Is On…   As soon as plans for the Closer spin-off MAJOR CRIMES were announced, the central question was always how a series could work whose main protagonist was going to be Internal Affairs Capt. Sharon Raydor (Mary McDonnell), the least likable, most humorless […]

  BROOKLYN NINE-NINE:  Tuesday 8:30PM on FOX – Potential DVR Alert BROOKLYN NINE-NINE is the kind of sitcom that can go very right or extremely wrong:  an ensemble about kooky homicide detectives, anchored by former SNL-er Andy Samberg.  Happily, series creators Michael Schur and Dan Goor, both veterans of Parks & Recreation (Schur is its co-creator as […]