CBS:
Tracker: Lone-wolf survivalist Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley of Smallville & This is Us) roams the country as a reward seeker, using his expert tracking skills he learned from his dad to help private citizens and law enforcement solve all manner of mysteries while contending with his own fractured family. It is based off the novel “Never Game” by Jeffrey Deaver.
Verdict: Renewed. It
might be his charming or charismatic demeanor but Hartley is always putting on
a great act in every role as a co-lead or this time lead. It is nice the show
starts right off with him saving someone and we are shown that he is in the
midst of this profession not wasting time with the start of how he got into it.
He isn’t playing a private investigator or is a former special ops/military he
is just your average guy who has a certain set of skills he is putting to good
use. Like a lot of shows he has to have
a team to help him with things he cannot do or have time to do. He has a tech
guy but no word on how he got into helping him, they just show him with fake
legs. The only issue is they kind of forced in a woke-thing where his handlers,
the people who get him the jobs and help him with research, are a lesbian
couple. Nothing wrong with it, just an odd set up like do they not have a job
or why did they get into this job with him answers hopefully coming this season
but the good thing is sometimes he stumbles upon his own cases. They have done
a good job of melding flashbacks when necessary so far about his upbringing and
only showed his mom quickly as he is passing by. It will be interesting to see
how far he goes for the reward money for helping putting his life in danger to
do it. There is also a good amount of ideas of things or people he can track
for the reward money so it should last for a while and it is different from the
other shows on TV. Most shows take place in a specific city here he roams town
to town mostly in the Pacific Northwest. With Blue Bloods, Swat, Young Sheldon
and Bob Hearts Abishola ending there is definitely room in the schedule for
this quality show going forward. He does not charge any fees or asks for any
money for expenses. The contract is only good if he is successful in tracking
said person or item in order to get paid and CBS has a good one here.
Elsbeth: The series focuses on the offbeat Elsbeth Tascioni(played by Carrie Preston of True
Blood & The Good Wife), an unconventional but
astute attorney who, after a successful career
in Chicago, utilizes her singular point of
view to make unique observations, and corner criminals
alongside the NYPD. She is assigned to
oversee a monitorship or consent decree after some
controversial arrests. The show is usually a
"howcatchem" TV mystery show as opposed to the
traditional "whodunit", showing the
audience from the start who the killer is, how and why they
commit the crime and how they are caught. It is a
spinoff of the series “The Good Wife”.
Verdict: Cancelled.
Normally spinoffs are not something I review personally but this character is
a reoccurring in both shows that came before this
but they are not going to adhere strictly to
the Good' shared universe making it its own show.
Her character comes off super annoying,
cringe, and sometimes ditzy/dumb but just super quirky. When the main character
is
hard to get yourself behind then the rest of the
show is as well. It is nice Wendell Pierce (of the
Wire & Third Watch) who is a wonderful
character actor gets to be in another show which he is
always great in law enforcement or courtroom
dramas but he isn’t in every scene to carry the
show. Also the guest stars have been great but
again guest stars do not carry a flawed show. The show seems like it needs to add wasted scenes or fluff
to make a full hour of television. It
seems boring and dragged on most of the episodes
so far. Plus they think they are different
because she’s a lawyer overseeing cops/cases as a
unique partnership with law enforcement. It
has been done many times with different civilians
like magicians, actors, profilers, writers, the
devil himself, a car and criminals and have done
much better than this attempt. The structure as
mentioned in the description is also not the
easiest to follow or enjoy. As most people prefer
trying to figure out who did it then how they did
it because you find out both when they catch the
person responsible most times. CBS had to push
some shows to the Fall due the strike but did
also cancel some shows which is why they renewed
this show after four episodes to get ahead of the upfronts. It is a mistake to renew so early and
not see where the show goes as season one ends but they want “new and original” concepts going
forward which this is not.
NBC:
Extended Family: Jim
and his ex-wife, Julia, describe the day they got divorced as the happiest
day of their lives, as they are still close friends and committed co-parents to
their two children.
Then, Julia's job as a public relations expert introduces her to Trey, who not
only becomes her
fiancé but also happens to be the wealthy owner of Jim's favorite basketball
team, The Boston
Celtics. As their unconventional family continues to evolve, Jim, Julia and
Trey learn to
navigate life, love, parenting and every awkward situation in between.
Verdict: Cancelled. It is very stale when it comes to humor and dialogue. The laugh track never helps
when it forces you to laugh because they think certain lines are funny. Humor
is subjective, not forced. The main place in the sitcom is the three bedroom
apartment in Boston which I am no expert on but seems unrealistic. They also seem to keep breaking the fourth wall with narration or
talking to the
audience like a confessional about things. It does not help the show or make
comedic sense in
each episode. Yes you need to recap for people how you get to be divorced but
the way they went about it looks dumb. It is nice Jon Cryer (of Two &
Half Men; Supergirl) gets a second comedic vehicle to star in but he isn’t
good enough for a leading role nor does Donald Fasion (of Scrubs; The
Exes) as well. They are best at supporting or ensemble roles while
Abigail Spencer (of Timeless; Grey’s Anatomy) does not seem skilled enough
to do comedy as most of her credits are dramas. The grandfather sometimes
delivers the funniest lines but with his heavy accent he doesn’t sound or
look like he could be Cryer’s dad in the show and just shows up randomly
like he lives too close by unless he lives with his son. They also have this
weird family constitution they keep having to worry about which seems dumb as
well. Lastly this show sounds so much like ABC’s Splitting up
Together (which starred Jenna Fischer and Oliver Hudson) where parents get
divorced and want things to be the same for their kids so they take turns
living in the home and taking care of the kids while the other lives elsewhere
that week. So this has been done poorly for two seasons. The only positive is
they have a theme song that rocks out which has been a dying art in television.
Hopefully NBC cancels now that both strikes are over and they are making new
things.
