SERIES PREMIERE: This is more notation, and explanation, than recommendation. This show, officially, is the first new series scheduled by the Freeform Network, which at this point is less than a day old. Shadowhunters is based on the fantasy book series The Mortal Instruments, and is about a young woman who discovers, as she turns 18, that she has special powers, and a secret identity formerly unknown even to herself. As with MTV’s The Shannara Chronicles, also based on a fantasy book series and built around a young female protagonist, it’s an example of a TV network hungry to ride the wave of The Hunger Games – or, in terms of fantasy premise and demographic-seeking, not to diverge too far from Divergent. Katherine McNamara stars as Clara Fray, who learns she is, or is supposed to be, a demon-fighting half-human, half-angel. For a full review, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower.

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