THE MICK:  Tuesday 8:30PM on FOX – Change the Channel FOX has ushered in network TV 2017 with a show that feels less than fresh:  THE MICK, a sitcom that’s basically a not-quite-cable retread of Uncle Buck. The irresponsible relative is an aunt this time, and Mackenzie (Kaitlin Olson) is meant to be edgier, […]

  BEYOND:  Monday 9PM on Freeform (Preview Tonight at 9PM), also available on VOD/streaming – Change the Channel Add BEYOND to the growing pile of genre shows that have failed at Freeform since Pretty Little Liars became the network’s signature series, joining Guilty, Twisted and Dead of Summer.  (Shadowhunters returns on Monday but with new […]

  NASHVILLE:  Thursday 9PM on CMT (returns January 5) It’s not clear how much of a signpost tonight’s “sneak peek” hour of NASHVILLE Season 5 will turn out to be.  It was the initial hour to air on new post-ABC home CMT (it will re-air as part of the official 2-hour season premiere next month), […]

  INCORPORATED:  Wednesday 10PM on Syfy – Change the Channel INCORPORATED is one of Syfy’s periodic big swings.  Although produced in Canada, it’s backed by the CBS and Syfy in-house studios, rather than a low-cost pick-up or license arrangement like the ones that finance Z Nation, Van Helsing and the like.  Enough money has been put behind […]

  THE AFFAIR:  Sunday 10PM on Showtime The second season of THE AFFAIR took some risks, and they largely paid off.  (Dramatically, if not in the ratings.)  The series widened its universe beyond the viewpoints of illicit lovers Noah Solloway (Dominic West) and Allison Lockhart (Ruth Wilson) to include their respective exes Helen (Maura Tierney) […]

  SHOOTER:  Tuesday 10PM on USA – Change the Channel USA Network has had a tough time populating its post-Mr. Robot schedule.  Sam Esmail’s series, while not a ratings blockbuster, has been a re-branding triumph, instantly changing the image of USA from the stodgy network of Monk and Royal Pains to something darker, younger, cooler, […]

  Cinemax’s QUARRY felt like a pulpier version of Rectify, and it came by that lineage naturally:  although based on a series of crime novels by Max Allan Collins, and with all 8 episodes often stunningly directed by Banshee‘s Greg Yaitanes, the series was created and run by Graham Cordy and Michael D. Fuller, who […]

  PURE GENIUS:  Thursday 10PM on CBS – Change the Channel One of the oddities of CBS’s medical drama PURE GENIUS is that its setting–a wildly overfunded institute that boasts the ultimate in cutting edge technology, regularly offers miracles to its patients, and is backed by an arrogant billionaire mastermind–would ordinarily be revealed as the […]