Post Mortem – God Friended Me

With virtually all TV and pilot production shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, broadcast networks find themselves in a position of either picking up new shows without seeing a pilot or renewing most of their existing lineup.  Despite that, CBS decided to move forward without God Friended Me, cancelling the show just as it was wrapping up its second season.

While the show slipped a bit in the second season, falling victim to the supposed need to keep the two leads apart romantically, it was still entertaining enough.  I certainly look forward to whatever Brandon Micheal Hall and Violett Beane do next.  And, within the next two years, there will be another show in this genre, the skeptical non-believer does good while following the moves of a mysterious, unknown force, on the air, as there has been for the last 30 years or so.

Midseason Review – Sundays

With the advent of winter premieres, the start of the premium cable network shows, and with February sweeps around the corner, it’s time to revisit my thoughts from the beginning of the season and look ahead at what’s to come for Sunday nights.

7:00

Batwoman – The Arrowverse expands once again, with this entry coming out of last year’s crossover event.  Ruby Rose puts on the cowl to protect the streets of Gotham.

Outside of the Crisis On Infinite Earths crossover episode, I haven’t actually gotten around to watching this yet, though the episodes are piling up on the DVR.

7:30

God Friended Me – The latest “do-gooder has a direct line from God” returns for a second season after being surprisingly entertaining.

I’m still enjoying this, but I am a little concerned that they’ve already leaned hard into the “keep the obvious couple apart for dubious reasons” trope.

8:00

Supergirl – The fifth season sees the return of Jeremy Jordan and the exit of Mehcad Brooks.

We’ll see how the outcome of the Crisis crossover impacts the show moving forward, as it looks to have a completely new status quo.

9:00

Silicon Valley – The Pied Piper gang returns for their final season.

The show got an honorable wrap up, with the crew finally succeeding, but forced to kill their own creation for the good of the world.

Shameless – Season 10, the first without Emmy Rossum, may be a bit of a stretch.  But, I guess if I’ve watched this long, why stop now?

I am slowly working through the season, which is turning out to be a bit of a slog without Emmy Rossum.  It’s been renewed for an eleventh, and final, season, so I may as well keep going with the finish line in sight.

New entries hitting the screen this winter include:

Doctor Who – Jodie Whitaker returns for her second go-around as the Doctor.

Homeland – The Showtime drama returns for its final season.

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist – Jane Levy returns as a coder who starts to hear people’s inner musical dialogue.

The Outsider – Based on a Stephen King book, the new HBO drama stars Jason Bateman.

Avenue 5 – A sci-fi comedy from the creators of Veep.

2019 New Fall Season – Sundays

It is time once again to dive in to the new fall lineups for the television season that will kick into gear tomorrow night. We start this year with Sunday night’s offerings, which features a little less programming that interests me than last year’s slate.

7:00

Batwoman – The Arrowverse expands once again, with this entry coming out of last year’s crossover event.  Ruby Rose puts on the cowl to protect the streets of Gotham.

7:30

God Friended Me – The latest “do-gooder has a direct line from God” returns for a second season after being surprisingly entertaining.

8:00

Supergirl – The fifth season sees the return of Jeremy Jordan and the exit of Mehcad Brooks.

9:00

Silicon Valley – The Pied Piper gang returns for their final season.

Shameless – Season 10, the first without Emmy Rossum, may be a bit of a stretch.  But, I guess if I’ve watched this long, why stop now?

Midseason Review – Sundays

We continue our annual look back at my thoughts on the new fall season plus any new offering coming soon on Sunday night.

7:00

God Friended Me – What if you took last season’s Kevin (Probably) Saves The World and add in social media?  Then you probably get this show.

I am a sucker for this type of show and Brandon Michael Hall and Violett Beane have tremendous chemistry.

Supergirl – The CW expands to a new night, and moves one of their DC hits to kick off the festivities.

A season-long story on xenophobia that echoes the feelings of the current administration.

8:00

Charmed – A reboot of the old WB hit, replacing the Halliwell sisters with a new collection of witches.

I watched the first episode and felt like I didn’t need to go back for more.

Shameless – Season 9 of the show started a few weeks back.

The show premiered while I was in Europe last fall and I’ve yet to catch up.

Ray Donovan – The show returns for its sixth season at the end of October.

Yeah, I haven’t watched this yet either.

Doctor Who – The 11th season kicks off with a new show runner and a new Doctor, Jodie Whitaker.

The new doctor finished her first series of adventures, which I think was a success.

9:00

Camping – Jennifer Garner and David Tennant team up for this adaptation of the British comedy.

Eh, a decent enough way to spend a half hour.

New entries that will be hitting the screen this winter include: Continue reading →

2018 New Fall Season – Sundays

It is time once again to dive in to the new fall lineups for the television season that kicked into gear two weeks ago. We start this year with Sunday night’s offerings, which features a little more programming that interests me than last year.

7:00

God Friended Me – What if you took last season’s Kevin (Probably) Saves The World and add in social media?  Then you probably get this show.

Supergirl – The CW expands to a new night, and moves one of their DC hits to kick off the festivities.

8:00

Charmed – A reboot of the old WB hit, replacing the Halliwell sisters with a new collection of witches.

Shameless – Season 9 of the show started a few weeks back.

Ray Donovan – The show returns for its sixth season at the end of October.

Doctor Who – The 11th season kicks off with a new show runner and a new Doctor, Jodie Whitaker.

9:00

Camping – Jennifer Garner and David Tennant team up for this adaptation of the British comedy.

CBS Upfronts

Everything old is new this season at CBS, which will have 5 reboots on the air this fall.  The week starts with 3 new shows on Monday night: The Neighborhood, about a white family from Michigan that moves to LA and ends up with Cedric the Entertainer as their neighbor, Happy Together, starring Damon Wayans Jr. and Amber Stevens West as a happily married couple who begin to reconnect with their younger, cooler selves, and Magnum P.I., a modern take on the classic show with Jay Hernandez taking on Tom Selleck’s role.  Bull moves from Tuesday to close out the night.

FBI, starring Missy Peregrym and Jeremy Sisto, is sandwiched between two editions of NCIS on Tuesdays.  Wednesday night stays exactly the same.  Thursday, freed from the NFL, stays mostly the same, with The Big Bang TheoryYoung Sheldon, and Mom, followed by a rebooted Murphy Brown and season two of S.W.A.T.  Friday stays exactly the same.  Sunday adds God Friended Me, about an atheist that gets a friend request from God on social media.

On tap for midseason, along side returning favorites ElementaryInstinct, Man With A Plan, and Life, are The Code, which taps the underrepresented area of legal law, The Red Line, about 3 Chicago families dealing with loss, and Fam, a comedy about a woman whose perfect life is thrown asunder when her sister moves in.

Gone and never to be seen again are 9JKLKevin Can WaitLiving BiblicallyMe, Myself, & IScorpionSuperior DonutsWisdom Of The Crowd, and Zoo.