Fall TV: Tuesdays
Continuing my analysis of the TV landscape (network TV only), here are my thoughts on Tuesdays next fall. Not a high priority night (those are Mondays and Thursdays), Tuesday is dominated by older-skewing shows on CBS and reality shows elsewhere. There are exceptions, so let’s go hour by hour:
8pm to 9pm
NBC’s former powerhouse The Voice has been drifting down to earth after over-use (two cycles a year), no big-name musicians emerging from the contest, and general drift away from the musical-competition genre. It’s still a big show and the best thing NBC has outside of football. But the show seems stuck on a country-heavy skew for winners and is often more about the Adam Levine vs. Blake Shelton rivalry-bromance shtick. Pass.
CBS’s flagship drama these days, NCIS, leads off their Tuesday nights. Meanwhile, the highly rated, light and entertaining, grinning superhero The Flash, leads off for The CW.
ABC is trying something new-and-old by bringing The Muppets back to television, but this time with more adult humor typical of a workplace sitcom (whereas the old show’s humor was sillier and the backstage drama was less mockumentary-style. It looks promising. However, its lead-out is returning show Fresh Off The Boat, which is hardly compatible but gives FOTB its best chance for a ratings boost.
Fox has two new comedies in the hour that are both about bigger name male leads trying for something akin to a comeback. Grandfathered has John Stamos playing a womanizing restaurant owner who finds out he has a son and a grandson all at the same time. The Grinder is Rob Lowe acting like an actor who thinks he can act like a lawyer; got that? Both are more comedy than drama, and actually made me chuckle, but the question is if they will be worth my time.
9pm to 10pm
NBC has a new medical drama called Heartbreaker trying to go after the Grey’s Anatomy audience on a different night. Fox’s Scream Queens feels like a Scream-meets-Glee dramedy, but not much is known about it except the insanely good cast list.
ABC, CBS, and The CW return with their shows SHIELD, NCIS:LO, and iZombie.
10pm
NBC starts the fall with Neil Patrick Harris doing a variety show, before that gives way for the return of Chicago Fire. ABC is trying its own form of The Blacklist that shows an FBI agent trying to comb through her former classmates at Quantico to determine who is a terrorist. And CBS is trying to put a small twist on the cop procedural by creating a sequel to the barely watchable movie Limitless, about a guy who uses an experimental drug to gain super mental capacity.
Verdict
Definitely watching: The Flash
Maybe continuing: Agents of SHIELD
New shows I want to check out: The Muppets, Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris, Scream Queens
New shows I might check out: Grandfathered, The Grinder, Heartbreaker (maybe not), Quantico, Limitless
