Top Shows of 2018

Comedy
1. Corporate (Comedy Central)
2. BoJack Horseman (Netflix)
3. American Vandal (Netflix)
4. The Weekly with Charlie Pickering (ABC Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
5. Silicon Valley (HBO)
6. Dear White People (Netflix)
7. Angie Tribeca (TBS)
8. Great News (NBC)
9. Lodge 49 (AMC)
10. Barry (HBO)
11. GLOW (Netflix)
12. Flowers (Channel 4, UK)
13. Imposters (Bravo)
14. Fresh off the Boat (ABC)
15. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FXX)
15. Trial & Error: Lady Killer (NBC)
15. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix)
18. Archer: Danger Island (FXX)

Honorable Mention (Comedy):
Mr. InBetween (FX) – Dark comedy/drama about a hitman. So, Australian Barry (but not quite, different sensibility)
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon) – An acquired taste; occasionally too whimsical but 100% here for Alex Borstein and Tony Shalhoub
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (TBS)
Another Period (Comedy Central) – Sometimes I just need a comedy to be silly. Jason Ritter has nicely filled the role of hilariously idiotic imbecile left behind by Chris Pratt (Andy Dwyer, Parks and Recreation) and Ashton Kutcher (Kelso, That ’70s Show)
Dix Pour Cent (“Call my Agent!”) (France 2 via Netflix) – Still fun to watch the hijinks of a small talent agency, an easy binge

Drama
1. Counterpart (Starz)
2. Killing Eve (BBC America)
3. Bodyguard (BBC, UK) — Some(/many) quibble about its ending but damn if my butt wasn’t thoroughly clenched for the entirety of 25 minutes in the last episode, logic and making sense be damned. #Madden4Bond
4. Kiri (Channel 4, UK)
5. The Americans (FX)
6. Get Shorty (Epix)
7. Patrick Melrose (Showtime) — I finally get the Cumberbatch hype
8. The Good Fight (CBS All Access)
9. Inside No. 9 (BBC Two) — A better Black Mirror than Black Mirror of recent
10. Humans (Channel 4/AMC)
11. Deutschland 86 (Amazon/SundanceTV) — Cinnamontography took a step up (see above photos). It may have gotten a bit too Jason Bourne for some towards the end buttfuckit, es ist immer noch super für mich
12. The Little Drummer Girl (BBC One/AMC) — Korean director Park Chan-wook adds his touch to the well-worn men-sitting-in-the-dark-watching-people-through-binoculars espionage-paranoia genre, lifting this John le Carré adaptation above the previous one, The Night Manger (though, unjustifiably, receiving hardly any of its accolades). Alexander Skarsgård is easily at the best I’ve seen him, given a role more than just “tall, photogenic guy” and Florence Pugh continuing her upward trajectory.
13. A Very English Scandal (BBC, UK)
14. Legion (FX) — Started off with promise but roughly mid-way through Legion went the way of Mr. Robot season 2, style over substance instead of stylistic flourishes being in service of the storytelling, character depth/exploration, or moving along the plotline / viewing the plot from different viewpoints. Rather, it was weirdness for weirdness’s sake.
15. Pose (FX)
16. Escape from Dannemora (Showtime) — Between this and the movie Wildlife I’m now firmly aboard the Paul Dano train
17. Billions (Showtime)
18. The Terror (AMC)
18. Better Call Saul (AMC)

Honorable Mention (Drama):
Mr. Mercedes (Audience)
Beat (Amazon) — It’s a premise that could’ve been brainstormed by a 9-year-old boy (aimless club promoter in his 20s recruited by German secret service) but damn if it wasn’t executed to a fault and fun as hell.
Ordeal by Innocence (BBC One) — It’s no And Then There Were None but it’ll do
The Deuce (HBO)

Shows I dropped: iZombie season 4 (CW); Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO); The Affair season 4 (Showtime); Preacher season 3 (AMC);

Didn’t Watch: Big Mouth (Netflix); Narcos: Mexico (Netflix); My Brilliant Friend (HBO); Channel Zero (SyFy); The Haunting of Hill House (Netflix); King Lear (Amazon)

Nah: Patriot Season 2 (Amazon); Succession (HBO); Homecoming (Amazon); Maniac (Netflix); Atlanta (FX); The Good Place (NBC); Sharp Objects (HBO); Westworld (HBO)

Cancellation that hurts the most: Imposters (Bravo); American Vandal (Netflix)

Top Shows of 2017

Shows are weighted half on quality of the show and half by how much I liked the shows (very unscientifically, of course)

Drama………………………………………………………….Comedy
1. Legion……………………1. The Weekly with Charlie Pickering
2. Get Shorty…………………………………….2. Dear White People
3. Delicious……………………………………3. Man Seeking Woman
3. Big Little Lies……………………………………..4. Master of None
3. The Good Fight……………………………………….5. Great News
6. Billions…………………………………………………………6. Back
7. The Americans………………………………….7. You’re the Worst
8. Game of Thrones…………………………………..7. Angie Tribeca
8. The Crown……………………………………9. Survivor’s Remorse
10. American Gods…………………………………..10. Silicon Valley
11. Mr. Robot………………………………………………11. Red Oaks
12. The Handmaid’s Tale………………………12. Last Week Tonight
13. The White Princess………………………………………..13. Veep
14. Feud…………………………………………..14. Fresh off the Boat
15. Dix Pour Cent……………………………………………..15. Archer
16. Apple Tree Yard……………………………………………..16. Girls
17. Rita………………………………………….17. Brooklyn Nine-Nine
……………………………………………………………17. Catastrophe

Excluded Shows: Alias Grace (CBC/Netflix) didn’t finish watching

Honorable Mention (Drama): Paula (BBC); Mr. Mercedes (Audience)

Honorable Mention (Comedy): Imposters (Bravo); Glow (Netflix); American Vandal (Netflix); Tour De Pharmacy (HBO); The Opposition with Jordan Klepper (Comedy Central)

Drama

1. Legion (FX) (N)
FX’s Legion and Netflix’s Jessica Jones have ruined superhero TV shows. They’ve set the bar so damn high and pushed the genre forward in a way that the umpteen superhero shows currently on air all feel like iterations of the same thing. While the show veered into style-over-substance moments at times, it remained compelling throughout. Here’s to hoping Legion doesn’t do a Mr. Robot up-its-own-arse season 2.
2. Get Shorty (Epix) (N)
One of the genuine surprises of last year from a third-tier cable channel (alongside honorable mention Mr. Mercedes on the Audience Network). Solid writing, good pacing, and walking the tightrope between crime drama and dark comedy has made this show grow in my esteem in the months since its season finale. A solid cast goes a long way to making the show as all-around solid as it is: anchored by the always deadpan great Chris O’Dowd; the menacing Lidia Porto; the perpetually frazzled Ray Romano; the gleefully optimistically idiotic Billy Magnussen; and any number of supporting characters. Looking forward to season two.
3. Delicious (Sky1) (N)
One of those British shows you stumble onto that are utterly delightful and easy to breeze through. Season 2 was a bit of a comedown though.
3. Big Little Lies (HBO) (N)
3. The Good Fight (CBS All Access) (N)
Lost steam a bit in its last couple of episodes, but there’s a place in the peak-TV 500-shows-on-the-air ecosystem for The Good Fight, hell that place is needed. For all the shows that try to break boundaries and are obsessed with one-shots and technical pizzazz, sharp storytelling and solid acting in a legal drama genre that may feel staid and not cut through the noise is worth the investment, for the viewer and network.
6. Billions (Showtime)
Every year or so, there’s usually a show or two that builds on a decent-but-not-outstanding freshman season. This was Billions’s season to grow. The last few episodes in particular was a show that found its groove and was executing on the ideas and plotlines it had planted earlier in the season, marvelously coming to fruition. Kudos to the writers and actor Asia Kate Dillon for making the non-binary character of Taylor to be interesting in ways not relating to their non-binary gender.
7. The Americans (FX) (↓1)
I still haven’t found a season I liked as much as the first, but it’s still quality.
8. Game of Thrones (HBO) (↓5)
What to say about Game of Thrones’s 7th season that hasn’t already been said? The shaky writing seen in the past few seasons are still there in full force from the teleporting characters to the asinine trip north of the wall. Characters, motivations, decisions are no longer rooted in rational thinking or established behavior, rather as happenstance to move along pre-determined plot points. Technically, the show remains head and tails above pretty much anything else on television, but I’ll go into season 8 doubting this show will capture the peak of season 4.
8. The Crown (Netflix) (↑3)
Not enough Vanessa Kirby. Never enough Claire Foy.

10. American Gods (Starz) (N)
Much like Hannibal, the great visuals sometimes/oftentimes come at the expense of a plot that actually moves along. Still was sad to hear of Bryan Fuller leaving the show’s second season. I know what a Bryan Fuller show is, its pros and cons, and I’ll buy into it hoping the strengths carry me through the faults.
11. Mr. Robot (USA) (re-entry)
A mix of the greatness of season 1 with the lows of aesthetics-over-action season 2, usually more of the former, but frustratingly with a not-insignificant amount of the latter.
12. The Handmaid’s Tale (hulu) (N)
Same as #10, even more so.
13. The White Princess (Starz) (N)
14. Feud: Bette and Joan (FX) (N)
15. Dix Pour Cent (“Call My Agent!”) (France 2) (N)
Alright, I’m playing with this show’s genre a bit just to get 17 on the drama side.
16. Apple Tree Yard (BBC One) (N)
17. Rita (TV2/Netflix, Denmark)(N)
This one too.

Comedy
1. The Weekly with Charlie Pickering (ABC, Australia) (↑7)
A better version of Last Week Tonight (see below).
2. Dear White People (Netflix) (N)
One of my most favorite things to come out of Netflix. Hadn’t seen the movie, saw the high metacritic score (85), decided to give it a shot and eagerly watched all ten episodes. Don’t let the name scare you: this is a hilarious show (not a lecturing/sanctimonious/soap-box-masquerading-as-a-show show, regardless of the viewer’s race.
3. Man Seeking Woman (FXX) (N)
R.I.P. The ranch episode speaks to my Midwestern heart
4. Master of None (Netflix) (re-entry)
When I heard the show would spend a few episodes in Italy, have a black-and-white episode, have a dialogue-less silent episode/sequence, I was nervous it would go into Louis/Girls/Transparent territory. My worries were for nothing (though I cared for the “New York, I Love You” a lot less than most people, too on the nose). Remained as funny and amusing as the first season and knowing when to be touching without going into artificially-sweet territory.
5. Great News (NBC) (N)
The 30 Rock-iest comedy since 30 Rock. The mother-daughter angle doesn’t quite work doesn’t jibe with the comedic tone, but the cast of characters and writing more than makes up for it as the show finds its rhythm in the back half of season 1 into season 2. It probably won’t get a third season, but my heart holds out hope.
5. Back (Channel 4, UK) (N)
A charming delightful deadpan romp as only the Brits do
7. You’re the Worst (FXX) (re-entry)
After 2 seasons of good-but-far-less-funny dives into Gretchen’s depression, the show found its way back to being mostly riotously hilarious punctuated with sudden dives into gloomy introspection.
7. Angie Tribeca (TBS) (↑2)
9. Survivor’s Remorse (Starz) (N)
R.I.P. Even when you see a joke coming (a graphically-realistic VR presentation of living in a third-world country causing the charity-goers to get sick on their fancy clothing), it’s still hilarious. Reggie & Missy is relationship goal, long live M-Chuck, I keep waiting for Jessie T. Usher to blow up the way Michael B. Jordan or Chadwick Boseman are.
10. Silicon Valley (HBO) (↓8)
It’s starting to get into a repetitive loop of how-does-Richard-fuck-things-up-when-they’re-on-the-cusp-of-success, but Jared has been the MVP for 2 seasons running and there’s more than enough material from the real world Silicon Valley for Mike Judge and Alec Berg to satirize.
11. Red Oaks (Amazon) (N)
After two seasons of being enjoyable enough, something about its mixture of nostalgia and coming-of-age clicked in its third season that really made it sing. R.I.P. Red Oaks.
12. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver(HBO) (↓8)
When the show first launched, John Oliver said by the time the show airs on Sunday, most of the week’s biggest headlines will have already been hashed over so many times that anything they say will feel like feebly-reheated leftovers. And yet he dove into the Trump presidency, often hitting the same points that Seth Meyers/Samantha Bee/Trevor Noah/Jordan Klepper/any number of pundits had already gone over. Moreover, he seemed to be repeating the same script with every new story out of the White House, falling into the trap of yelling into an agreeable echo chamber. Especially in today’s environment where every tweet, every uncouth statement, every leak is analyzed to death across the three major 24-hour new channels, the digital news sites, let alone the twitterverse, going all in on Trump is simply less interesting than a quick hits of the week’s stories followed by a main segment of an issue unbeknownst to the viewer.
13. Veep (HBO) (↓8)
14. Fresh off the Boat (ABC) (N)
15. Archer (FXX) (re-entry)
16. Girls (HBO) (N)
I will finally admit to watching this show, and after five seasons, its sixth and final season is one I actually liked. The sixth season found the show at its most indie movie-est, well-shot and well-directed and visually interesting. Above all, the characters grew (FINALLY), even if just a bit. Marnie finally had some self-awareness of what a shitty person she is; Hannah finds fulfillment, not in chasing dreams of becoming a writer but in unexpectedly becoming a mother; and Jessa is stuck in a position unfamiliar to her: being in something (a relationship with Adam) long enough to have to deal with its repercussions (falling out with Hannah and wanting to make amends). As for Shoshanna, she found the friends that carried her through her early twenties weren’t the ones that she needed for her late twenties, finding a new social circle unbeknownst to the rest.
17. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX) (↓7)
As it goes with most shows, Brooklyn Nine-Nine has had diminishing returns the longer it’s on the air (mostly due to Flanderization especially in the case of Santiago), but it’s still mostly likeable and the show’s best characters (Diaz, Linetti, Holt) are as strong as ever.
17. Catastrophe (Channel 4, UK)

Honorable Mention (Drama):
Paula (BBC Two): The three-part drama is another British woman-has-affair-and-bad-things-come-from-it show on this list. It starts out well enough and deepens the intrigue in the second part while showing signs of overstuffing the plot before throwing everything but the kitchen sink at you in its final hour. Not everything works, but at the very least it’s entertaining enough that I can overlook some of its batshit insanity. And definitely a watercooler ending that makes me want to discuss with others.

Honorable Mention (Comedy):
Imposters (Bravo): A good show. Execution isn’t quite there but it’s 80-85% of the way to a solidly good show. Dialogue is a bit cheesy at times and the actors, who, while good all-around, aren’t good enough to sell the occasionally cheesy/borderline groan-worthy dialogue — contrast with Uma Thurman’s guest arc, she sells the hell out of those cheesy lines and is menacing to boot. Looking forward to season 2. Pacing is excellent.

American Vandal (Netflix): Enjoyable but neither gut-busting nor world-changing. If it didn’t feel as if every episode was going down red herring road, I’d be more enthralled by the show.

The Opposition with Jordan Klepper (Comedy Central): I was going to give this a week-long trial period, expecting to drop it after week. Not only did I end up watching all 40 episodes that aired this year, but plan on continuing into the new year and am rooting for Comedy Central to keep the show going despite the show losing more than half of its Daily Show lead-in. It’s earning ratings below what The Nightly Show was pulling in when it was cancelled, though critical opinion of Nightly Show was a bit split while opinion of Opposition, well, it’s non-existent as the show barely registers on the radar amongst so many late-night talk shows, which just might as well be worse. But Klepper deserves at least as long of a run as Wilmore as show premiered much more well-formed than you would expect from a first-time host, Klepper has a pretty solid idea of what the character of Jordan Klepper is and can act quickly on his feet to keep the character alive in spontaneous remarks and asides during interviews. The rest of the correspondents are hit or (mostly) miss and centering the show more on Klepper might be the better avenue (and save some costs for the low-rated show).

2017 Upfronts Preview: If I scheduled NBC’s Schedule

All week long the television networks have been handing out cancellation, renewals, and series pick-ups in advance of next week’s upfronts, the annual time of year when TV executives trek to New York City to get advertisers interested in their fall television schedule.
I’ve taken a look at the renewal/cancellation chances of this past season’s shows, potential new shows, and how I would program ABC, CBS, CW, and FOX. Last of the bunch (and usually the first to release their fall schedule): NBC.

NBC is riding high right now: they’re about to finish the season as the #1 network in the 18-49 demo (easily) and #2 in viewers far ahead of #3 ABC (but also far behind perennial viewership leader CBS). Between reality (The Voice), sports (Sunday Night Football), and scripted (the biggest new show of the season by far, This is Us), NBC has a murderer’s row of programming.
Still, no use resting on their laurels, and, like the other networks, it’s not like NBC doesn’t have holes to plug.

Sunday
Current Schedule: Little Big Shots(r)/Little Big Shots/Chicago Justice/Shades of Blue
Sunday Night Football. Moving on.

Monday
Current Schedule: The Voice/Taken
NBC ordered Rise to series. Based on what has been written about Rise, it sounds like Glee but with slightly less singing. Fits nicely with The Voice‘s demographics.

Tuesday
Current Schedule: The Voice/Great News/Chicago Fire
Tuesday has become NBC’s night due to the strength of The Voice and breakout hit This is Us. The question is, keep This is Us on the night or move it elsewhere to shore up a different night, giving a different show the post-Voice slot that could benefit it? Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are out of the question: Monday’s solid enough. TIU wouldn’t jibe with the Wednesday crime shows, Friday would be wasting the audience. So that leaves Sunday and Thursday, both of which have NFL football scheduling to work around. Any move would have to wait until after Sunday Night Football ends in winter, then would have to deal with scheduling gymnastics around the Oscars, Super Bowl, NFL divisional championship games, Golden Globes, and heavy scripted competition from cable channels. TIU is strong, but no sense in throwing your show into a such a consistent-scheduling-unfriendly night. Thursday is the night that needs the most saving, but also has to contend with the awkward scheduling of 5 (or so) late-fall Thursday Night Football games. However, with winter being peak TV watching season, mid-season is the best time to move the show, after Thursday Night Football ends.
The normal fall schedule of a two-hour Voice leading into This is Us kicks off the fall season. After Thursday Night Football starts, Voice goes to one hour, leading into relocated comedies Will & Grace and Superstore. Winter returns game show The Wall to lead off the night, followed by new military drama The Brave, maybe an episode or two of This is Us to give a slight ratings boost by virtue of proximity before Chicago Fire returns.

Wednesday
Current Schedule: Blindspot/Law & Order: SVU/ Chicago P.D.
Law & Order: SVU and Chicago P.D. stay put. There’s any number of things to do with the 8/7c hour (an argument could be made that The Brave fits better here), but let’s see how Tuesday and Thursday nights shake out first.
Come winter, slotting in Menendez brothers-focused Law & Order: True Crime might remind people of another recent Winter show about a high-profile murder trial from the ’90s.

Thursday
Current Schedule: Superstore(r)/Superstore/Chicago Med/The Blacklist
Thursdays are hard to schedule as whatever plays for the start of the season gets preempted five weeks into the season for five weeks. NBC should look into investing in high-profile miniseries or “event series” that can start and end during this gap before Thursday Night Football. Think True Detective, Big Little Lies, The Night Of, The White Princess/Queen, etc. Time to wrestle back the event series mantle from the cable networks.
Until then, NBC has some short-order comedies they can play for a month then relocate for the rest of its run in late fall, allowing NBC to have another big push for a new schedule in winter. Kick the night off with Will & Grace revival, followed by Superstore, new comedy A.P. Bio, returning comedy The Good Place, and finish the night with Chicago Med. 4 comedies followed by a medical drama on NBC Thursdays, sound familiar? NBC has moved away from trying to schedule two hours of comedy on Thursday against CBS’s juggernaut comedy line-up, but with no other comedy lineup to combat on the first few Thursdays, NBC should taken advantage of this time.
After Thursday Night Football finishes its run, This is Us kicks off the night to battle a weaker (though still potent) Big Bang Theory in the hour. Superstore and The Good Place fill in the 9/8c hour ending with Chicago Med. After the Winter Olympics end, swap in A.P. Bio for The Good Place (which will have played out its 13-episode second season by then).

Friday
Current Schedule: First Dates/Dateline NBC
The Blacklist has fallen enough to warrant being retired to Friday nights. Reliable news magazine Dateline ends the night.

2017-18 NBC television schedule
new shows in italics

Sunday: Football Night in America/Sunday Night Football
Monday: The Voice/Rise
Tuesday: The Voice/This is Us
(During Thursday Night Football: The Voice/Will & Grace/Superstore/This is Us)
Wednesday: Blindspot/Law & Order: SVU/Chicago P.D.
Thursday: Will & Grace/Superstore/A.P. Bio/The Good Place/Chicago Med
(Thursday Night Football)
(After Thursday Night Football: This is Us/Superstore/The Good Place/Chicago Med)
(Winter Olympics)
(After Winter Olympics: This is Us/Superstore/A.P. Bio/Chicago Med)
(After This is Us: Great News/Trial & Error/Superstore/A.P. Bio/Chicago Med)
Friday: The Blacklist/Dateline NBC

2017 Upfronts Preview Part 3: If I scheduled FOX’s Schedule

This year’s upfronts are rapidly approaching, that annual weeklong event where television network executives tub-thump next season’s new shows in order to entice advertisers to buy commercial time on said shows.

So far I’ve taken a look at the renewal/cancellation chances of this season’s shows; potential new shows; and how I would schedule ABC, CBS, and the CW‘s fall schedule. Up next: FOX.

If it were not for hosting the Super Bowl and a highly-rated 7-game World Series, FOX would be rough shape. In fact, FOX is 2nd in the 18-49 demo for the season (though CBS may catch up to it in the last weeks of May), but 4th in viewership. It’s clear the network is still in rebuilding mode after the cancellation of American Idol. Its biggest hit, Empire has had a sophomore slump that carried through to its third season and doesn’t show any signs of abating while the 24 and Prison Break reboots fell short of expectations.

Sunday
Current Schedule: Bob’s Burgers (r)/Bob’s Burgers/The Simpsons/Making History/Family Guy/The Last Man on Earth
The closest thing FOX has to a comedy brand is in its decades-old animated shows. Sunday is the lineup that least needs to be tinkered with. Although with its diminishing returns, it’s time to relocate Last Man on Earth so a different show can take advantage of a Family Guy lead-in. Ghosted allegedly stands a decent chance of being picked up to series and doesn’t veer too far away from the sensibilities of FOX’s Sunday shows.

Monday
Current Schedule: Gotham/Lucifer
It’s tempting to leave the shows be, but both are aging shows that are very unlikely to pick up new viewers and will continue atrophying on Monday night. Put in a new show into the lead-off slot, keeping Lucifer in place with Gotham (potentially) taking over come Winter. If the new show gets a back 9, Gotham can plug in the schedule on some other night (Friday) come Winter. Out of the few remaining undecided pilots at FOX, Behind Enemy Lines looks to be the best fit with Lucifer, though FOX could very well put in a Gordon Ramsay show. Monday’s schedule will probably be shuffled come winter to make room for another season of X-Files anyways.

Tuesday
Current Schedule: Brooklyn Nine-Nine/Prison Break
FOX’s biggest disaster zone. FOX has been trying to make comedy work on Tuesdays since the 2010-11 season, and for the most part, it hasn’t. It’s high time to wipe the slate clean and start from scratch. Take FOX’s biggest prospect, X-Men show The Gifted, and pair it with Seth MacFarlane’s sci-fi comedy-drama Orville. First instinct is to have the bigger show lead-off to give Orville a big lead-in audience, but best not to overlap with CW’s still-formidable Flash. Kick things off with Orville leading into the X-Men show.

Wednesday
Current Schedule: Shots Fired/Empire
It’s noticeably weaker than it was a year ago (to say nothing of two years ago when American Idol and Empire ruled Wednesday), but this is the night that works the second-most for FOX with Lethal Weapon being the network’s strongest freshman series. Wednesdays may need to be re-thought come Winter/Spring, but let’s see how Monday/Tuesday/Thursday fare first before causing any unforced errors on Wednesday.
It seemed ludicrous when there were mentions of Empire spin-offs two years ago after the first season had just ended, now it doesn’t sound so crazy that they would’ve wanted to milk it for all it’s worth while the going’s good, now that the going is less good.

Thursday
Current Schedule: Masterchef Junior/comedy repeats
Thursday is another night FOX has never seemed to figure out. Outside of reality shows, success on Thursday has been scarce. Scripted shows launched on Thursday never seem to stick around longer than a season, with Thursday acting as a transit zone for veteran scripted shows on their way to the retirement home that is the Friday night death slot.
It’s unlikely that will change in one season (though, all it takes is one season to reverse a network’s fortunes), so the night will still have to partially rely on reality shows — particularly the Gordon Ramsay variety. MasterChef Junior will kick things off leading to new comedy Type A and the second season of The Mick.

Friday
Current Schedule: drama repeats
FOX made a valiant effort on the night with The Exorcist, and while there’s a chance it’ll come back, don’t count on it.
Hell’s Kitchen kicks things off leading into a relocated Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Last Man on Earth (or New Girl on the off-chance it returns).

2017-18 FOX television schedule
new shows in italics

Sunday: NFL overrun/The OT/The Simpsons/Bob’s Burgers/Family Guy/Ghosted
Monday: Behind Enemy Lines/Lucifer
Tuesday: Orville/The Gifted
Wednesday: Lethal Weapon/Empire
Thursday: MasterChef Junior/Type A/The Mick
Friday: Hell’s Kitchen/Brooklyn Nine-Nine/Last Man on Earth

2017 Upfronts Preview Part 3: If I scheduled the CW’s Schedule

This year’s television upfronts are a week away and, now that a writers’ strike has been averted, television network executives are busy watching pilots, determining which shows to renew/cancel, and piecing together next year’s schedule.

I’ve given the chances at renewal for this past season’s shows, evaluated some of the pilots in contention, and looked at how I would schedule ABC and CBS‘s schedules for next season. Now it’s the CW’s turn.

The CW hasn’t had a great season. The pillars of their schedule—DC superhero shows—are down across the board in ratings and their new shows struggled out the gate, none of them capturing the critical acclaim that Jane the Virgin or Crazy Ex-Girlfriend did. Word is the network is trying to re-balance the gender skew, once a network that seemed to exclusively cater to young females with fare like Gossip Girl and 90210 now seem to more heavily favor young males with The Flash and Arrow and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. There’s still another DC superhero show in the crop of pilots though.

Monday
Current Schedule: Supergirl/Jane the Virgin
While Supergirl may have instantly provided a boost to the time period for the CW, it, like the rest of the CW’s superhero lineup, has seen decreasing returns throughout its second season. Though the rate at which Supergirl has drop is cause for alarm: its latest episode pulled in half the 18-49 rating that its season premiere did (0.5 from a 1.1). None of the other CW DC shows’ drops have been as steep: LoT has stayed around 0.6-0.7; The Flash 1.0-1.3; the Arrow’s also hit a 0.5 for its last few episodes but it started the season at 0.7. Supergirl‘s fortunes are fading fast, but that doesn’t mean its position as the Monday night lead off has lost all merit. It would be hard to see where best to re-schedule given the CW is already squeezed for DC space. While 9/8c Thursday is enticing to follow Supernatural, it’s better to leave Supergirl in place at the start of the season after having already recently been transplanted from CBS.
Jane the Virgin however, is a prime candidate to move. While the reviews suggest the show hasn’t lost a step in its 3 seasons, its ratings, while never great, are at Friday levels. So move it to Friday and launch Life Sentence in the post-Supergirl period.

Tuesday
Current Schedule: The Flash/iZombie
With perhaps 5 DC shows next season, it would take a lot of scheduling gymnastics to avoid doubling up on a night. Sod that, follow up The Flash with Black Lightning to give the show the best lead-in.

Wednesday
Current Schedule: Arrow/The 100
Arrow‘s ratings (and reviews for that matter) have fallen enough the CW may want to re-think its position as Wednesday anchor. But for now, it’s serviceable enough to provide a launchpad for a new show.

Thursday
Current Schedule: Supernatural/Riverdale
Thursdays on the CW have had the most volatile scheduling, moving programs around from season to season as well as having multiple iterations within a season. There are plenty of ways to program this night (keep Riverdale for fall?) but including Legends of Tomorrow during the fall launch gives it the opportunity to benefit from a late-autumn crossover bump with the rest of the CW’s DC shows.

Friday
Current Schedule: The Originals/Reign
Originals is surprisingly seemingly on the brink of cancellation, especially so with the CW’s packed slate. It may very well get the axe but, operating under the assumption it’ll at least get a forewarning for a truncated final season, it leads off Friday night into a relocated Jane the Virgin. If it doesn’t get another season, make last season’s Monday line-up (Jane the Virgin and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) into next season’s Friday line-up.

2017-18 CW television schedule
new shows in italics

Monday: Supergirl/Life Sentence
Tuesday: The Flash/Black Lightning
Wednesday: Arrow/Searchers
Thursday: Supernatural/Legends of Tomorrow
Friday: The Originals/Jane the Virgin

2017 Upfronts Preview Part 3: If I scheduled ABC’s Schedule

2017’s Upfronts start soon, the weekly mid-May event where the broadcast television networks try to stoke enthusiasm for the upcoming television season to ad buyers.

So far I’ve looked at Which shows are likely to get a the axe or renewed and a look at the pilots in contention to be picked up to series.

This year, ABC enters the upfronts with much the same problems I’d outlined a couple years ago about CBS:

There’s the stereotype about CBS programming, its dramas are all spin-offs of some other crime/murderporn show, and its comedies are laugh-track, stale-joke shows. No matter the perception, for a long time, that worked. By simple virtue of having the most viewers, they naturally also had the most 18-49 viewers. That is becoming less and less the case every season. This season has seen many CBS stalwarts come down to Earth. The latest Big Bang Theory season finale finished down 20% from last year. The latest episode of NCIS pulled in 14M viewers compared to The Voice’s 9M. Totally got it beat, right? Not in the all-important 18-49 demo, they tied at 2.0. This is the demo that determines how financially-valuable a show is. And right now its right in line with a show pulling in 60% less total viewers. This is a show that pulled in 3’s and 4’s, that started out the season with a 2.9. Here’s the thing, for a show in its 12th season, that is really quite good, especially in today’s TV landscape. But NCIS is indicative of many of CBS’s shows, they’re in their umpteenth season, on a slow descent in the ratings, still pulling in respectable numbers, but CBS hasn’t really hit it big with any of its new shows in recent years. While ABC has a good mix of old, middle-aged, and young shows, CBS’s best-performing shows are shows it launched 5+ years ago and its newer shows have been middling at best.

Now I have a bit of egg in my face since CBS is still chugging along since I wrote that, but while ABC was held up as beacon of having a good mixture of new/middle-aged/old shows, they haven’t really launched a hit since then. Their biggest hit of the season is Designated Survivor a show that, while it gets a lot of delayed DVR viewing, pulls in 1.0’s or lower in same-day viewing. Once their biggest hits, Scandal, Modern Family, and Once Upon a Time have faded and are definitely on a steep downward slope from their peaks. Quantico, a show that seemed to promising last year had a harsh sophomore slump. Their most consistent drama is the 13-year-old Grey’s Anatomy. In short, ABC’s programming is a mighty dusty cupboard rapidly gaining more dust by the day. Season-to-date, they’re a 4th-place network in the 18-49 demo (3rd in viewers) and probably won’t creep past CBS in the upcoming weeks. So how to fix ABC?

Sunday
Current Schedule:America’s Funniest Home Videos/Once Upon a Time/Match Game/American Crime
Every network is facing weakness on Sunday nights outside of NBC’s Sunday Night Football in the fall. The Sunday night audience has been taken by premium cable (Showtime’s Homeland, HBO’s Game of Thrones) and Walking Dead over the past few years. It’s unlikely the heyday of Desperate Housewives-Grey’s Anatomy will return for the networks, what they can focus on is stymieing the audience drain and try to build on that. Out of all the networks, ABC has had the roughest go at it between the ratings of Quantico, American Crime s3, Time After Time, and Conviction. Yikes.
So what can they do? AFHV stays of course. Once Upon a Time needs to be shown the door but it performs less terribly than the rest of ABC’s Sunday night scripted shows, so it gets to come back next season. It would’ve been a good idea to announce it as the final season, but with an alleged reboot of the show, let’s see how that goes before giving the show its walking papers. So what to do with its remaining hours? It’s awfully tempting to just make it a 2-hour nostalgic game show night to counter-program all the Sunday night dramas. Rather, give the 9/8 o’clock hour to the man who ruled it for nearly a decade: Marc Cherry. A known quantity behind and in front of the camera (star Reba McEntire) could probably start better than ABC’s past swing-and-misses.
Follow that up with lighter comedy-drama The Gospel of Kevin.

Monday
Current Schedule: Dancing with the Stars/Quantico
Another night where most of the schedule will stay in tact. One of the few things working for ABC is the Monday night Dancing with the Stars/The Bachelor/Dancing with the Stars/The Bachelorette Fall/Winter/Spring/Summer pattern. I don’t get it, but women have stayed devoted to these shows a decade+ into their runs.
How to follow it though? ABC’s probably wishing they had renewed Castle last year after Conviction and Quantico crashed and burned. Kyra Sedgwick-led Ten Days in the Valley meshes well with DwtS’s demographic.

Tuesday
Current Schedule:The Middle/American Housewife/Fresh off the Boat/Imaginary Mary/Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
ABC managed to extend its comedy to a 2-hour block rather successfully this season, so kudos to them on that. It can use some improvement though as the 9/8:30 half-hour has been wobbly all season long. Move Wednesday’s Speechless to Tuesday. It can either try anchoring the 9/8 o’clock slot or shore up 9/8:30. Putting it in 9/8:30 will instantly help the ratings in that half-hour, but being the last in a 4-block of comedies will probably hurt the show, as opposed to putting it at 9/8 and pushing Fresh off the Boat later would harm that show. Stick it at 9/8:30 to reap the greatest benefits.
The night’s last hour has already been schedule with Marvel’s Inhumans. Whether Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. comes back is up in the air.

Wednesday
Current Schedule: The Goldbergs/Speechless/Modern Family/Black-ish/Designated Survivor
Depreciating returns has hit ABC’s strongest night. It could use some tweaking and re-thinking, but ABC’s got bigger fish to fry. Put in new comedy Libby and Malcolm in place of Speechless and keep the rest of the schedule.

Thursday
Current Schedule:Grey’s Anatomy/Scandal/The Catch
Same predicament as above. Same prognosis as above. Thursday needs to be re-thought, but it’s just strong enough to do that in a different development cycle.

Friday
Current Schedule:Last Man Standing/Dr. Ken/Shark Tank/20/20
Another night that can mostly stay in tack. But with Dr. Ken’s sophomore slump, the network can’t be saddled with it for two more season (3rd-season shows are practically guaranteed a 4th season due to being on the cusp of syndication eligibility). Dump it and put in fellow multi-camera comedy Household Name, a show starring Carol Burnett seems like a compatible lead-out for one lead by another sitcom veteran (Tim Allen).

2017-18 ABC television schedule
new shows in italics

Sunday: America’s Funniest Home Videos/Once Upon a Time/Untitled Marc Cherry/The Gospel of Kevin
Monday: Dancing with the Stars/Ten Days in the Valley
Tuesday: The Middle/American Housewife/Fresh off the Boat/Speechless/Marvel’s Inhumans
Wednesday: The Goldbergs/Libby and Malcolm/Modern Family/Black-ish/Designated Survivor
Thursday: Grey’s Anatomy/Scandal/How to Get Away with Murder
Friday: Last Man Standing/Household Name/Shark Tank/20/20

2017 Upfronts Preview Pt 2: The Pilots

This is the second part in my preview of upfronts, the annual event in May when broadcast networks present their upcoming schedules to advertisers, trying to hype up their new shows so companies are enticed to buy ad time during the shows.

For the uninitiated, pilot season is the late-Winter-to-Spring scramble when broadcast networks (CBS, NBC, FOX, ABC, CW) sift through their pilots (first episode) to decide which are good enough to order more episodes of. There’s usually a glut of pilots to go through (I got the below pilots from The Hollywood Reporter’s annual list), the vast majority of which are never seen by the public. In some cases, pilots get retooled and pushed for next year for the same/different network.

Based on the descriptions, cast, and crew of the pilots, here are the pilots that sound intriguing or best-fitting for their respective networks. Of course, simply judging by the description, cast, and crew without watching the actual pilot is going into this semi-blind, but that’s not enough to hinder my playing backseat executive.

In part 1 of the Upfronts preview, I looked at the chances of this season’s shows being renewed/cancelled.
In the next posts, I’ll go network-by-network to see how I’d schedule each of them for the upcoming television season.

**means picked up for series order**

ABC
Comedy
•Libby and Malcolm
Logline: “A blended-family show about two polar-opposite political pundits (Felicity Huffman, Courtney B. Vance) who fall in love despite all odds and form an insta-family as well as a work partnership.”
Cast: Felicity Huffman, Courtney B. Vance
Only for the leads

Drama
**Inhumans**
Logline: “Will explore the never-before-told epic adventure of Black Bolt and the royal family” (Marvel comic book adaptation)

**Ten Days in the Valley**
Logline: “Centers on Jane Sadler (Kyra Sedgwick), an overworked television producer and single mother dealing with a fractious separation. When her young daughter goes missing in the middle of the night, Jane’s world — and her controversial police series — implodes. Life imitates art: Everything’s a mystery, everyone has a secret and no one can be trusted.”

•Untitled Marc Cherry
Logline: “Ruby Adair, the sheriff of colorful small town Oxblood, Ky., finds her red state outlook challenged when a young FBI agent of Middle Eastern descent is sent to help her solve a horrific crime. Together they form an uneasy alliance as Ruby takes the agent behind the lace curtains of this southern gothic community to meet an assortment of bizarre characters, each with a secret of their own.”

•The Gospel of Kevin
Logline: “A light one hour about Kevin, a down-on-his-luck man who is tasked by God with a mission to save the world.”
Cast: Jason Ritter, Cristela Alonzo, JoAnna Garcia Swisher
Crew: W/EP Michele Fazekas, Tara Butters (Agent Carter)

CBS
Comedy
•9J, 9K, and 9L
Logline: “A family comedy inspired by a time in Mark Feuerstein’s adult life when he lived in apartment 9K in the building he grew up in, sandwiched between his parents’ apartment, 9J, and his brother’s, sister-in-law’s and their baby’s apartment, 9L, and his attempts to set boundaries with his intrusive but well-meaning family.”
So, Everybody Loves Raymond

**Young Sheldon**
Logline: “The series follows The Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper at the age of 9, living with his family in East Texas and going to high school.”

Drama
•Instinct
Logline: “A former CIA operative (The Good Wife’s Alan Cumming) who has since built a ‘normal’ life as a gifted professor and writer is pulled back into his old life when the NYPD needs his help to stop a serial killer on the loose. Based on the soon-to-be-published James Patterson book.”
Cast: Alan Cumming, Khandi Alexander, Naveen Andrews, Daniel Ings
Only for the cast

•Mission Control
Logline: “The next generation of NASA astronauts and scientists juggle both their personal and professional lives during a critical mission with no margin for error.”
Cast: David Giuntoli, Poppy Montgomery, Peyton List (2nd position to The CW’s Frequency)

•S.W.A.T.
Logline: “A locally born and bred S.W.A.T. lieutenant is torn between loyalty to the streets and duty to his fellow officers when he’s tasked to run a highly trained unit that is the last stop for solving crimes in Los Angeles. Inspired by the film of the same name.”
Combines two staples of CBS: Shemar Moore and military-themed shows with a 4-lettered-title, very on-brand

•Untitled Navy SEALs
Logline: “Follows the lives of the elite Navy SEALs as they train, plan and execute the most dangerous, high stakes missions the country can ask.”
Cast: David Boreanaz, Jim Caviezel (Person of Interest)
A military procedural starring someone who spent the last 12 seasons starring in a criminal procedural? This is CBS’s bread and butter.

CW
•Black Lightning
Logline: “Jefferson Pierce (Hart of Dixie’s Cress Williams) made his choice: he hung up the suit and his secret identity years ago, but with a daughter hell-bent on justice and a star student being recruited by a local gang, he’ll be pulled back into the fight as the wanted vigilante and DC legend — Black Lightning.”
4 DC shows is arguably enough for the CW (especially with ratings for all of them dropping this season). Still, CW may pick this one up just to continue fostering a positive relationship with EP Greg Berlanti (behind half of the CW’s schedule).

•Life Sentence
Logline: “When a young woman (Pretty Little Liars’ Lucy Hale) diagnosed with terminal cancer finds out that she’s not dying after all, she has to learn to live with the choices she made when she decided to ‘live like she was dying.'”
Word on the street is the CW is looking to balance the gender skew on its network now that it’s known as a comic book male-skewing network. With The Vampire Diaries ending, scheduling a show lead by Pretty Little Liars star Lucy Hale could help counter the notion that the CW now exclusively caters to males 15-40.

•Searchers
Logline: “The action-adventure drama follows a group of unlikely heroes who find themselves on the journey of a lifetime. Ten years after the death of their parents, a pragmatic brother and free-spirited sister are forced to team when they learn that their mother’s terrifying and bizarre stories may be a road map to discovering the great legends, myths and unexplainable mysteries of the world.”

FOX
Comedy
•Type-A
Logline: “Based on the Aaron James book Assholes: A Theory, the office comedy revolves around a group of consultants who are hand-picked to do the dirty work most professionals can’t handle including layoffs, downsizing and generally delivering horrible news. To everyone else, they’re the enemy but to each other, they’re family.”
Cast: Eva Longoria, Ken Marino, Kyle Bornheimer, Steve Harris, Andy Richter, Dulce Sloan
Half-decent concept + decent cast

Drama
**Orville**
Logline: “The hourlong dramedy is set 300 years in the future and follows the adventures of the Orville, an exploratory ship in Earth’s interstellar fleet. Facing cosmic challenges from without and within, the motley crew of space explorers will “boldly go where no comedic drama has gone before.”
Cast: Seth MacFarlane

•Untitled Marvel (live-action X-Men)
Logline: “Revolves around two ordinary parents who discover their children possess mutant powers. Forced to go on the run from a hostile government, the family joins up with an underground network of mutants and must fight to survive.”
Do we need another X-Men TV show when FX’s Legion has set the bar too damn high for any concurrent X-Men show? No. Should FOX have long ago taken advantage of its parent company owning the rights to X-Men? Yes.

NBC
Comedy
•The Sackett Sisters
Logline: “Revolves around the Sackett family, who is reunited when two estranged sisters perform an act of public heroism and are forced to navigate the aftermath together.”
Cast: Casey Wilson, Busy Philipps, Bradley Whitford
Team: W/EP Luke Del Tredici (30 Rock); EP Tina Fey, Robert Carlock, David Miner
Casey Wilson? Busy Philipps? Tina Fey? I’ll give it a shot

•Where I’m From
Logline: “Based on Kang’s life, the comedy explores what it’s like to grow up as the only girl in the only mixed-race family in the suburbs of Philadelphia, dealing with real-world issues like race and gender while never losing focus of her life goal: to become a Laker Girl like her idol, Paula Abdul.”
Just out there enough it might work in the vein of The Goldbergs; Fresh off the Boat

**Will and Grace**
Logline: “A revival of the long-running comedy series.”

Drama
•Shelter
Logline: “A real time ‘extreme event’ medical series that follows the nurses and doctors of an understaffed Brooklyn hospital that becomes the borough’s last viable trauma center after a catastrophic hurricane wreaks havoc on the city. On a holiday weekend with few doctors on call, the medical staff will be pushed to make the most difficult life-and-death choices as they work to save their patients and themselves.”
Sounds like something a cable channel would try; so long as the writing is good (it’s on a broadcast net, so it probably won’t be)

2017 Upfronts Preview Pt 1: Cancelled or Renewed?

Upfronts is the annual presentation in May where the broadcast television networks pitch their upcoming television schedules to ad buyers in an attempt to drive buzz and hype on the new shows so companies buy time during those shows to air commercials for the company’s products. It’s usually (but not always) the deadline for television executives to decide which shows to cancel/renew (though it’s usually decided sooner, it’s public at Upfronts). While cable networks (and increasingly, websites with digital shows) have been getting in on the action with their own Upfronts presentation, this series of posts will focus on the Big 4 (+CW) broadcast nets.

In this post, I’ll take a look at the 2016-17 television schedule (scripted shows only) to see which shows are likely to come back and those more likely to be cancelled. In the next posts, I’ll take a look at the pilots in contention to be picked up to series and go network-by-network to see how I would schedule each of them.

ABC
Renewed:
-The Middle
-How to Get Away with Murder
-Scandal
-Grey’s Anatomy

Cancelled/de facto Cancelled:
-Notorious
-Conviction
-Time After Time

Predictions:
-Black-ish
-Modern Family
-The Goldbergs
-Speechless
-American Housewife
-Last Man Standing
-Fresh off the Boat
-Designated Survivor
All the above are headed for a likely renewal
-Dr. Ken A better chance at returning than not, though not as assured as the comedies above
-Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
-Once Upon a Time
If either of the above two shows return, their current ratings make fore a likely final, short season
-The Catch Shonda Rhimes’s producer credit got this show to a second season. Unlikely to pull that out for a third season, though not quite impossible
-Imaginary Mary Depends on how future episodes play out, but its first two episodes’ ratings make this look like a swing-and-a-miss
-The Real O’Neals The weakest performing of ABC’s non-Friday comedies. It will be cancelled so ABC can try their luck with new comedies
-Quantico The significant sophomore slump gives no reason for this show to return
-Secrets and Lies You already forgot this show existed, didn’t you?
-American Crime Despite the critical acclaim and annual awards nominations, its ratings, while always below average, have hit lows in its 3rd season that normally dictate getting immediately yanked off the schedule

CBS
Renewed:
-The Big Bang Theory
-NCIS
-Mom
-Kevin Can Wait
-Bull
-Man with a Plan
-Life in Pieces
-NCIS: Los Angeles
-Superior Donuts
-Scorpion
-Blue Bloods
-Hawaii Five-0
-NCIS: New Orleans
-MacGyver
-Madam Secretary
-Criminal Minds

Cancelled/de facto Cancelled:
-Doubt
-Pure Genius
-Training Day

Predictions:
-2 Broke Girls Its ratings are steady enough, CBS is probably working out contract details for a 7th season with Warner Brothers Television, 2BG’s production studio (older shows are more expensive)
-The Great Indoors It not being renewed despite having similar ratings to Man with a Plan/Kevin Can Wait probably comes down to CBS picking the shows with the higher-marquee stars. Its renewal will depend on how weak/strong the crop of comedy pilots is
-Code Black Its ratings were nothing great, but we’re living in a television rating age where nothing great is the norm. This show could stealth its way to a 3rd season
-The Odd Couple Its ratings fell in its 3rd season, enough to put it on the chopping block. With CBS renewing the bulk of its comedies, Odd Couple looks less likely to come back than 2 Broke Girls or The Great Indoors
-Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders If they’re really desperate, they’ll keep it around
-Elementary Looks like this will be the end of the line for Watson & Sherlock
-Ransom The last first-run scripted Saturday show I remember is She Spies (NBC, 2002-04). It will probably be another decade before some network tries again

CW
Renewed:
-The Flash
-Supergirl
-Supernatural
-Legends of Tomorrow
-Arrow
-The 100
-Jane the Virgin
-Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
-Riverdale

Cancelled/Ending:
-Reign
-The Vampire Diaries

Predictions:
-No Tomorrow The show’s title says it all
-Frequency Same here, unless one of the shows does gangbusters in Netflix views
-The Originals More likely than not to see another season as Friday fodder
-iZombie Three episodes is too soon to tell

FOX
Renewed:
-Empire
-The Simpsons
-Bob’s Burgers
-Lethal Weapon
-Star
-Lucifer
-The Mick

Cancelled/Ending:
-Bones

Predictions:
-Family Guy Contract details and legal work is all that’s holding this up
-Brooklyn Nine-Nine Right at the FOX average ratings, it’s more likely than not to come back
-Gotham If Luficer can come back with similar ratings, Gotham will likely accompany it in returning next season
-24: Legacy Look, its ratings aren’t spectacular. And this show was late-season, low-quality 24. But FOX can’t cancel everything. And because of that, the odds are ever so slightly in its favor
-The Last Man on Earth The mediocre performance of FOX’s mid-season comedies combined with this show’s superior critical reception makes it likely TLMoE will continue to be the bookend to FOX’s Sunday schedule
-Prison Break Maybe in another 9 years
-New Girl
-Pitch
-Making History
50/50 for the above three shows
-The Exorcist 40/60
-Son of Zorn For animated comedies, no renewal at this point likely points to a cancellation
-Rosewood Its audience vanished this year, presumably along with support from executives
-APB 0 buzz on this will be this show’s undoing
-Sleepy Hollow Put this one out of its misery
-Scream Queens Nope

NBC
Renewed:
-This is Us
-The Good Place
-Superstore
-Shades of Blue

Cancelled/Ending:
-Grimm
-Powerless

Predictions:
-Chicago Fire
-Chicago P.D.
-Chicago Med
-Chicago Justice
They’re all coming back
-Law & Order: SVU This one too
-Trial and Error If NBC is looking to get its comedy brand back up and running, they could do worse than renewing Trial and Error. They could also do better, but will they?
-Taken Middling ratings on the cusp of renewable-level
-The Blacklist It’s old, and it’s a shell of its former-self ratings-wise, but at least it’s relatively stable. It’ll probably come back.
-Blindspot Ratings have sunk in its move to Wednesday, but we’re living in an age of fractional ratings. Renewal odds are marginally in its favor
-The Blacklist: Redemption The Blacklist will not become the new Chicago franchise for NBC
-Timeless Negligible ratings, production costs looks to be not insignificant. The Voice will have another new lead-out program Mondays this fall
-Emerald City One and done

Top Shows of 2016 (So Far) — Post-Summer Update

Update to my earlier list.

Comedy
1. Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (TBS)
2. Silicon Valley (HBO)
2. Broad City (Comedy Central)
4. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
5. Veep (HBO)
5. It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (FXX)
7. BoJack Horseman (Netflix)
8. Angie Tribeca (TBS)
9. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX)

Drama
1. Agent Carter (ABC)
2. iZombie (CW)
3. Game of Thrones (HBO)
3. The Good Wife (CBS)
5. American Crime (ABC)
6. The Americans (FX)
7. The Girlfriend Experience (Starz)
8. Preacher (AMC)
9. Kingdom (Audience Network)

Honorable Mention (Drama): The Night Manager (AMC/BBC); Stranger Things (Netflix); Hap and Leonard (SundanceTV); Billions (Showtime)

 Honorable Mention (Comedy): Archer (FX); Survivor’s Remorse (Starz); Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix)

Top Shows of 2016 (So Far)

With the regular September-May television season having came to an end, it’s time to whip up my initial ‘Top of’ list. Placements on the initial list(s) are no guarantee they will have the same spot, or a spot at all, on the final end-of-year list. Shows may be more well-regarded in hindsight (or less), and shows from the rest of the year may also jostle it out of position.

This is a top of list. It is not a best of, nor a favorite of list, rather it’s an imprecise amalgam of the two (giving roughly equal weight to a show’s quality and how much I liked it). If this was a Best of list, based on sheer quality, it would look different. If it was a Favorite of list, based on how much I liked the shows, it would look different.

Finally, only shows that have completed their seasons are considered (save for those that air year-round).

Comedy
1. Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (TBS)
2. Broad City (Comedy Central)
3. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
4. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FXX)
5. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Fox)
6. Angie Tribeca (TBS)

Drama
1. Agent Carter (ABC)
2. iZombie (CW)
3. The Good Wife (CBS)
4. American Crime (ABC)
5. The Americans (FX)
6. The Girlfriend Experience (Starz)

Honorable Mentions: The Night Manager (BBC/AMC)
Shows to be finished: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; Vinyl; Outsiders; Daredevil