Wednesday, July 25, 2018

GRADING THE MID-SEASON PILOTS 2018-19


I finally got through the eleven mid-season drama pilots and I also discovered another mid-season comedy (FAM) which I’ll say made me yearn for 9JKL and leave it at that. There were no disasters here and there were a few that I may well return to for another look. None of them jump out as unique or trend-setting. You’ve seen all this before, trust me.

A few observations:

The CW (which I admit is my favorite broadcast network) did a solid with their two reboots in CHARMED and ROSEWELL, NEW MEXICO but I was disappointed with IN THE DARK. I actually saved that one for last since I was hoping it would be another offbeat CW show but it was not. Didn’t care for the lead and there was virtually zero humor here…that’s essential.

One of the more interesting pilots was RED LINE  on CBS. The good news is that it’s not another CBS procedural and it has the potential of being a quality series ala’ THE GOOD WIFE. What might hold it back it that it’s one of those “thing on a thing on a thing” shows. Don Ohlmeyer used to describe shows like this as adding too many degrees of difficulty. I’ll check out another episode to see where this one is going.

I have read the first two books in THE PASSAGE trilogy and when FOX picked it up a few years ago I told a friend of mine over there that I felt this would be a tough one to translate into a series because so much of it is internal and the books jump around in time. I won’t go into detail but the series reimagines the central character in a way that makes little sense. I like vampire and zombie shows so I may check out another episode but I don’t think this one’s gonna cut it.

My favorite mid-season drama was far and away WHISKEY CAVALIER. Fun and action. I just hope that they can come close to the pilot on a weekly basis.

So here are the grades:

CHARMED (CW) B+
WHISKEY CAVALIER (ABC) B+
THE FIX (ABC) B
RED LINE (CBS) B-
ROSEWELL, NEW MEXICO (CW) B-
THE PASSAGE (FOX) C+
PROVEN INNOCENT (FOX) C
IN THE DARK (CW) C
THE VILLAGE (NBC) C
THE ENEMY WITHIN (NBC) C-
GRAND HOTEL (ABC) C-
FAM (CBS) D+

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