Should I Watch It? — New Fall Network TV Shows
I watched every fall network TV pilot. Here’s what you need to know and which ones are worth your time
We’re a couple weeks into the new fall TV season and, let’s face it, no one has time to watch all that new stuff. No fewer than 25 new pilots will air this fall on network TV alone, not to mention HBO, Showtime, Hulu, Netflix, and everything else. There’s not enough time to watch it all, and most of it will get canceled anyway. So which shows are actually worth your time?
I watched the ten most promising new fall network TV pilots and ranked them from 10 to 1, with a bite-sized review and my own judgment on whether I’ll keep watching. With any luck, you’ll find a couple new shows worth jumping into and — even better — figure out which ones to avoid…
10. The Cool Kids
The Cool Kids is a multi-cam sitcom about three old dudes in a retirement home who find their place threatened by a new female resident. The jokes are forced, and there’s way too much laugh track. It’s on FOX but feels like CBS, and that is not a compliment. This is exactly the show you think it is.
Will you watch another episode?
Not even a chance.
9. I Feel Bad
I feel bad because I wanted to like this, but it wasn’t particularly interesting. The plot is pretty basic. There’s a multiracial inter-generational family living together, and they pretty much just live normal life. The pilot has a scene where the lead actress asks her younger coworkers if she’s “still doable,” which feels especially out of place in 2018. Most of the comedy did.
Will you watch another episode?
The first two aired together, but that’s it for me. This is an Amy Poehler show and I’m rooting for it and happy to check back in later if there’s any buzz, but I just didn’t find the characters worth investing in.
8. Manifest
An airplane goes through turbulence before landing, and somehow five years pass during the flight and the plane and all 191 passengers have been presumed missing and dead. The passengers are fine and haven’t aged a minute, but they return home to lost jobs and homes, broken engagements, and family changes. The premise is intriguing, if not a blatant ripoff of the much better The Returned.
The problem is the premise switches halfway through the pilot. It turns out the passengers can hear voices now, and their prescience tells them to do certain mysterious things. In classic Lost fashion, there’s also recurring 828 numerology but the whole thing is very forced. The entire show feels mostly like a reminder that Lost was special and that it just wouldn’t work in 2018.
Will you watch another episode?
I did, and it kept getting further and further from the original premise. Coming back after five years “dead”? That’s interesting. Unexplainable mind reading? Pass. This type of sci-fi mystery is right up my alley, but I just know it will never actually have answers. Though I’d love to tune in for the episode where the characters all find out Donald Trump is president now. What happens to the 191 people that didn’t get to vote? Do we all get a do-over?
7. The Neighborhood
A very white Midwestern family moves into a very black L.A. neighborhood, and an impossible amount of insensitive racial jokes are crammed into 22 minutes. There’s lots of canned laughter, and you even get a slavery joke three minutes into the pilot! That takes courage. The Neighborhood even comes complete with a classic heartwarming life lesson at the end, as though it actually has something to teach us about race. Roseanne handled race better.
Will you watch another episode?
New Girl’s Schmidt and Cedric the Entertainer are gregarious leads, even in their over-caricatured roles. I may watch one more just to see if they tone things down a bit after the pilot, but I’m not optimistic.
6. FBI
Do you enjoy NCIS, SEAL Team, or SWAT? Then you’ll probably like FBI. Rookie Blue’s Missy Peregrym is likable as the lead of an FBI team that gets tips about exploding buildings, and solves terrorism crimes, and does FBI stuff. It’s a classic procedural formula, complete with a crime of the day and contrived emotion. You can tune in any week without consequence, and it’s made by Law & Order’s Dick Wolf so it’ll be around for a bunch of seasons.
Will you watch another episode?
No. But it looked like a fine version of what it is, if procedural shows are your sort of thing.
5. Happy Together
Damon Wayans Jr. is the accountant for a fictional Justin Bieber who’s forced to move in with Wayans and his wife Amber Stevens West. The mid-30s couple quickly realizes they don’t relate to millennials like they used to and that maybe they’re getting old and boring and predictable. And from there, it’s a pretty classic sitcom. Wayans and West are super magnetic and charismatic, so the premise is an iffy fit, but they’re fun to watch either way.
Will you watch another episode?
Sure. It wasn’t bad for a pilot, and I’m also in my mid-30s so I relate well enough. And it’s just fun hanging out with Wayans and West, even if the fictional pop star dude is just kinda whatever.
4. Single Parents
It’s basically Friends but with kids. There’s five single parents with 7-year-olds and the premise is easy enough: single parenting is hard, and it’s nice to have some friends to go through life with. The kids are well cast and add a lot to the story. I don’t love SNL’s Taran Killam as the lead, but his chemistry with Brad Garrett is fun, Leighton Meester is adorable, and Jake Choi pulls off SP’s version of The Good Place’s Jason Mendoza well.
The shows tries a little too hard at times, like with the episode-long “It takes a village” joke in the pilot, but the chemistry is there and it’s cute and heartwarming. The single parents all live in way-too-fancy houses and never seem to be working so, like I said, Friends but with kids. And it really does feel like they cast the children well in a way that adds to the story.
Will you watch another episode?
Definitely. This is easily the best new sitcom, and ABC has a good track record. With a Modern Family lead-in and a strong cast, this one should stick around.
3. God Friended Me
I was all set to hate this horribly-named CBS show about social media and religion right up until I watched a 6-minute teaser and was weirdly intrigued. The premise is simple but cooky: what if God sent you a friend request?
The real premise is more compelling. A young atheist podcaster grows up in a Christian home but turns from his faith when tragedy leaves him certain there is no God — right up until a series of seemingly random coincidences begin to line up in a supernatural way. Brandon Michael Hall is a breakout star waiting to happen, and he and Violett Beane are glowing as the show’s leads. They have outstanding chemistry and are super likable and believable, drawing you into their doubts and their story.
I don’t totally trust CBS to handle a show about God and Facebook, but there’s real potential here if they can get out of their own way and let Hall and Beane shine. The pilot felt a little over-produced and CBS-y at times, but the storytelling is engaging and the emotion felt earned. There’s some modern-day Touched by an Angel potential here. People are interconnected and the world still has some good in it. That’s a message we need in 2018.
Will you watch another episode?
Yes, a few at least. Like Hall’s character, I remain a bit skeptical, but I’m starting to be won over. At the very least, I’m intrigued. I want this to work, and I want to spend more time with Hall and Beane.
2. A Million Little Things
This one’s really heavy. A few minutes into the pilot, a character kills himself, leaving behind his friends and family to deal with the mess. Those friends and family are our main characters, and the audience too is stuck in this dark, heavy setting. The pilot goes on to deal with suicide, cancer, and an affair. ABC tried to create its own This Is Us with a similar ensemble cast and a plot built around someone taken too soon, but it feels heavier.
Still, the characters are likable and have good chemistry, and the emotion is raw and real. You’re going to need tissues nearby. The characters play lifelong friends who had grown apart and felt their own lives drifting, and it really does feel like they’ve known each other forever. You feel part of that connection right away. It’s messy, but it’s supposed to be.
But I worry about the heaviness. Remember in the 90s when TV shows would have a “very special episode” sometimes with a tough message about drugs or suicide or loss, and the show would always follow with a real 90-second reminder to get help? It feels like A Million Little Things could be a “very special episode” every week if it’s not careful, and I’m nervous they may spend too much time on some of the mystery surrounding Ron Livingston’s death. How soon can they get away from that initial premise and move away from beating us over the head with heaviness every week? That remains to be seen.
Will you watch another episode?
For sure. I’ve seen two already. But I’m definitely going to need to be in the right place of mind, and I hope they find a better tension between raw emotion and lightheartedness soon.
1. New Amsterdam
The one new fall show that definitely works. It’s not that we needed another medical drama in 2018, it’s just that they work so darn well.
Ryan Eggold is the new medical director at the oldest public hospital in America, and he’s making some changes. Eggold is an idealist who isn’t satisfied with good enough. He wants to dream big, and he wants his staff to dream with him. Healthy food in the cafeteria? Done. No waiting rooms? Let’s give it a shot. This NYC hospital is a medical utopia, where anything goes until it’s proven it can’t. Eggold and his team aspire to something genuinely good.
And it’s his team that really shines. Janet Montgomery is riveting as the female lead keeping Eggold in check, and the rest of the cast is diverse and strong. There’s relational drama, just enough to keep things interesting, and there are fascinating medical cases and doctors that want to make a difference. And behind it all is an excellent soundtrack that pulls everything together, especially with an acoustic Fix You montage to wrap up the pilot.
If you’re looking for the hit new fall TV show everyone will be watching, you just found it. New Amsterdam airs Tuesdays on NBC after This Is Us.
Will you watch another episode?
Yep. This one will be in the rotation a long time.
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Shouts to some of my favorite TV-watching readers Jody, Lindsey Jo, Todd, Jim, Luke, serge, Matthew, David, Gutbloom, Allan, Sam, Dan, and others!
