Let's start with The Good Place as it's the network show with the most episodes so far and, sight-unseen, what I was looking forward to the most. And what's not to look forward to? Kristen Bell as a lead in a comedy. Ted Danson returning to a sitcom. Michael Schur running the show. These are all very good things. The dangerous part is the set up of the show. It's about Eleanor (Bell) dying and being sent to the show's version of heaven, The Good Place, which is a community of all the best people who have died. The Good Place is run by Michael (Danson) who is kind of like an angel mayor. There's one problem though. Eleanor shouldn't be in the Good Place. This is the first community Michael has ever made and he confused her with someone else by mistake. Eleanor was not a good person on Earth. Realizing her alternative (The Bad Place), she works in secret with her assigned soulmate, Chidi (William Jackson Harper), to become worthy of her placement. There's a lot of setup and I don't believe this can work for long as a highly serialized comedy. At some point, everyone needs to settle down. The core cast is great. Bell has needed to lead another show for a while now. Danson is always welcome in a sitcom. The lesser known cast members (Harper, Jameela Jamil, D'Arcy Carden, Manny Jacinto) all have a lot of potential. The world Michael Schur has created leaves a lot of room to try new things. I remember when Parks and Rec began, I didn't trust the fairly unknown or unproven cast* and I wasn't sure how they could make a series out of this woman trying to get a park built. That improved a lot and pretty quickly. I'd be foolish to not expect the same from The Good Place. I'd like it if the episodes could move to being more funny than clever though.
*Nick Offerman and Aubrey Plaza had not major credits to their name. Aziz Ansari mostly just annoyed people on Scrubs. Chris Pratt had some fans already and Rashida Jones had a history of writers never being able to figure her out. And, notice how I didn't even mention Paul Schneider?
The other big NBC show I was looking forward to was This Is Us from Dan Fogelman, writer of such films as Crazy, Stupid Love and Tangled. By design, it was intended to fill a Parenthood-sized hole in my heart, and so far, it's looking good to deliver on that. The cast is great. Mandy Moore, Milo Ventimiglia, and Sterling K. Brown brought me in, but it also has Chrissy Metz, Justin Hartley, and others. It's tough to talk about this without spoilers, so consider this a warning. Brown, Hartley, and Metz play siblings in the present day. Moore and Ventimiglia play their parents in assorted flashbacks. The flashbacks are used to inform the present. Otherwise, it's standard family drama. Both episodes so far have ended on surprises and I hope they drop that soon. The initial one (Metz and Hartley are twins with Brown as an adopted brother) was appropriately attention-grabbing. The strength in this kind of show going forward isn't about the narrative trickery though. It's going to be about the characters and the relationships. The second episode was pretty mediocre in the way that all second episodes are mediocre. The show is finding its rhythm and hasn't had a chance to add much character depth yet. That said, I need to know something about Metz other than she's overweight and not happy about it. The handling of that character is going to be my quickest turn off if not corrected. The TV production commentary in Hartley's story is dull and broad at this point too. The flashbacks and Brown's situation with his biological father do more than make up for the problematic parts for now. The potential for this show is very high. I often need a good cry and this looks like the best show to earn one.
It's time to move to FX. The cable network has two new series that both owe something to Louie: Atlanta and Better Things. Better Things is Pamela Adlon's semi-biographical series. Her Louis C.K. connection is right there in the credits. He's a co-creator of it. It's Adlon's show though, no question. Better Things is a messy "slice of life" series about mother working in the fringes of Hollywood (voice-acting, small TV roles, indie movies) while trying to raise her three daughters. Adlon's sardonic voice is in all of this and your enjoyment really goes as far as "Do you like Pamela Adlon?". In a lot of ways, Better Things is Louie without the surreal elements. It's Adlon's often mundane, occasionally funny life. As much as I like Adlon, I'm still looking for the element of the series that distinguishes itself from the dozen other Hollywood satires (Episodes, The Comedians) or middle-aged Los Angeleno shows (Casual, Togetherness, Married) out there. Atlanta, on the other hand has me fully on board. This is Donald Glover's pet project about living in the city of Atlanta. It follows Earn (Glover) as he tries to manage his up-and-coming rapper cousin, Alfred aka Paper Boi (Brian Tyree Hanry). There's also Alfred's strange friend Darius (Keith Standield). So far, each episode has been collected adventure of the three men, sometime together, sometimes apart. Glover has made a show that is more about the atmosphere than the story. I say that it owes to Louie because it's definitely inspired by the surreal humor that both dip into often. I think Donald Glover has limitless talent, more than just about anyone in TV or film. With the first few episodes, Glover still seems to be figuring out what he can do with the series. I wouldn't say any episode has been great but they've all been interesting. That's better in a lot of ways. I'm absolutely keeping up with this, because it's easy to see how it could get great, fast.
ABC is the network of LOST, so if there's an "Event Series" that I'm going to give a chance, I trust that network the most. Designated Survivor has an easy pitch to get sucked in by. The heads of the US Government are all killed and Kiefer Sutherland, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, is the next in line to become president. That's a big premise and I had to see how ABC was going to pull it off. Through the two episodes I've seen, it's not encouraging. The simplest way I can explain my thoughts is "I don't buy it." In a world where the President, the congress, and nearly every other high ranking government official has been killed in an attack, I don't accept the response that most characters have on this show. There's the generals who are ready to eliminate Sutherland if needed, the press that seems to be more focused on criticizing Sutherland's speech than reflect on the great national tragedy the night before, and a governor who apparently thinks he's living in the days of the Articles of the Confederation. I don't buy into any of it. That could be enough for me to drop the show. The things it does right though have been impressive. While I think the build up to it needed some work, the immediate moments after the attack on the Capitol were riveting. Sutherland is selling the hell our of how overwhelmed he is as the accidental president. He can also turn on that presidential switch with aplomb when needed. Moments like Sutherland walking into the remains of the Capitol or Kal Penn's character being wrong about why the cop was staring him down at the end of the second episode have pulled at my heartstrings as good as anything in this young TV season. I doubt this could ever become the show I'd love for it to be, but there's a chance that the highs could outweigh the lows enough to keep me watching.
Netflix dropped Easy last week: Joe Swanberg's anthology tribute to love in Chicago. I haven't finished the season yet. So far, the most notable thing about it is just how good the cast he assembled is. I've liked the Swanberg "mublecore" films (Drinking Buddies, Happy Christmas) and this is of a piece with those. Maybe even too much so. The five episodes of Easy I've seen feel live five short films with little connection. I'm not sure how it all works as a whole collection yet. Given the shifting focus of the episodes, some are clearly better than others. "Vegan Cinderella" was effective but Kiersey Clemons is a little too annoying (That she is intended to be annoying doesn't make her less annoying, sadly). On the other hand, "Controlada" with Raul Castillo (Richie from Looking) worked pretty completely for me. It's a "box of chocolates" approach to TV that I rather enjoy. Also, by completely avoiding serialization, it dodges the "weak middle" problem that most Netflix series have.
The last fully new show I've picked up is ABC's Speechless. ABC has mastered the family sitcom in a way that no other network has. Modern Family has long been a well-oiled machine. The Middle is a tragically ignored classic. Blackish, Fresh Off the Boat, The Goldbegs -- They're all really good. With Speechless, they've just changed a few ingredients -- lower-middle class family, set in the present, son with cerebral palsy, put it through their development cycle, and out comes a damn near fully formed, thoroughly enjoyable family comedy. Minnie Driver is going to be the break out character as kind of a mix between the moms on The Goldbergs and Malcolm in the Middle. John Ross Bowie is something between the dads from The Middle and Malcolm in the Middle. Their new neighborhood appears to be next door to the town in Suburgatory. Really, everything about the series feels derivative in the best way. I've really loved how they've handled Micah Fowler's character. His cerebral palsy is just part of his character, not the whole thing. The way the other characters are isn't dependent on him. The family's mom would still be overbearing, the dad would still be lazy, the family would still be bad neighbors. That's just good writing.
One final show I'd like to single out is the soft reboot of Scream Queens. Sadly, I think I'm done with the show. Season one was fun. It knew exactly what it was and what tropes it was playing with. Season 2 brings back all the characters that anyone has ever quoted (the Chanels, the Dean, Hester, etc.). Ryan Murphy changed the setting to a hospital, added seasoned pros like Kirstie Alley and John Stamos, and even swapped out Nick Jonas for Taylor Lautner. I'm vastly less interested though. Skyler Samuels wasn't all that interesting in the first season, but she gave the show a straight woman at the center of all the craziness. Season 2 is attempting to shift Zayday into that role without much luck. The Chanel's are too prominent and the writers can't stop themselves from writing more for them. Here's a good comparison. Imagine Josh Radnor leaves How I Met Your Mother after season 3 and the show tries to position Jason Segel as the new main character. That wouldn't work because the biggest voids are naturally filled by the biggest characters, i.e. Barney Stinson. Barney isn't the true lead on a good show though. Chanel Oberlin isn't the true lead on a good show either.
There's a lot of shows I haven't seen either. Amazon has One Mississippi and Fleabag. I haven't gotten to Netflix's Luke Cage yet. Son of Zorn on Fox may have already passed me by. Elements of Timeless (NBC) and Conviction (ABC) appeal to me (Abigail Spencer and Hayley Atwell respectively). My indifference to baseball is stopping me from watching Pitch, which could prove very foolish of me down the line a la Friday Night Lights. Of course, none of this is even mentioning all the returning shows I'm keeping up with. Only time will tell how much I keep up with TV thoughts like this, but I wanted to at least get these thoughts posted for now.
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