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BEST TIME EVER WITH NEIL PATRICK HARRIS
Premieres September 15
Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET
NBC
Based on the British hit Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, this “Anything Can Happen Day” live variety series stars Neil Patrick Harris. |
David Bianculli: For my review, visit the Fresh Air with Terry Gross website. |
Jim Davis: Before CBS offered The Late Show to Stephen Colbert, they first offered it to Harris. That alone should perk your interest in seeing that talent in action.
Linda Donovan: Neil Patrick Harris can do anything and this will be no different. The Oscars telecast he hosted may not have been Emmy-worthy, but it wasn’t his fault, in my opinion, and if this show fails, it won’t be his fault either. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. |
Bill Brioux: Either a variety show designed for today’s short attention spans or eight or nine different shows tossed into a blender. Neil Patrick Harris is the ideal ringmaster. It’s live (from New York) and different, which makes it jump out this season. |
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LIFE IN PIECES
Premieres September 21
Mondays at 8:30 p.m. ET
CBS
An extended-family comedy, told from various points of view in four separate stories. Stars include James Brolin, Dianne Wiest, Colin Hanks, Thomas Sadoski and Betsy Brandt. |
David Bianculli: It’s not bad – but it’s not Modern Family, either, at least not yet. It’s fun, though, to see players from Breaking Bad (Brandt) and The Newsroom (Sadoski) land on other worthwhile projects.
Jim Davis: A terrific cast in mercifully short bits should provide continued life to this series.
Ed Bark: Life in Pieces isn’t always a stitch but is nicely sewn together. CBS’ biggest obstacle may be its complete failure to date with un-juiced comedies that have utilized the so-called traditional “live before a studio audience” format, to which the network has stubbornly clung. Will the generally older CBS audience buy into this crazy-quilt aberration?
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Bill Brioux: Like Parenthood -- featuring a similar cast of familiar TV faces -- except every slice of multi-generational family life is self-contained within each commercial break. On Netflix this would be called, “Life in One, Continuous, Binge-worthy Stream.”
Eric Gould: The A-list cast, including veterans of Fargo, Breaking Bad and The Newsroom, makes this concept single-cam comedy worth following.
Gabriela Tamariz: With a cast this talented, I hope the show will mature and improve. The pilot is funny enough but I struggle to relate to this family rendering the show easily forgettable.
Candace Kelley: There are some funny, strong moments with a cast that's worth watching. Networks are working their 50 something year old male leads, but I'll take the even older James Brolin and Dianne Wiest any day. |
Ed Martin: CBS’ other curiously humorless new comedy of the season is relatable only to families residing in Pacific Palisades or Pasadena. But its cast includes James Brolin, Dianne Wiest, Thomas Sadoski and Betsy Brandt, so I’m not writing it off yet.
Linda Donovan: Sure, we’ve seen this show before, but the talent is just as strong here. Even the kids. The three young ones were each so appalled by their parents at some point, with just the right amount of disgust, that I could feel their embarrassment and, I swear, hear their eyes rolling. This family may become a little too much to take week after week, but for now I’m cautiously optimistic. |
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MINORITY REPORT
Premieres September 21
Mondays at 9 p.m. ET
FOX
A sequel to the 2002 sci-fi movie about psychics used to identify criminals before their crimes are committed. Set a decade later, with the pre-cog program dismantled and its gifted seers in hiding. Stars Stark Sands (Inside Llewyn Davis and Generation Kill) and Meagan Good (Californication).
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David Bianculli: Literally, in this show’s narrative, the events in the TV show are post pre-crime, if that makes any sense. As with the 2002 movie, the high-tech imaginings are cool, but the show impressed me only once: When a TV show in the future was tuned to Fox, and a “Simpsons Season 75 Spectacular!”
Gabriela Tamariz: I’m curious to see how this show expects to survive a full season on such a cringe-worthy plotline. The movie version was good, but not good enough to warrant a TV series.
Ed Bark: Production-wise, Fox’s Minority Report looks handsomer than either Rob Lowe or John Stamos, the venerable hunks fronting the network’s two new fall sitcoms. The two leads and opening story line aren’t bad either, making this continuation of the hit 2002 Steven Spielberg movie an eye-popping blend of futuristic special effects and content that’s also worth watching. |
Bill Brioux: Police use a couple of people who can sort of see the future to pre-arrest other people before they commit crimes. It’s like how TV critics can warn us in advance about things like Rosewood and Scream Queens. All the promise of a Tom Cruise movie without Tom Cruise.
Ed Martin: Among its many, many problems, Stark Sands, one of our finest young Broadway stars, is completely miscast as the lead in this leaden series. It’s just too easy to make jokes about predicting the future of this blatantly terrible show (though everyone is doing it). So let me be blunt: “Report” will be gone by Christmas.
Candace Kelley: I don't think I'll be in the minority in saying the special effects were distracting at times. I was pleasantly surprised, though the writing and action is somewhat polite at times.
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Jim Davis:The technical wizardry is both impressive and distracting. Far too often the special effects appear to substitute for solid plotting and character development. Given time, perhaps those glitches can be resolved.
Linda Donovan: Set in the year 2065, the high-tech crime-solving and other “everyday technology” special effects are impressive, but that alone isn’t going to keep an audience. The pilot had its moments (thanks primarily to Sands), but if they’re not careful, this show could easily fall into too glib, too cute territory.
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BLINDSPOT
Sneak Preview September 21
Mondays at 10 p.m. ET
NBC
A woman emerges in Times Square wearing nothing but tattoos, and with no memory of how either they or she got there. But each tattoo, authorities find, has significance. Jaimie Alexander stars.
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David Bianculli: Jaimie Alexander, a.k.a. Lady Sif from the Thor movies, is, like her character’s wall-to-wall tattoos, fun to look at. But this show is one of the most improbable, illogical and flat-out silly new dramas of the year. And this year, that’s saying something.
Bill Brioux:
Lydia, oh Lydia, oh have you seen Lydia
Lydia the tattooed lady?
She has hips that men adore so
Shame the net can’t show her torso
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Eric Gould:The vic and lead character here, the amnesiac Jane Doe, is festooned with tattoos that are clues, we think, left by a do-gooding puppet master fighting terrorism. Or is he evil? Muahahaha.
Jim Davis: Of all the new series, this one has the most skin in the game. The questions are: Who inked the deal? And is it only so much inky dinky doo?
Ed Bark: The tattooed lady (Jaimie Alexander) has been injected with a protein whose byproduct is supposedly permanent amnesia. Blindspot has an initially intriguing premise and a compelling co-lead in Alexander. But there’s also some Silly Putty in play here, with FBI agent Kurt Weller's (Sullivan Stapleton) hard-charging man of action at times laughably intense amid all this oh-so deadly serious business.
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Ed Martin: The questions come fast and furious: Why is the woman at the center of this mystery left naked in Times Square (other than to send the marketing folks at NBC into spasms of sheer delight)? Why is she zipped up in a duffel bag? Why is she tattooed from tip to toe? Why is one particular FBI agent’s name inked in letters on her back large enough to be read by a 90-year-old at 100 paces? Why doesn’t anyone at the FBI notice something about one tattoo that even a secretary there should catch? How many years will it take for the mythology of this show to play out? I’m tired.
Candace Kelley: The first scene is so gripping. I can't wait to see if the show can keep up with it. The girl with the many tattoos has my attention. |
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THE MUPPETS
Premieres September 21
Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET
ABC
The Muppet gang puts on another TV show – but this time, with a documentary crew filming their behind-the-scenes antics.
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David Bianculli: So far, I’ve seen only a ten-minute teaser clip for this new show – but so far, it’s my favorite and most anticipated new series of the year. Statler and Waldorf may be skeptical about hoping for the best here, but I’m not.
Linda Donovan: How can this not be funny and fun? It’s The Muppets…
Jim Davis: The younger fans are going to find this more grown-up version a little stuffy.
Ed Bark: The Muppets obviously has a built-in brand name and likely will be fairly heavily sampled in the early going. Its humor remains fairly gentle. The big “news” over the summer was the breakup of Kermit and Miss Piggy after the level-headed frog finally got fed up with her diva ways and means. But he’s still around to produce her “Up Late with Miss Piggy” talk show. Which is a show within a show on The Muppets, where backstage machinations, out-of-pocket personal lives and talk-to-the-camera sidebars form the bulk of the first two half-hour episodes.
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Bill Brioux: Remember those frogs you used to dissect in school? This reboot reeks of the same formaldehyde. Kermit has ditched Miss Piggy for a new sow as we go behind the scenes of a talk show run by Muppets. It’s like The Larry Sanders Show done in felt.
Eric Gould: On the upside, The Muppets return in an often delightful, often smart mockumentary reprising their usual behind-the-scenes dysfunction. The downside: the best show on ABC this season premiered 40 years ago.
Candace Kelley: The Muppets are talking TMZ, Trader Joe's and texting. They're so 2015. I just want to see how far they will go with this.
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Ed Martin: My concerns about the start of the 2015-16 broadcast season can be summed up in one sentence: The latest presentation of a 40-year-old franchise is the fall’s most promising new series. That was obvious way back in May during Upfront week when ABC released a riotously funny clip. Nothing has changed.
Gabriela Tamariz: The Muppets wins MVP in the fall 2015 premiere line up across all networks—I only wished the preview was longer! I’m not sure how I missed out on this classic franchise as a child but I consider it an incredible mistake and I am now inspired to know everything about Kermit, Miss Piggy and the rest of the cast’s idiosyncrasies. |
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SCREAM QUEENS
Premieres September 22
Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET
FOX
A sorority with a bloody secret past gets bloody again, 20 years later, in the latest playful horror show from Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. Emma Roberts, Lea Michele, Jamie Lee Curtis star. |
David Bianculli: I expected the two-hour premiere to be funnier, more clever, and basically just better. The tone is off a bit, unless Jamie Lee Curtis is on screen – but I wouldn’t give up on this show just yet. But despite its cast, if scripts don’t improve, give up soon…
Jim Davis: There is lots of eye candy here, but I kept wondering if Jamie Lee Curtis had somehow wandered onto the wrong set. Blood flows easily and often, mostly in great gushes. And it is all played for laughs, of course, but the real laughs are few and far between. |
Bill Brioux: This seemed like a fun idea — Glee meets Mean Girls meets every slasher pic —and casting Jamie Lee Curtis had to add to the fun, right? Instead, imagine a sorority full of nasty young Sue Sylvesters in a dark, violent, supremely unpleasant marathon of smart-alecky yappity-yap. Horrifying.
Ed Bark: Fox bills it as a “comedy-horror murder-mystery,” and it is not without grim, guilty pleasures or even a sense of fun. Chanel Oberlin has a mouth on her. And it spews hatred, racism, put-downs and self-entitlement that could do more harm to “impressionable” viewers than the recurring killings and other brutalities. It's from Ryan Murphy whose creations include Nip/Tuck, the American Horror Story franchise and Glee.
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Ed Martin: Terrible and toxic. In these days of Millennial madness it’s impossible to say if that condemnation will be the kiss of death or a guarantee of a nice long run. Jamie Lee Curtis isn’t just the best reason to watch; she’s the only reason to give this show even passing consideration. She’s the new Jane Lynch!
Candace Kelley: The show is plain pop culture on crack that fuses everything a lot of people crave when they watch TV. These sorority girls walk as if they are 'Legally Blond' but they're really mean - and get bloody. This means this show will be popular.
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LIMITLESS
Premieres September 22
Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET
CBS
A TV spinoff of the 2011 Bradley Cooper film about a man who taps into the mind’s full potential. Cooper himself appears in the series premiere, but the star is Jake McDorman. |
David Bianculli: Who would have thought that a TV show about someone with unlimited potential would have… so little potential? This show lost me the moment one supposedly brilliant character made a basic grammatical error.
Jim Davis: Good pacing and strong production values can't overcome a plot based on a silly premise about the potential of a drug-enhanced superhuman. |
Bill Brioux: The only thing limitless here is CBS’s willingness to exploit executive producer Bradley Cooper’s cameo in promoting this series. The real star is Jake McDorman, whose character takes a pill that makes him a crime-fighting Brainiac. So imagine The Mentalist, only with aspirin.
Eric Gould: The genius drug NZT-48 is back, but this time in a convoluted reworking from the film — including periodic cameos by original star Bradley Cooper to help pull it together. Fargo made the film-to-series transition infinitely better, though Limitless is sometimes trippy fun. |
Ed Martin: Via my own personal litmus test I’m calling this one a winner. The details: Critics don’t seem to care for it, but every “ordinary civilian” with whom I have shared the pilot has loved it. I remember when that happened with the original CSI.
Gabriela Tamariz: I’m curious to see how this show expects to survive a full season on such a cringe-worthy plotline. The movie version was good, but not good enough to warrant a TV series.
Candace Kelley: I'm ready for this show just to see where this supply of drugs is really coming from and where they are going. Just when I thought it was just too hokey, enter Bradley Cooper reminding me that the story line has more teeth. Bite down and bring it.
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ROSEWOOD
Premieres September 23
Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET
FOX
Morris Chestnut stars as Dr. Beaumont Rosewood Jr., a private pathologist acting as a freelance advisor in Miami and elsewhere. |
David Bianculli: It’s Miami Vice, M.E. – and it’s dead on arrival. Badly written, with stupid action and even stupider dialogue. “You’re oil, I’m water,” one characters tells the other. Nope. You’re both bathwater – and about to be thrown out, along with this Fox baby.
Ed Martin: Every critic I know who dislikes this show watched it on a computer. I watched it on a giant flat screen in glorious high definition and was so caught up in the look of it I didn’t care that everything else about it was relatively mediocre. Make of that what you will.
Jim Davis: Morris Chestnut is the title character, a Miami pathologist as hunky as his yellow GTO convertible. He's a lab rat providing real chemistry with his cynical female detective counterpart (Jaina Lee Ortiz). |
Bill Brioux: A swingin’ pathologist has a zillion-dollar private lab. He runs like Usain Bolt even though his heart could explode at any minute. He teams up with a humorless but beautiful cop lady. They turn into crime-bustin’, yacht-hoppin’, cliché-speakin’ super cops. If you’ve been waiting to cut the cable cord, this is the show that will hand you the scissors.
Linda Donovan: Miami Vice, CSI, and Quincy, M.E. meet TV tropes 101. And that’s a very, very bad thing. The writing isn’t just awful, it’s a little insulting: perfectly placed props, and/or people, in excruciatingly long camera shots that scream THIS IS IMPORTANT just in case you can’t figure it out on your own. Dr. Rosewood’s show is going to end up on his own table. |
Eric Gould: Warmed over Moonlighting pairing, this time with a (wha?) freelance pathologist who joins forces with a sexy detective in a will-they-or-won’t-they buddy show (which should only take 463 episodes to consummate.) With Morris Chestnut as the M.E. who’s inexplicably wealthy with an equally inexplicable supply of blazers to wear in midday Miami.
Gabriela Tamariz: Rosewood has sprinkles of Dexter memories—beautiful Miami B-roll, expert medical examiners, powerful needles and even that feeling of a show lingering on too long. Dr. Beaumont Rosewood, Jr. is in constant demand by Miami law enforcement (how do they afford his rates?) and tries to live his life to the fullest. His badass sidekick cop, Detective Annalise Villa, is the TV cop who works out harder than you, solves cases quicker than you ever could and doesn’t need or want your help. This is one of the weaker premieres of the bunch with its uninspiring dialogue and unintimidating bad guys. |
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HEROES REBORN
Premieres September 24
Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET
NBC
Actually described as a miniseries, this drama is a sequel to NBC’s Heroes series, featuring a few of the original characters, but introducing many new ones. Jack Coleman, Zachary Levi star. |
David Bianculli: Haven’t seen it yet – but I stopped watching the original Heroes, after loving its first year, because it went so far off the rails. Beware of simmering sequel-itis. |
Ed Martin: Can a long-gone franchise that took seemingly forever to die (four unforgettably awful cycles after its sizzling freshman round) find new life as a 13-episode limited series? How can that be possible when (spoiler alert) the cheerleader wasn’t saved? Shouldn’t the world be not-saved? Shouldn’t we all be toast by now? |
Bill Brioux: Back when Heroes first aired, there were no “limited series” and few superheroes on TV. Now there are plenty of both. The pilot has moments and Zach Levy is a nice addition but it takes real super powers to be new and fresh and ahead of the curve twice. |
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THE PLAYER
Premieres September 24
Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET
NBC
Former intelligence officer is enlisted to work with a mysterious new team in Las Vegas. Wesley Snipes stars.
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David Bianculli: This new series, as far as I can tell, is about a secret organization that predicts which crimes are about to be committed, then invites high-roller one-percenters to bet on the outcome after they put a “player” in the field to try and stop them. My verdict: Don’t bet on this.
Candace Kelley: I'm not all in just yet. Plenty of action, but it felt pointless.
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Eric Gould: Act One has our hunky security hero, an ex-military operative, swinging through a high-rise window Tarzan-style, to thwart would-be assassins. Later that night, he’s in full sprint down the Las Vegas strip in his underwear, gunning for likewise assassins. Ironically, my exact activities yesterday.
Gabriela Tamariz: The show is action-packed and delivers excitement and suspense but other than that it lacks substance and suffers from an overdone plotline.
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Ed Martin: This show feels played out by the end of its largely uninteresting first episode. Sad thing is, series leads Philip Winchester and Wesley Snipes would be awfully good in an uncomplicated, straight-forward cop drama. This is a long way from that.
Jim Davis: Here's my wager. The star power of Wesley Snipes will keep this heavy breather alive -- if only on life support. Confession: I lost my previous wager that the creators of The Blacklist would not attempt a more absurd premise. |
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BLOOD & OIL
Premieres September 27
Sundays at 9 p.m. ET
ABC
A Dallas-type prime-time soap opera about seeking fortunes, and oil, in the modern North Dakota energy boom. Stars include Don Johnson, Chace Crawford, Rebecca Rittenhouse and Amber Valletta. |
David Bianculli: There’s one strong action scene in the pilot, but, as with all prime-time soaps, this one will rise or fall based on the charisma of its leading players. This one passes the charisma test – even Johnson, returning to TV, is sparkling as a wealthy patriarch – so if you like this genre, chances are quite good you’ll like this show.
Jim Davis: In lots of ways, North Dakota is the new Texas, so this rebirth of the oil boom is an interesting premise. That plus an attractive cast should play well. |
Ed Martin: Great concept, cool cast, uneven but promising pilot. This could be the new Dallas that TNT’s reboot of the old Dallas never managed to be.
Bill Brioux: Don Johnson puts on J.R.’s old hat from Dallas and clashes with prodigal son Chance Crawford. Everything was well lit and in focus but a paint-by-numbers pilot was about as flat as the current price of oil.
Candace Kelley: Who cares if the oil business isn't really Booming in North Dakota, this show is slick enough to keep me coming back. Dreamers and schemers are drilling their way to the American Dream. Characters we all know.
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Eric Gould: Meshugannah, forgettable prime-time soap set in a boomtown in North Dakota where they’re all trying to strike it rich. Of course, the noble, gypsy-like émigrés in the encampment on the outskirts have the high moral ground over some of the scheming, wealthy landowners. (Twirl mustache here.)
Gabriela Tamariz: I was reaching for my phone every four minutes during this premiere. The only reason I was even remotely entertained was because seeing Don Johnson and hearing his voice flashed me back to his character in Tarantino’s Django Unchained.
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QUANTICO
Premieres September 27
Sundays at 10 p.m. ET
ABC
This modern mystery story looks at an incoming class of FBI recruits – one of whom may have been one of the conspirators in a deadly bomb attack. Priyanka Chopra stars.
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David Bianculli: I like Priyanka Chopra, the star of this new series – she’s likely to break out big if this show gets any viewership at all. The opening scenes, though, in which her character has passionate but impulsive and rather meaningless sex with a handsome man whom she meets again at work, are cribbed right from the pilot of Grey’s Anatomy. That could be, however, exactly what this ABC series is attempting to copy. After all, Shonda Rhimes can’t write everything for ABC. |
Eric Gould: Another homeland mishigas, this time with a bunch of model-pretty FBI trainees that includes one mystery recruit who’s really a terrorist that’s just blown up Grand Central Station. (Duh! It has to be the Muslim one in the hijab, am I right?!?) Quantico lurches so wildly, I had to check and make sure this wasn’t meant for the YA audience at ABC Family.
Ed Martin: Interesting premise, highly appealing cast. But the presentation of midtown Manhattan in the immediate aftermath of a major terrorist attack that demolishes Grand Central Station is so completely lame-brained it won’t surprise me if this one quickly fades away.
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Bill Brioux: An elite squad of young, beautiful, extremely fit people are brought together to save the world. A strong, international cast adds salsa to the mix, but the Rookie Blue meets Homeland premise seems like five other shows this fall.
Jim Davis: My pick of the litter. Strong writing and character development should overcome silly plot slips.
Candace Kelley: I need this in my life and so do you. Secrets and lies inside of the FBI Academy at every turn and ultra compelling actors that so far, seamlessly move the plot. Major surprises throughout. There's a spy inside the Academy there somewhere. Priyanka, I'm preparing snacks for the Fall season to find out who it is. I'm right there.
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DR. KEN
Premieres October 2
Fridays at 8:30 p.m. ET
ABC
Ken Jeong plays a gifted doctor with a wife and kids at home, but no bedside manner there or at work. |
David Bianculli: Ken Jeong is a doctor in real life, and he plays one on TV. That’s supposed to be funny, but so is this sitcom, and it isn’t. In fact, it’s so unfunny, I’d put it on this fall’s critical list before it even premieres. Physician, heal thyself…
Jim Davis: I don't know how I have missed Dr. Ken Jeong in so many shows he has done prior to this one, but for that I feel blessed. This doc needs life support.
Candace Kelley: I'm going to give this guy a chance and keep looking for more of Ken Jeong's sweet flavors from the Hangover franchise. It comes out at times, but it's got that Aspartame taste.
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Eric Gould: The doctor is in (Ken Jeong, Community) and will see you with a bunch of terminal sitcom clichés that died in the ’80s. With wincing Dave Foley delivering what even he seems to think are regrettable lines.
Linda Donovan: Please, ABC, put this show out of its misery, and us out of ours. Not even the tremendous talents of Dave Foley (NewsRadio, The Middle…) as Pat, the person in charge of running the medical practice, can save this one. And the worst of all? Dr. Ken himself. |
Gabriela Tamariz: I’ve been a big fan of Ken Jeong for quite some time so it’s fulfilling to see him in a role he is obviously very comfortable playing. As the creator and star of this show, Jeong has a unique opportunity to merge his medical background with his innate calling to comedy. This show is doing a better job at avoiding the overdone and unfunny Asian jokes but I’m not totally sold yet—please don’t disappoint!
Ed Martin: Perfectly awful in every way. It gives NBC’s Truth Be Told a run for its money as the season’s worst new show.
Bill Brioux: The nut bar from Community and The Hangover returns to his dull, unfunny days as an actual doctor. Just to make sure he’s completely unfunny, he’s saddled with an annoying TV family.
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CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND
Premieres October 12
Mondays at 8 p.m. ET
CW
Rachel Bloom stars in, and helped concoct, this new comedy series, about a New York lawyer who impulsively leaves behind her East Coast career path to seek romance in Los Angeles, with a former childhood crush.
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David Bianculli: When I watched the pilot of this series, I didn’t know there was a musical number in it. In fact, there were several – and by the time it was over, this new CW series, starring Rachel Bloom as a sort of musical Ally McBeal, had won me over just as firmly as Jane the Virgin, from the same network, did the season before.
Jim Davis: Just as in a Bollywood flick, a full-production musical number is a threat to break forth at any moment. If you find those numbers to be a pleasant interlude, you should find some charm in this rom com. It has real promise if the writing can rise to the level of talent in the cast. |
Eric Gould: Far and away fall’s funniest debut, from co-creator and star Rachel Bloom, who is clearly hard-wired for clutch timing and musical comedy. Even more laughs with Donna Lynne Champlin as her slightly unhinged second banana. Galavant meets Sex in the City.
Ed Martin: Talented Rachel Bloom plays a psychotic single woman who stalks a man across the country in this bubbly musical comedy filled with skeevy personal moments and grand production numbers. I think she’s way too intense for weekly consumption on a network where even the charming Jane the Virgin can’t find an audience.
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Bill Brioux: For energy, style and execution, this lively show stands out from many of the bland broadcast offerings this fall. Rachel Bloom is winning as the singing, dancing ex- who moves to LA to stalk her boyfriend. A welcome break from The CW’s usual mix of vampires and superheroes.
Linda Donovan: Rachel Bloom is so charming in her role as said ex-girlfriend that you are not only pulling for her, you almost believe that she would break out in song at key points in her life. Why wouldn’t she? The rest of the cast is just as strong.
Candace Kelley: I think we all have soundtrack to our lives that plays when we least expect it and that's where this show gets me. When the lead character, played by Rachel Bloom, breaks out into song about moving across country for a very old love, chuckling overcomes me. The awkward moments for this woman make the show work so far. If the story remains strong, I'll be singing along.
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TRUTH BE TOLD
Premieres October 16
Fridays at 8:30 p.m. ET
NBC
This new NBC comedy is the story of two next-door-neighbor couples, who are best friends, but very verbal: one’s an ethics professor, another’s a lawyer, still another’s a standup comic. Stars include Mark-Paul Gosselaar.
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David Bianculli: NBC changed this sitcom’s name from People Are Talking, which would have been too easy for TV review headline writers (“People Are Talking? Not About This”). But a sewer, by any other name, would smell as sour. This series lost me the first time a little girl used the word “vagina” – and it wasn’t the only time. Horrible. |
Eric Gould: Two suburban couples freely dishing on subjects usually avoided: the N-word, the hot babysitter, the Orthodox Jewish family across the street. Hilarity ensues.
Ed Martin: Truth is, this is one of the worst sitcoms to come along in years. (Okay, it’s not Dads bad, but its close.) People will not be talking.
Jim Davis: A.k.a. "You Can't Handle the Truth." Or: "The Vagina Dialogues." |
Linda Donovan:So close and yet so, so far... No. Just…no.
Gabriela Tamariz: The two married couples are outspoken, over-analytical and leave no topic off-limits—even speculating that the new hot babysitter is actually a porn star. The pop culture references are slightly embarrassing and the show’s attempts to be edgy fall flat. Cheers to the diversity in the cast but this show lacks originality, charisma and the overall appeal to watch a full season.
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