It’s MASKY time. I’m going to
do it a bit differently and not bother with the snarky pithy categories. People
work too hard on these pilots (even the bad ones) for me to mock. Also, there
were fewer fall shows and I could not get my hands on either of the new Marvel
series (FOX and ABC). I’ll predict both open and then fall below a 1 rating in
18-49’s within five weeks so we’ll move on from that.
I’m only going to talk about
the Fall shows and will do a separate column on mid-season. I have watched a
few of them and it doesn’t look like it gets any better.
A few observations.
Where the country is today
vs. where it was when these pilot scripts were picked up are two different
worlds. There is a very militaristic, vigilante theme here. I wonder, given the
current state of events, if those types of shows will find an audience. I found
it hard to separate among them. Two of them actually involve the rescue of an
attractive blond woman from “them”.
WISDOM OF THE CROWD continues
last years failed theme of how a rich person can come in and do things better
than the current institutions (struck out on CBS and FOX last year) and THE
MAYOR is the tale of someone doing something for publicity and winds up winning
an election (hmmm).
The networks all did shows
that feel appropriate to their sensibilities, for better or worse. I may have
mentioned this during my Upfronts columns but FOX is bizarre in that they have
a comedy about aliens, a drama about mutants and a sci-fi one hour comedy
featuring even more aliens. That’s a pretty pretty narrow choice of projects to
put on in the fall. ABC seemed to be the most adventurous of the networks while
the CW continues to be the network with the series I’m most likely to check out
again. I wish there was more humor in the dramas and a bit more heart in the
comedies.
Anyway, thanx to those who
were kind enough to offer me the shows knowing that I can’t be bought. Here are
my letter grades for the new fall series sort of ranked within each letter.
Sort of.
B
DYNASTY
YOUNG SHELDON
VALOR
THE BRAVE
SEAL TEAM
THE GOOD DOCTOR
SWAT
C
THE MAYOR
THE GOSPEL OF KEVIN
TEN DAYS IN THE VALLEY
WISDOM OF THE CROWD
ME, MYSELF AND I
GHOSTED
D
THE ORVILLE
F
9JKL
Last year the MASKY for Best
Fall Drama went to DESIGNATED SURVIVOR. Comedy is a lot harder and I gave the
MASKY to THE GREAT OUTDOORS. Mid-season MASKYS went to 24: LEGACY and THE MICK
so I got half of them right (renewed) which was not great, but full disclosure.
