My friends and family think it's cool that I get to see all the network pilots a few months before they air. And it actually is pretty cool - although it's not always fun to have to watch 30 new shows over a few days time.
I've now seen all the new series pilots - the good, the bad, and the ugly. I've broken them into several self-explanatory categories. No need to talk about all of them, but here are the best, worst, most surprising, most disappointing, and most interesting of the group.
Best New Comedies - New Girl (FOX), Last Man Standing (ABC), Up All Night (NBC), 2 Broke Girls (CBS).
New Girl gets the plum spot on FOX's schedule, between Glee and Raising Hope. The audience to both of those shows should like this one.
Last Man Standing brings Tim ALlen back to his Home Improvement time slot on ABC. He hasn't lost a step.
Up All Night stars Christina Applegate, Maya Rudolph, and Will Arnett. They gel well.
2 Broke Girls had a very funny pilot, but I'm not sure it can be maintained on a weekly basis.
One caveat - New Girl, Up All Night, and 2 Broke Girls were funny largely because of specific events that happened in their pilots. By episode 2 or 3 they could be substantially different shows. Need to see a couple more episodes.
Worst New Comedies - Free Agents (NBC), I Hate My Teenage Daughter (FOX), Whitney (NBC).
Free Agents is the worst comedy pilot I've ever seen. It was one long crude joke, and completely inappropriate for 8:30pm. The stars have no chemistry, the writing was bad, and I'm really surprised NBC would put this on its schedule.
I Hate My Teenage Daughter made me not only hate the daughters, but the parents as well. If it remains on too long, I may start hating Wednesdays.
Whitney has an appealing lead (Whitney Cummings), but the writing in the pilot was just plain bad - not a promising sign going forward.
Best New Dramas - Terra Nova (FOX), Pan Am (ABC).
Terra Nova's pilot is excellent. The main question is, does it have the makings of a great miniseries, or a great weekly series. They need to make sure the special effects enhance the stories, not the other way around. Has a good cast.
Pan Am has a real good ensemble cast, and it seems to have numerous potential storylines on tap.
I also liked Prime Suspect (NBC), Once Upon a Time (ABC), Person of Interest (CBS), and Hart of Dixie(CW).
Most Disappointing Drama Pilots - Charlie's Angels (ABC), The Playboy Club (NBC).
The Angels in Charlie's Angels have no charisma, I didn't like the new Bosley, and the whole pilot seemed kind of cheesy.
The Playboy Club was nice to look at, but surprisingly no fun to watch. Makes you realize how hard it is to do a stylized 1960s period piece like Mad Men (although Pan Am seemed to get it right).
My colleague, Shari Anne Brill and I are currently working on our Primetime Fall Preview, which will have a more in-depth new season analysis, as well as comprehensive analyses of the video broadcast and cable landscape. It will be roughly 200 pages, and will be available from Baseline in a few weeks.
I like the video. I just took my acrylics off after wear wernaig them for about 13 yrs. I'm just tired of that whole process and I'm a Hairstylist so I was going to the nail salon sometimes every week. My question is, I'm getting married in 3 mos and i would really like to have my nails at a nice length do you think thats possible by then?
Posted by: JackStore | 08/04/2012 at 12:56 AM