Broadcast Fall 2018 TV Review:

Broadcast Fall 2018 TV Review:

CBS:

The Neighborhood: If you had a show about a black family moving into an all white neighborhood in the past it would be more of a drama of how racist they would be to the new family. But this is 2018 sitcom about an all black neighborhood in LA that has a new white family move in and it’s about them being neighbors when Cedric the Entertainer and his family gets new neighbors who happen to be white. His new neighbor’s antics start to drive him nuts and their difference in culture and race lead to them butting heads with each other. The banter between them and them trying to understand each other’s cultures/races is funny when you do find out the differences because they look at each other weirdly. Also how he handles his oldest son who still lives at home and other son who spends most of his time home despite having his own place. While Max Greenfield plays the white, odd, annoying neighbor who is a younger man who has only been a father for a shorter time with his young son.  Their differences in parenting is funny because one is older than other by a lot so their parenting styles are also different. They only moved in because his wife got a new job and it is close to the school for his son but they don’t show him at his job while Cedric is auto mechanic and wants to be left alone. Both the wives get along with each other it’s the relationship between the dads that is an issue since one wants to be friends and other is annoyed by him. Cedric’s sons find it entertaining to not play on words that he can’t get along with his white odd neighbor and purposely try to get them to hang out with each other and let him get on their dad’s nerves. The banter and humor along with good lead actors I feel like that show should be a long running sitcom. 

Verdict: Renewed. 

Happy Together: Damon Wayans Jr stars in a sitcom about a married couple who are stuck in a rut of a routine of staying in and watching TV instead of going out and partying. He plays an accountant whose client is a huge Australian pop star like a Justin Bieber needs a place to lay low from the paparazzi after a break up. While he stays with the boring old couple despite them barely being older than them he tries to get them to relive their lost youth and fun. They soon realize it’s a great fit for them to be more youthful and fun with him while he can live like a regular person instead of a big pop star doing rich people things. It is nice Amber West has a new show after Ghosted got cancelled. While I wonder if the pop star helps pays the bills or buy the groceries as well? It is also nice to see Victor Williams from King of Queens be the father to West but who is his mother since his dad is played Damon Wayans Sr? Plus Chris Parnell plays the boss and he is always funny so the cast is pretty good. The show has had some laughs in seeing the difference of how rich famous people live compared to regular people but it’s a little clunky hopefully over the course of the season they can find a good flow still not buying anything Harry Styles of 1 Direction does since he is producing the show. I don’t like the mother she is too annoying and weird though. The problem is some episodes are not about Cooper trying to live a simple life or him getting the couple to live a little they seem to be diverting away from intended plot. 

Verdict: Cancelled. Good to see a theme song but can’t they just use the original song Happy Together by the Turtles? 

FBI: From Dick Wolf who made Law & Order comes a show about the FBI branch in NYC as it centers around their first class agents Maggie Bell and Omar Zidan who bring all of their talents, intellect and technical expertise to tenaciously investigate cases of tremendous magnitude, including terrorism, organized crime and counterintelligence, to keep New York and the country safe. It has good action scenes, good crime solving scenes but in episode 1 compared to episode 2/3 they have a different boss maybe they were figuring things out after the pilot. They also have a boss that runs the main room of the analysts who are always on their computers so maybe he is 2^nd in command. They also have like an expert on tech and many other things they go to which is like many shows about government agencies having that expert. They give you some good background info on the male lead working either for the FBI/other agencies infiltrating Muslim terrorist cells since he is of Muslim faith and could blend in so he is valuable when it comes to how terrorists think. The female lead all we know is she is a widow and came back to work too quickly the hope is  they dive deeper in her person life and maybe show flashbacks of the male lead in those cells. It has my attention because crime procedurals are great no matter if its cops, detectives, FBI agents and other agencies. 

Verdict: Renewed. Due to Dick Wolf making CBS money all these years with his show Law & Order and their spinoffs like six they would be nuts to say nope on this one. 

God Friended me: The show is centered on Miles an atheist with a podcast he is trying to get on the air/site of a big time radio/podcasting company around. The issues he has in life is that he is tired of his dead end customer service phone rep job at a credit card company and his troubled relationship with his dad who is a reverend who doesn’t like him being an atheist. He has a supporting sister who just wants her family to get along since things haven’t been the same since their mother died. As his life is turning around by getting a company who is interested in his podcast this FB account claiming to be G-d friends him and messes up his life almost ruining his new job. Unwittingly, he becomes an agent of change in the lives and destinies of others around him when the account keeps suggesting him people to help. The first person he helps is Cara a journalist who is also struggling with her job and life. They become an unlikely duo of trying to solve who this person is claiming to be who he says he is and find out how all these friend suggestions make up the story in why this is happening to him. He doesn’t believe in random instances as he is trying to figure out a rational reason as to why him and why they keep bugging him about it and uses his tech friend to help track the account but it’s not as easy as you think. In the end it will change his life and others for the better good. This show grabs by you by the emotional strings like “This is us” and keeps you wanting to watch it because it’s very uplifting and positive. CBS has had a social media show last season in Wisdom of the Crowd where it was helping other people like this show is about helping others out that you don’t know. They also had a show called “Living Biblically” about how to be religious during current times like this show does as well but both were cancelled. It is in interesting study of how millennial and people view religion as well in these times. It shows you can make a difference in the world and sometimes you may need a nudge in the right direction to do it. It also is about building relationships & rebuilding relationships that you didn’t think could happen. It is also about trying to realize where you belong or fit in the world when you’re unsure of what road or path to take. It has already gotten me emotionally hooked that I need to see how far this can go if they figure out who is behind the account or will they push that aside to see how many seasons they can get out of it. The lead actor does such a good job in getting us behind him on this quest and that you want him to succeed in the quest or the podcast career. I don’t like the heavenly lit scenes when he is shown talking to people hope they fix it. I do like the casting of Violet Beane from her work as Jesse Quick in the Flash and veteran actor Joe Morton being the dad. 

Verdict: Renewed but weary of past shows with similar plots on this station or other stations like with Kevin probably saves the world being cancelled. I’m emotionally invested and hope CBS sees this potential in a very good uplifting show that maybe can help us in the real world if we learn from this show’s lesson they are teaching. 

NBC:

I Feel Bad: A comedy that Amy Poehler is an executive producer comes another interracial Indian couple (two Jewish actors but one Jewish character but three total) who knows she’s not a perfect mom and always has a situation where she “feels bad”.  She tries to raise her kids while being in charge at a video game company and take care of her needy husband’s needs who is played by Paul Adelstein of Prison Break. She will pretend they are not her kids when they misbehave in public or the husband is being too whiney she will dream about cheating on him. She has to also overcome being a woman in charge of young millennial in a mostly male job in video games/uses them to help solve her personal problems. No one can be a perfect working mother/wife but all she wants to do is not turn into her overbearing mother it will be fine. Her mother like many Indian mothers wanted her to marry a nice Indian man and be a stay at home mother and parent like her. The funniest actor in the show is her father Brian George (Raj’s father in TBBT, Bashir’s father in DS9 and Seinfeld) has funny lines and does funny things like always. Never seen the lead actress besides seeing her in Blocker a movie so it’s really the 1^st time gauging her as an actress but she doesn’t seem like a lead role. It’s nice to see Johnny Pemberton be one of those video games nerds that work for the lead after his show Son of Zorn got cancelled. 

Verdict: Cancelled. It’s not very funny even though it is relatable to mothers out there who work and be a parent/wife but it just doesn’t work that well. It is not as good as American Housewife or other mother sitcoms on TV currently. NBC put Poehler’s making it reality show with Nick Offerman so they love her so it will probably get a few seasons but that a slim chance. 

New Amsterdam: Dr. Max Goodwin is all about everyone else but his own well being when he takes over as the new medical director at America’s oldest hospital. He took that job to be closer to his wife who has been estranged with because of his work and has a baby coming and he wants to fix bureaucracy that hospitals place over patients. The other doctors aren’t buying it because they have been promised this before. He takes no for an answer from his boss by disrupting the status quo and proves he will stop at nothing to breathe new life into this understaffed, underfunded and underappreciated hospital. His goal is to put this hospital on the map because of their services for the patients not about billing. It is based on the book Twelve Patients: Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital by Eric Manheimer. Ryan Eggold does a great job on convincing you he can make all these changes despite his boss/the naysayers that he can do it on all on his own. Despite having cancer he doesn’t care, his speed is only fast passed and getting involved on every task that needs to be done. This show is very uplifting and gets you emotionally attached each episode if they can save people and his story of trying to fix a corrupt system. 

Verdict: Renewed. We need more uplifting shows on the air especially with how the world is going right now and that people want to change the world. 

Manifest: When Montego Air Flight 828 landed safely after a turbulent but routine flight, the crew and passengers were relieved. But in the span of those few hours, the world had aged five years and after mourning their loss, their friends, families and colleagues had given up hope and moved on. Now, faced with the impossible, they're all given a second chance. As they reintegrate themselves into present-day society, the passengers begin to face the fact that their lives and loved ones are not the same as they were before, while they also begin to experience guiding voices and hallucinations But as their new realities become clear, a deeper mystery unfolds, and some of the returned passengers soon realize they may be meant for something greater than they ever thought possible. The show centers are a detective Michaela Stone, her brother Ben and her nephew they start to investigate what really happened despite the NSA telling them to not talk about it or look into it. It also connects them with everyone that was on their flight and start working together to solve this mystery like the medical researcher who is the person helping treat the nephew’s leukemia as well as looking into what happened. It reminds me of the short lived show The Crossing on ABC about people mysterious coming from the future into the past like this group mysteriously disappearing for five years. But it was a very confusing show on picking which genre it was but the best part was the investigation by the sheriff. The hope is the detective is the main focus and they investigate it because it’s been to soap opera about every passenger reentry back into their lives. This show better pick which genre it is being a drama, a sci-fi show or an investigative show because it’s also all over the place. 

Verdict: Cancelled. Due to similar shows like it not getting long runs it will probably be cancelled but I will continue to watch this show because I want to see how far they can go into seeing who was behind it because so far there are no real answers. I want to see it get solved even if it’s only a three season show. 

ABC:

Single Parents: An ensemble diverse cast about parents but not married parents, single parents who look out for each other since being a parent is harder on your own. They lean on each other to help raise their 7-year-old kids and maintain some kind of personal lives outside of parenthood. The show begins with Taran Killam a single parent in his 30’s moves to their town and is so focused on raising his daughter that he's lost sight of who he is as a man, they see just how far down the rabbit hole of PTA, parenting and princesses he has gone. The collective of single parents decide to band together to get him out in the dating world and make him realize that being a great parent doesn't mean sacrificing everything about his own identity. Leighton Meester(of Gossip Girl and Making History) plays the de facto leader trying to rein in all the personalities and issues of the crew like Poppy a wine restaurant owner with a flamboyant kid, Miggy a single dad with a baby that he has no idea how to take care of/be a parent and veteran comedic actor Brad Garret(of Everybody loves Raymond) who is older than the rest while being widowed not their spouse leaving them as a single father with identical twin daughters who often puts them to work. Despite two big time male actors being involved they do a good job at making every main character be important as a whole than two leads and supporting actors. Garret kind of stays in the back and doesn’t speak much but when he does its really funny lines and Killam might be playing a weirdo it’s more about him trying to fit in into the group as he is not a part of it till episode 2. It seems like it’s more about Meester and her friend Poppy then the three guys. If you’re looking for laughs because your struggling with parenting/single parenting this show might help ease your stress since you can relate to these situations. 

Verdict: Renewed. ABC has continued to make some good original sitcoms and hope it sticks around for awhile. If the show is more about the parents then the kids like most sitcoms it will keep getting my attention/others.

The Kids are Alright: Another sitcom that takes place in the past this takes place in the 1970s about an Irish Catholic family the Clearys who have 8 boys all with different personalities. The show seems to revolve around the Timmy one of the middle children who likes the arts. It shows the big and small changes during a challenging decade for a working class family in an LA suburb that have their children most of the time not supervised who live in three rooms. The show starts with the oldest son who comes home from Seminary and wants to drop out causing problems in the household.  Mary McCormack from West Wing, Murder One and In Plain Sight is the matriarch of this family and the father is played by Michael Cudlitz from The Walking Dead, Southland and Band of Brothers works for NASA. 

Verdict: Renewed. There are not many time place family sitcoms on the air besides the Goldbergs and this is very funny. ABC has already wrongfully cancelled enough sitcoms they shouldn’t anger more fans. 

A Million Little Things: Friendship isn’t a big thing but a million little things. Four friends you think met in college actually met when being stuck in an elevator and bonded on being Bruins fans. Some have achieved success, others are struggling in their careers and relationships, but all of them feel stuck in life. The most outgoing/happy friend played by Ron Livingston out of the blue commits suicide and it changes the friends and families’ lives immediately that it’s just the wake-up call the others need to finally start living. Along the way, they discover that friends may be the one thing that can save them from themselves. One of the surviving friends himself has been dealing with depression and was almost about to suffer the same fate but got the call his friend died which stopped him from going through it. He is a director who is stuck making commercials instead of movies but it pays the bills. The other friend is actuary and the single friend who is of the group who has never found the woman of his dreams/or really like his job but is also worrying about if he is going to die anytime soon since he is a breast cancer survivor. Yes a guy who is in remission of breast cancer and he feels like at any moment his life could end if it comes back and stays in a rut. But he finally meets a girl worth dating but she also has her own problems as he met her in the support group for breast cancer survivors. The final friend to round out the group gets the lead billing in the show as the former front man of a band that was going places till he had to be a father. His current issues have been marital and job profession of just teaching music and struggling with his life as well that leads to him sleeping with a student’s mother. He is just stuck in a rut with is marriage and hasn’t the courage to get a divorce because of his kid. It also revolves around Livingston’s widow and his family along with the other two wives. ABC is trying to make a show like NBC’s This is us but this show is different it’s more a of awareness to suicide prevention. Of trying to find the telling signs if there any signs because sometimes even the happiest people can be depressed.  They want to tug on your emotional heart strings like that NBC show but this show seems that it can be more uplifting and place to watch to see others who struggle with loss if you lost someone even if it wasn’t to suicide. It is an ensemble cast as well but with less famous actors but you need to keep watching to see how they all get along in life/if they change life. To see what changes they make, who is the woman the main character is in love with, if their cancer survivor friend can find love and if the other friend can find happiness in his profession. Plus see what the assistant of Livingston’s is hiding from the family and friends since she was present when he committed suicide because she is hiding something you can tell. Plus why he committed suicide that is the major mystery we want to see get solved. 

Verdict: Renewed. ABC needs a new drama that will last long that isn’t Grey’s Anatomy that competes with NBC's This Is Us.

The Rookie: Nathan Fillon stars a middle aged small town oldest rookie cop ever who has a different prospective of the world seeing the world as there is good in everyone. He becomes a cop after a life altering moment in his life but he is met with criticism from his superior officer who thinks it’s just a midlife crisis and will get his other cops killed because he isn’t really invested or willing to take the risk. If he can use his life experience, determination and sense of humor to give him an edge, he may just become successful in this new chapter of his life. He is hoping he can prove to his superior officer who isn’t a big fan of him his background can actually help him become a great cop. But ultimately he is trying to prove it to himself that he can stick to one thing in his life finally and prove he actually be a cop. This isn’t a melodrama but isn’t a comedy either its light hearted cop show that makes you want to root for him. It also has great supporting actors in the show as well in Richard T Jones who has been in many cop shows including last year on Wisdom of the Crowd, Eric Winter of Rosewood when he was a pathologist and Afton Williams who was in Blindspot, Shades of blue and other cop shows. You want to see if he learns from Williams on how to be a cop but also use his life experiences to stick around since 1 out of 3 rookie cops wash out. We also want to see if he will ever prove Jones wrong that he isn’t doing it just because he is lost and if he can continue to date his fellow rookie or not. Also we should get interested in Winter’s back-story and current life issues because it might explain why he does what he does to Fillon’s love interest since he is training her. Plus why the captain took the midlife crisis guy in her prescient when no one else did, does she something in him? 

Verdict: Renewed. It might be a little cheesy the premise but due to Fillon’s strong acting chops as a charismatic lead and the good supporting actors plus the uplifting message and path Fillon is on you need to stick with it a few seasons. 

CW:

All American: When a coach from Beverly Hills High Billy Baker comes to recruit a WR Spencer James from South Crenshaw High School it raises questions as to why he is trying to get this kid out of all kids out of the bad neighborhood and about what the consequences are for the coach’s home life that come from it. He has his own son who is the QB of the team, a daughter out of rehab but is focusing all of his attention on his kid and has him living at his home so he is in the district. It has a Friday Night Lights feel of a high school football team but is focused on James in particular not the team except how his teammates handle a teammate coming for their position on the team and maybe their girlfriend. James struggles as all kids did do in a new school by trying to balance his studies, his football duties of playing defense and WR, and being the man of his house since his dad left his family years and has to take care of his younger brother/mother due to the gangs in their area. It has much drama in this show so it not just a football show it’s a high school drama that has to do about a kid with a football dream. It is inspired by the life of pro football player Spencer Paysinger and stars Taye Diggs as the coach. The hope is they answer the questions of why he recruited him besides his football talent, who is this father who went to coach and never came back, Digg’s past life and current life of his kids and their issues. 

Verdict: Renewed.  CW doesn’t cancel many shows and this has the ability to last a long time like Friday Night Lights due to the lead actor, the based on a true story part and good potential story lines of people’s past and if the show goes long enough to see him get recruited by colleges. 

FOX:

Rel: Loosely based on his own life story about his wife cheating on him, divorcing him and taking the kids and moving away as he struggles to parent long distance and be in the single world. The kicker is she cheated on him with his barber and finding a good barber is very important to him and many others in the west side of Chicago. All he has left is his younger and stupider brother who recently got out of jail, his dad who is played by Sinbad and his female best friend who is little crazy but always there for him. The show is about him trying to long distance parent his kids and jumps head first into the dating pool in hilarious attempts to find true love again. Its relatable for anyone who has had bad relationships, bad dates and for me because he is a short glasses wearing man that is trying hard to find women who will overlook his height and glasses. His relationship with family after a depressing thing happened to him plus his own physical humor, bad luck situations which is relatable and his good improv skills playing other characters in the show equaling a heartwarming comedy about starting over again that make you laugh out loud too many times to count. I think Fox should give this comedy a few years and put it with live action shows not with the animated shows. 

Verdict: Renewed. 

The Cool Kids: A group of old people who live in a retirement home believe that just because they are old doesn’t mean they have to stop living so they continue to have fun. There is a group of four men who are friends in a nursing home but one of them dies and are trying to figure out who will replace their friend but before they do a woman sits in his seat. They slowly learn to adopt to her to be a part of their crew and they go out on adventures but as old people who say just because I am old doesn’t mean I’m going to give up on living life how I want. One of the creators, producers and writers in actor Charlie Day who is known for his great comedy writing on “It’s Always Sunny in Philadphia” a part of a three man writing crew. Actors from that show along with actors who are old now also appear on it. David Alan Grier leads the crew who is very opinionated and stuck in his ways, Martin Mull playing the crazy friend who does and says crazy things while saying crazy stories from his past and their gay friend in the group played by Leslie Jordan who is always saying he doesn’t want to be a part of the schemes but still does them and their new friend the woman in the group is played by Vicki Lawrence is also trying to have fun despite her age but butts heads with Grier’s character. It has some crude humor which is expected by the people who write it but has great comedic writing with insults and great retorts back to the other characters. It has a great cast to help the writing get delivered correctly and we all want to see how much trouble these old actors can get into as the season goes on and with them introducing more actors who are old to appear later on in the season. We have Jamie Farr from M*A*S*H* and Max Gail of Barney Miller appearing as well. 

Verdict: Renewed. With only two other half hour sitcoms on Fox they don’t have much for comedy so they need a successful comedy.