Yea or nay: Snap judgments for fall TV ABC
We offer a first take on networks’ new offerings
Another fall, another crop of lawyers, doctors and sitcom families fighting for your attention.
The broadcast networks unveiled their new fall shows this week at their annual presentations to advertisers in New York, and now trailers for many of fall’s new series are available for us to peruse, and of course, judge.
In fairness, we can’t really evaluate a TV series based on a quick trailer, but we can tell a few things: Does the cast have instant chemistry? Is the concept novel or tired? Are there any funny jokes in the comedies? Is the trailer going to make anyone tune in?
And so we present some quick, honest and sometimes brutal assessments of the fall shows based on early peeks at new fall series.
A Million Little Things
This This Is Us copycat follows a group in their 30s reeling from the suicide of a friend. The trailer is all tragedy and drama with absolutely no levity, despite trying for a semi-inspirational tone. I’m wary of the darkness, and of using a comedic actor like James Roday ( Psych) in something so dour.
The Rookie
Never count out the allure of Nathan Fillion, master of charm. Like this season’s hit The Good Doctor, The Rookie feels like a standard procedural with just enough of a hook to make things more interesting. Fillion stars as a middle-age divorcee who, after surviving a bank robbery, decides to join the LAPD as its oldest new cop. He retains some of
that Castle snark but is self-effacing and humble enough to not make fun of the job he has decided to pursue. It just might work.
Single Parents
Of all the sitcom trailers for this fall, I enjoyed this one the most. From New Girl producers J.J. Philbin and Liz Meriwether, the comedy follows a group of, well, single parents leaning on one another for support. Taran Killam is the new guy in town, the way-too-involved parent whom other singles need to help chill out. It’s a deep ensemble, including Leighton Meester ( Gossip Girl) and Brad Garrett ( Everybody Loves Raymond) and, at least in the trailer, the jokes are there.
God Friended Me
Please, someone — anyone — change the title of this new dramedy, a Touched
By An Angel and Joan of Arcadia- style series about a man who has lost faith only to be seemingly friended by God on Facebook. God then suggests other people for him to friend, and his interactions with them help him do good. The hokey title and concept initially turned me off, but the trailer plants the seeds of something interesting, especially with Brandon Micheal Hall (star of last season’s tragically canceled The Mayor) at the helm.
Happy Together
Damon Wayans Jr. ( Happy Endings) and Amber Stevens West ( The Carmichael Show) anchor this sitcom about a boring suburban couple who are given a jolt of carefree youth when a famous pop singer crashes on their couch. Based on this trailer the comedy looks fun and sweet, and Wayans and West are sitcom alums who know how to sell their jokes.
Magnum P.I.
No comma, no mustache, no problem. The reboot of the Tom Selleck classic has made a few changes to the original formula, but the action, the cars and the ridiculous tone are still there. Diehard fans might be turned off by the trailer, but I’m interested enough by star Jay Hernandez’s charisma.
CW All American
Building off the success of Riverdale, CW grabs another high school soap that examines race and class in All American. Based on the life of pro football player Spencer Paysinger, the drama follows a black teenager (Daniel Ezra) who’s recruited by a coach (Taye Diggs) to leave a South L.A. high school and play at Beverly Hills High, causing culture clash. The promising trailer shows an appealing lead in Ezra and maybe even some Friday Night Lights vibes.
Charmed
I’m a longtime fan of the original power of three, so it’s tough to accept three new women replacing the Halliwell sisters in the reboot of the late 90s/ early 2000s supernatural series. The trailer hits the important notes from the original — sisterhood, the three basic witch powers, a spooky mansion and a demon — but I’m not sold yet. It’s heartening to me that a big selling point in the trailer is producer Jennie Snyder Urman, who created Jane the Virgin and will likely bring some interesting sensibilities to the new Charmed. But it so far seems like a reboot we don’t need.
Fox Rel
Get Out breakout Lil Rel Howery gets his own sitcom, and in the trailer he’s just as delightful on the small screen. Howery plays Rel, a recently divorced man struggling to carve out his new identity in Chicago’s South Side. Not exactly a groundbreaking concept, but Howery is such an appealing guy, and the setting is different enough, that the trailer seems fresh.
NBC I Feel Bad
Produced by Amy Poehler and inspired by Orli Auslander’s book I Feel Bad: All Day. Every Day. About Everything, the family sitcom gives a mom (Sarayu Blue) the predominant point of view as she struggles with her kids, her husband, her own parents and her job. The trailer doesn’t have many actual laughs (a gag in which her father accidentally slaps her butt falls decidedly flat), but it’s an interesting spin on the family sitcom formula.