Upfronts Week is here and just like every year, I’m here to break it down! Starting with NBC!
My first thoughts? I am so, so, so very excited that Shades of Blue and Superstore are returning. They were essentially my favorite new NBC drama and comedy of the 2015-2016 schedule so it’s great to see them both return!
Based on the schedule below, it’s safe to say the 8 o’clock hour of Thursdays nights will be my favorite time for NBC. What will yours be?
Thoughts On Cancelled Series:
Heroes: Reborn was always expected to be a limited event series so while I would have loved another season, I was prepared for its end or official cancellation. I never did start watching Game of Silence which was in its first season. I wanted to watch to support Michael Raymond-James and Larenz Tate and because the show looked good but I just never got around to it. Unfortunately, there’s not much reason to start watching now. Best Time Ever With Neil Patrick Harris was a great effort but just didn’t work enough to keep me tuned in each week.
Also Cancelled: Hannibal (Wasn’t for me but I heard the writing was absolutely incredible on this show so that’s disappointing for all of those who were watching and loving this show) Undateable (I heard this was fun but I never got around to it), Telenovela (Not for me), Heartbeat (Who needs another medical drama? Really.), Mr. Robinson (Neutral Feelings), The Mysteries of Laura (Neutral), Truth Be Told (Neutral), Crowded (Never even heard of this one), & The Player (Ditto)
Thoughts On New Series:
As far as the dramas go… Shawn Ryan and Eric Kripke’s time-travel drama, Timeless looks fantastic. I am SO in. I’m in for anything time travel but this actually looking awesome and having a phenomenal cast is a huge plus. This Is Us starring Mandy Moore, Milo Ventimiglia, & Sterling K. Brown among others looks really moving and I can’t wait to see if this imprints on my heart like say, Parenthood did. I say that because it feels like it’s trying to be near that level of emotionally engaging. Can it bring the tears? Only time will tell. These are the only drama trailers I’ve seen so far.
Midnight, Texas is based on the trilogy by Charlaine Harris which means I’m definitely aiming to read at least the first book before the fall. Also, the cast for this is amazing. I really enjoyed the Taken movie franchise so I’m interested in seeing how this will translate to TV in regards to longevity and quality storytelling over time because when you think about it, did you really pay attention to Taken 3 if you even saw it? Anyway… It feels like Emerald City has been a work in progress for forever so I really hope it’s worth all the trouble it’s endured. The Blacklist: Redemption is exciting for those still watching The Blacklist. I stopped watching The Blacklist some time ago and can’t say that I’ll be tuning into the spinoff but I’m cheering both shows on from afar. I don’t watch Dick Wolf’s Chicago lineup so I’m neutral on Chicago Justice being picked up. Finally, Cruel Intentions still has yet to be officially picked up but if it does get picked up, it needs to be done right or it will be an automatic fail.
As for the comedies… The Good Place starring Kristen Bell and Ted Danson looks fantastic. I cannot wait to be entertained by this show each week! It’s the only comedy trailer I’ve seen so moving onto the others…
I’m not familiar with DC Comics’s Powerless so I’ll have to make myself familiar before the show premieres. That aside, Alan Tudykis is a hoot and Vanessa Hudgens isn’t the first person I think of when I think comedy but I am a fan so I’m looking forward to seeing what’s in store for this show. I am very intrigued by Trial & Error which pokes fun at murder case documentaries and stars John Lithgow. This can go real bad really quickly and the entire cast as is, is questionable. It’s half great half ehh. Only time will tell.
I am so, so, so excited about the upcoming Marlon family sitcom from Marlon Wayans. It is so, so good to see black family sitcoms coming back! They should have never left. I’m actually way more excited about this than I am Tina Fey and Tracey Wigfield’s Great News and I’m a big fan of those ladies. Hopefully, both are great!
Finally, on the reality front, there’s Better Late Than Never which I have no interest in watching unless someone whose TV taste I respect recommends it.
New series are in CAPS.
Sunday
7pm Football Night in America
8:20pm Sunday Night Football
Monday
8-10pm The Voice
10-11pm TIMELESS / TAKEN (Midseason)
Tuesday
8-9pm The Voice
9-10pm THIS IS US
10-11pm Chicago Fire
Wednesday
8-9pm Blindspot
9-10pm Law & Order: SVU
10-11pm Chicago P.D.
Thursday
8-8:30pm Superstore
8:30-9pm THE GOOD PLACE
9-10pm Chicago Med
10-11pm The Blacklist
Friday
8-9pm Caught on Camera With Nick Cannon
9-10pm Grimm
10-11pm Dateline
Midseason Drama: Shades of Blue, CHICAGO JUSTICE, TAKEN, MIDNIGHT TEXAS, EMERALD CITY, THE BLACKLIST: REDEMPTION
Midseason Comedies: The Carmichael Show, TRIAL & ERROR, GREAT NEWS, POWERLESS, MARLON
Midseason Reality: Celebrity Apprentice, BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
NEW DRAMAS:
Timeless
From Eric Kripke (“Revolution,” “Supernatural”), Shawn Ryan (“The Shield”) and the producers of “The Blacklist” comes this thrilling action-adventure series in which a mysterious criminal steals a secret state-of-the-art time machine, intent on destroying America as we know it by changing the past. Our only hope is an unexpected team: a scientist, soldier and history professor who must use the machine’s prototype to travel back in time to critical events. While they must make every effort not to affect the past themselves, they must also stay one step ahead of this dangerous fugitive. Can this handpicked team uncover the mystery behind it all and end his destruction before it’s too late?
The cast includes Abigail Spencer, Matt Lanter, Malcolm Barrett, Goran Visnjic, Paterson Joseph, Sakina Jaffrey and Claudia Doumit.
This Is Us
Sometimes life will surprise you. Starring Mandy Moore (“A Walk to Remember”), Milo Ventimiglia (“Heroes,” “Gilmore Girls”) and Sterling K. Brown (“The People V. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story),” this refreshingly honest and provocative series follows a unique ensemble whose paths cross and their life stories intertwine in curious ways. We find several of them share the same birthday, and so much more than anyone would expect. From the writer and directors of “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” comes a smart, modern dramedy that will challenge your everyday presumptions about the people you think you know.
The cast includes Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Justin Hartley, Chrissy Metz, Sterling K. Brown, Susan Kelechi Watson, Chris Sullivan and Ron Cephas Jones.
Midnight, Texas
Welcome to a place where being normal is really quite strange. From Niels Arden Oplev, the visionary director of “Mr. Robot,” and based on the hit book series from author Charlaine Harris (“True Blood”), comes a journey into a remote Texas town where no one is who they seem. From vampires and witches to psychics and hit men, Midnight is a mysterious safe haven for those who are different. As the town members fight off outside pressures from rowdy biker gangs, ever-suspicious cops and their own dangerous pasts, they band together and form a strong and unlikely family.
The cast includes François Arnaud, Dylan Bruce, Parisa Fitz-Henley, Arielle Kebbel, Sarah Ramos, Peter Mensah, Yul Vazquez and Sean Bridgers.
Taken
From executive producer Luc Besson (“Taken,” “The Fifth Element”) comes a modern-day, edge-of-your-seat thriller that follows the origin story of younger, hungrier former Green Beret Bryan Mills (Clive Standen, “Vikings”) as he deals with a personal tragedy that shakes his world. As he fights to overcome the incident and exact revenge, Mills is pulled into a career as a deadly CIA operative, a job that awakens his very particular, and very dangerous, set of skills. In 30 years, this character became the Bryan Mills that we’ve come to love from the “Taken” films.
The cast includes Clive Standen, Jennifer Beals, Brooklyn Sudano, Monique Gabriela Curnen, Gaius Charles, Michael Irby, James Landry Hébert and Jose Pablo Cantillo.
Emerald City
In the blink of a tornado’s eye, 20-year-old Dorothy Gale and a K9 police dog are swept into a world far removed from our own — a mystical land of competing realms, lethal warriors, dark magic and a bloody battle for supremacy. Starring Vincent D’Onofrio (“Daredevil,” “Jurassic World”) as the guileful Wizard and directed by the visionary Tarsem Singh across three European countries, this is Oz completely reimagined — a place where familiar characters show up in fresh, unexpected ways, and where an unsuspecting young woman holds the fate of kingdoms in her hands. As Dorothy navigates this dangerous world and uncovers her true destiny, we’ll see there’s no place like… Oz.
The cast includes Vincent D’Onofrio, Adria Arjona, Ana Ularu, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Jordan Loughran, Gerran Howell, Mido Hamada, Joely Richardson, Isabel Lucas, Stefanie Martini, Suan-Li Ong, Florence Kasumba and Roxy Sternberg.
The Blacklist: Redemption
In this thrilling new spinoff of NBC’s breakout hit series, undercover operative Tom Keen joins forces with Susan “Scottie” Hargrave (Famke Janssen), the brilliant and cunning chief of Grey Matters, a covert mercenary organization that solves problems governments don’t dare touch. While on the hunt for Liz’s attacker, Tom secretly discovered that Scottie is actually his biological mother. Now, as they team up to employ their unique skills and resources in a dangerous world of deadly criminals, Tom begins his own covert mission to find out more about his shadowy past. The cast includes Famke Janssen, Ryan, Edi Gathegi and Tawny Cypress.
Chicago Justice
Powerhouse creator Dick Wolf delivers a captivating new installment to the hit Chicago franchise. Just like their brethren in the Chicago P.D., the State’s Attorney’s dedicated team of prosecutors and investigators navigate heated city politics and controversy head-on while fearlessly pursuing justice. As they take on the city’s high stakes and often media-frenzied cases, they must balance public opinion, power struggles within the system and their unwavering passion for the law. It all starts with a gut-wrenching case when one of Chicago’s finest is shot in the line of duty.
The cast includes Philip Winchester, Carl Weathers, Nazneen Contractor, Joelle Carter and Ryan-James Hatanaka.
NEW COMEDIES:
The Good Place
From Michael Schur, executive producer of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “Parks and Recreation” and “The Office,” comes a smart, unique new comedy that follows Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell, “House of Lies,” “Veronica Mars”), an ordinary woman who, through an extraordinary string of events, enters the afterlife where she comes to realize that she hasn’t been a very good person. With the help of her wise newfound afterlife mentor (Ted Danson, “Bored to Death,” “Cheers”), she’s determined to shed her old way of living and discover the awesome (or at least the pretty good) person within. Directed by Drew Goddard, the Oscar-nominated writer of “The Martian.”
The cast includes Kristen Bell, Ted Danson, William Jackson Harper, Jameela Jamil, Manny Jacinto and D’Arcy Carden.
Marlon
Loosely inspired by the real life of star Marlon Wayans (“In Living Color,” “Scary Movie”), this update to the classic family comedy centers on a loving (but immature) father committed to co-parenting his two kids with his very-together ex-wife. While his misguided fatherly advice, unstoppable larger-than-life personality and unpredictable Internet superstardom might get in the way sometimes, for Marlon family really always does come first — even if he’s the biggest kid of all.
The cast includes Marlon Wayans, Essence Atkins, Notlim Taylor, Amir O’Neil, Bresha Webb and Diallo Riddle
Powerless
In the first comedy series set in the universe of DC Comics, Vanessa Hudgens (“Grease Live,” “High School Musical”) plays Emily, a spunky young insurance adjuster specializing in regular-people coverage against damage caused by the crime-fighting superheroes. It’s when she stands up to one of these larger-than-life figures (after an epic battle messes with her commute) that she accidentally becomes a cult “hero” in her own right … even if it’s just to her group of lovably quirky co-workers. Now, while she navigates her normal, everyday life against an explosive backdrop, Emily might just discover that being a hero doesn’t always require superpowers.
The cast includes Vanessa Hudgens, Alan Tudyk, Danny Pudi and Christina Kirk.
Trial & Error
In this outrageous fish-out-of-water comedy, bright-eyed New York lawyer Josh Segal heads to a tiny Southern town for his first big case. His mission? To defend an eccentric, “rollercizing” poetry professor (John Lithgow, “3rd Rock From the Sun”) accused of the bizarre murder of his beloved wife. Settling into his makeshift office behind a taxidermy shop and meeting his quirky team of local misfits, Josh suspects that winning his first big case will not be easy, especially when his client is always making himself look guilty. “Making a Murderer” can be funny! The cast includes John Lithgow, Nicholas D’Agosto, Jayma Mays, Sherri Shepherd, Steven Boyer and Krysta Rodriguez.
Great News
Getting along with some colleagues can be rough, but working with your mom? That’s a whole other story. When Katie, an up-and-coming news producer, finds out her overbearing mom (Andrea Martin, “SCTV,” “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”) has rejoined the workforce as an intern at the station where Katie works, it might just be the worst news ever. But, with her biggest cheerleader at her side, Katie might finally get the recognition she deserves. The laughs hit close to home in this new office comedy from executive producers Tina Fey, Robert Carlock and the producers of “30 Rock.”
The cast includes Briga Heelan, Andrea Martin, Adam Campbell, Kimrie Lewis-Davis, John Michael Higgins and Horatio Sanz.
NEW REALITY:
Better Late Than Never
Based on a popular Korean format, this hilarious fish-out-of-water comedy/reality show follows cultural icons Henry Winkler, William Shatner, Terry Bradshaw and George Foreman on their greatest adventure yet. Deciding it’s better late than never, these four national treasures embark on the journey of a lifetime, traveling across Asia on their own with no schedule and no itinerary. The only help will come from Jeff Dye, a young tech-savvy comedian with an agenda of his own and who isn’t above leading the men off track. Each stop is packed with hilarious cultural experiences, heartwarming spectacles and unexpected twists as our legends take on this unforgettable adventure.
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