Interest Level Key:
1: Don’t wanna touch this with a ten foot pole.
2: I’ve never even heard of this.
3: Looks like shit.
4: Looks like shit but there’s one or two things I like.
5: Not my cup of tea but I can see the appeal for others.
6: Maybe. I’m giving it a couple episodes to prove itself though.
7: It has the potential to be good. I’m hopeful but cautious.
8: Bring it on. (a.k.a. I’m in for half a season at least.)
9: I am super stoked for this show; there’s maybe one thing I’m iffy about.
10: Have they renewed for season 2 yet?
Sunnyside
The 5-second Description: A disgraced, hard-partying councilman is removed from office and decides to help a group of immigrants study to achieve citizenship.
Interest Level Before Pilot: 7: It has the potential to be good. I’m hopeful but cautious.
Analysis: In 2004, a young Garrett Modi (Kal Penn) ran for city council in New York and won… but proceeded to waste his entire time in office partying with celebrities and doing nothing of value for 15 years. After getting caught drunk driving and trying to bribe a police officer, Garrett is removed from office and has just about his rock bottom, living at his sister’s place and agreeing to take humiliating photographs with people who think he is a joke just for petty cash.
Eventually, Garrett is hired by a diverse group of immigrants who are hoping Garrett can use his erstwhile connections to put them in touch with someone who can help them, since their former classroom was shut down without notice. At first, Garrett pretends to help them for the money and the feeble hope that it will aid his future reelection campaign, but he eventually comes to realize he really needs to step up after one of them is arrested by ICE.
I felt a little let down by this show. I wanted it to be funnier and more heart-warming than it was. Many of the jokes felt a little flat or overly-reliant on old stereotypes: Brady (Moses Storm) is a bit of a meathead bro who didn’t even realize he was a Moldovan immigrant until he attempts to apply for a driver’s license (he doesn’t even know where Moldova is); Jun Ho and Mei Lin (Joel Kim Booster and Poppy Liu) are astonishingly wealthy (and obnoxiously shallow) siblings who are startled to find they cannot buy their citizenship; Hakim (Samba Schutte) is a well-meaning but naÏve Ethiopian immigrant who drives a cab, even though he used to be a doctor in his former life. These characters, while hinting at multiple layers, didn’t do anything amusing in the first two episodes.
The only member of the group that got a few genuine laughs from me was Dominican immigrant Griselda (Diana-Maria Riva), particularly for the running joke that she works an absurd amount of jobs and can be seen just about to start her break or returning to work in nearly every scene of the pilot. The other two characters, Garrett’s doctor sister Mallory (Kiran Deol), and Garrett’s city council replacement, Diana Barea (Ana Villafañe) are clearly there to bust Garrett’s balls and make sure he stays on the level. Garrett himself was unfortunately an obnoxious manchild who takes way too long to learn his lessons.
In my review for Perfect Harmony, I mentioned how I like main characters who are reluctantly roped into becoming leaders of ragtag groups. This show is sort of the opposite of that–the group doesn’t want Garrett to be in charge of their fates, but he is all they’ve got so now the audience gets to watch as Garrett blunders his way through matters he knows almost nothing about because he has never bothered to learn, even though it was his job for 15 years. Perhaps this immature persona played well when Kal Penn was in his 20s looking for the nearest White Castle, but he’s in his early 40s now and it’s just pathetic instead.
I do not want to undermine the show’s purpose, however. Clearly one of the main plot points is Garrett’s delayed coming of age and we’re supposed to walk that path with him as an audience. I like the show’s overall message that we are not so different from one another and everyone deserves a chance to make it in America because that’s what being an American is all about, but this show is too silly to drive that message home. By the second episode, the show is already meandering into interpersonal subplots. Penn is pulling on his experience working in the White House to talk about issues that are important, but he is reducing them to culture clash jokes and I think this show can be better if it just tries to be serious over slapstick.
Interest Level After Pilot: 6: Maybe. I’m giving it a couple episodes to prove itself though. I did watch the first three episodes and I saw potential down the road, but sadly Sunnyside will never reach that potential as it was pulled from the schedule as the first cancellation of the season. The remaining episodes will be available to watch online at a future date.
Bless the Harts
The 5-second Description: An animated show centered on a poor southern family, the Harts, who are based on creator Emily’s Spivey’s family growing up in South Carolina.
Interest Level Before Pilot: 6: Maybe. I’m giving it five episodes to prove itself though.
Analysis: Everything about this voice cast had promise: SNL alums Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph, Jillian Bell, and Kumail Nanjiani playing Jesus?! And Jesus just hangs out in the diner where the main character works? But sometimes the components do not add up right and sadly, this is one of those times.
The very first scene of Bless the Harts includes a pretty unflattering portrait of a minor black character, as voiced by a white person, so I was already uncomfortable before the credits even aired. The show moves on to introduce us to the titular Harts – Jenny (Wiig), her mother Betty (Rudolph), her daughter Violet (Bell), and Jenny’s husband/Violet’s stepfather, Wayne (Ike Barinholtz).
The pilot dives right into divergent stories pairing off the main characters into two subplots. In one, Jenny discovers her mother is secretly hoarding a massive collection of a 90s fad toy called Hug n Bugs, a Beanie Baby-esque stuffed bug described as “the cuddliest combination of current events and pop culture you’ll ever hug!” Famed Hug n Bugs include: “Tamagatchi OJ Trial,” “Tanya Harding Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” and “Rachel Haircut Magic Johnson HIV Press Conference.” Betty thinks the collection will be worth something, but isn’t ready to sell; Jenny, however, needs to pay the water bill after it has been shut off so she sneaks a few of the Hug n Bugs away to sell on eBay, unaware that her only buyer is her mother, who thinks she is buying new toys for her collection at a steal. Some of the names of the Hug n Bugs were chuckle-worthy, but considering the crux of the joke is that southern people are slow to catch on to cultural fads and technology, it really only served to make the main characters look hopelessly stupid.
The second plot revolves around the masculine yet oddly insecure Wayne inwardly fretting that his stepdaughter Violet hero-worships her real [absentee] father and doesn’t love him after seeing himself depicted as a stump in the graphic novel Violet has created. Wayne sets out to prove his love for his stepdaughter by recreating the fortress from her graphic novel in their backyard, since he is too dim to offer any constructive commentary. This subplot was not really funny but it was kind of sweet, in an awkward way, which kind of sums up this show’s mission statement. Unfortunately, while the show thinks it offers a lot of laughs and a lot of heart (because their name is Hart, GET IT?), it’s missing the former and overstating the latter. It also completely fails to offer any explanation of how Wayne was able to build an entire elaborate structure and Betty could afford to blow hundreds of dollars on toys and yet neither of them could cough up a couple hundred bucks for the water bill.
Kumail Nanjiani’s slacker Jesus was a nice touch but it can’t save this show. Perhaps they just picked a poor episode for the pilot and the show gets better from here, but no one could be blamed for not sticking around to find out.
Interest Level After Pilot: 3: Looks like shit. A steaming pile of it. Fox’s animation bloc can do better than this, and yet it defied all expectations as the first season 2 renewal of the year.
Almost Family
The 5-second Description: A young woman’s life is turned upside down when she finds out her father, a renowned fertility doctor in New York, used his own sperm to father countless children. When they start to come out of the woodwork, she finds herself with two new sisters she never thought she wanted.
Interest Level Before Pilot: 7: It has the potential to be good. I’m hopeful but cautious.
Analysis: Fertility doctor Leon Bechley (Timothy Hutton) is receiving an award for his life’s achievements when the truth comes out that he has been impregnating women with his own sperm for decades. Leon promptly has a heart attack when confronted with his secret. His daughter Julia (Brittany Snow), who has also worked at his clinic her entire adult life, is devastated by her father’s dishonesty and overwhelmed when siblings start showing up on her doorstep. She must juggle taking care of her father’s health with his legal troubles when the fraud case turns into a potential sexual assault case.
Julia also has to deal with two half sisters that are revealed. The first, Edie Palmer (Megalyn Echikunwoke), is a childhood friend-turned-rival whose single mother always suspected Leon’s deception but never told her daughter. Julia and Edie had a falling out when Edie stole Julia’s boyfriend in college, then married him and became partners with him at her law firm. In the present, Edie agrees to represent her newfound father in his court case, and this throws her on a collision course with Julia, who quickly discovers that Edie is hiding a secret: she is attracted to women and her marriage is failing.
This unlikely pair wouldn’t have come together were it not for a third sister, Roxy Doyle (Emily Osment), a retired gymnast, current drug addict, and hot mess of a human being. Roxy has been living with her overbearing parents and dealing with anger issues, so when the truth arises about Leon being her real biological father, Roxy goes running to the Bechleys in search of some symbolic familial connection she feels she has been missing. Julia initially rejects her sisters, unable to deal with the reality of her father’s deception, but she comes around and allows Roxy to move into her place while they figure this whole thing out.
I had heard shaky things about Almost Family before watching the pilot so I was expecting a mess, but the show pulled itself together better than I expected and offered the right balance of ‘emotional’ and ‘uplifting.’ Due to the fast-paced nature, I worry that they will brush some plot points under the rug that truly need more room to breathe: Julia has a one-night-stand with a man that turns out to be a potential half brother and this is played for laughs at Julia’s expense, even though it is horrifying; Edie’s newfound sexual preferences probably should have played out over more episodes instead of being crammed into an already busy pilot; and Leon seems wholly unapologetic–flippant, even–about his fraudulence. At first I was worried that Leon would have a second heart attack and die and thus never have to deal with the consequences of his actions, but Hutton is sticking around. Leon comes off sympathetic when he attempts to bond with an eager (and vulnerable) Roxy, but he should be ostracized for what he did, and if the show doesn’t address that anger down the road, it would be to their detriment.
It was a bit hard to connect with the characters. Edie is a cold fish, her husband Tim (Mo McRae) was boring and his acting was weak, Roxy is obnoxious and childish for a 30-year-old woman, Julia vacillates wildly between being sweet and sympathetic to being rude and selfish. I have a feeling the entire first season will be a series of Julia being nasty to someone before realizing over and over again at episode’s end that her life wasn’t the only one turned upside down and having to apologize. Hopefully, Julia comes to terms with her predicament by season’s end so she can move on with her life and embrace her new siblings, because then Almost Family would hit all the right notes.
Interest Level After Pilot: 7: It has the potential to be good. I’m hopeful but cautious. Same rating as before. It could be a sweet and uplifting show about finding family in the least likely places, but its main characters need to stay on the path of self-improvement instead of spiraling.
Batwoman
The 5-second Description: Kate Kane, Bruce Wayne’s cousin, returns to Gotham city three years after Batman’s disappearance to take over for the caped crusader as Batwoman.
Interest Level Before Pilot: 5: Not my cup of tea but I can see the appeal for others.
Analysis: Wow, there is a lot to unpack about this show.
Kate Kane (Ruby Rose) is a highly trained fighter who left town years ago after being rejected from the military academy and, simultaneously, her girlfriend, Sophie (Meagan Tandy), who chose not to out herself in order to hold on to her career. Batman and Bruce Wayne have been absent from Gotham City for three years and at a ceremony to turn off the Bat Signal for good, Sophie is kidnapped by the Wonderland Gang, led by the enigmatic Alice (Rachel Skarsten).
Sophie works for a security firm that is run by Jacob Kane (Dougray Scott), Kate’s estranged father, who has been distant ever since the drowning death of Kate’s mother and twin sister, Beth. Sophie, now married to a man, has a better relationship with Kate’s father than Kate herself does, and her kidnapping is perceived as a threat to Jacob; nonetheless, the incident forces Kate to return to Gotham to find her missing erstwhile love.
A voiceover from Kate guides us through her interactions with characters and provides a LOT of exposition, perhaps more than what is necessary in a pilot. Kate has an evil stepmother (Elizabeth Anweis) and an ostensibly shallow stepsister (Nicole Kang), who is later revealed to be running a free clinic to help Gotham’s poorer citizens, providing a different view of her than what Kate held previously. Kate also breaks into her cousin Bruce’s mansion and easily thwarts Luke Fox (Camrus Johnson), son of Lucius, a nerd who is doing a piss-poor job of concealing the fact that Bruce Wayne was Batman. Kate seems unphased to discover this fact, considering she loved Bruce but hated Batman for failing to save her mother and sister when she was a kid.
Kate has Luke modify the batsuit and rescues Sophie in a showy display. A showdown with Alice herself leaves Kate confused; it is later revealed to the viewer that Kate’s sister’s body was never found, which of course means she is still alive and is, in fact, Alice herself. So, Kate’s nemesis is her presumed-dead twin sister. As someone who does not follow comics or very much of anything under the DC umbrella, this was a lot to take in, but this is probably a lot easier to digest for someone in the know. Thankfully, America knows the Batman legend so well that the average viewer will probably still get the context enough to get by.
Interest Level After Pilot: 5: Not my cup of tea but I can see the appeal for others. This show fits in nicely with the DC-verse that the CW has constructed over the years. I have not sampled any of these before and Batwoman has not convinced me that I need to start so I won’t be tuning in, but perhaps this show will fill a nice Gotham-sized hole for fans of the bat.
Nancy Drew
The 5-second Description: Teen sleuth Nancy Drew solves mysteries with the help of her friends in the small town of Horseshoe Bay, Maine.
Interest Level Before Pilot: 3: Looks like shit.
Analysis: Just like they did with the Archie comics on Riverdale, the CW is attempting to ‘update’ the Nancy Drew mystery series by making it darker and more ‘mature.’ In the 2019 series, Nancy (Kennedy McMann) is 18 years old and has given up on sleuthing (and a social life in general) since the death of her mother from cancer. Nonetheless, she finds herself drawn into a ghostly mystery when the wife of a handsome socialite is found dead outside the diner where Nancy works.
Nancy Drew has a lot of characters who are fairly shallow so far, but clearly all have secrets that will come out down the line. Nancy provides a voiceover but it’s really more of a running commentary of her thoughts interjected throughout the show. Her fellow teen workers at the diner seem innocuous–and even jump in to help Nancy investigate the mystery–but they all have something to hide.
Ned Nickerson (Tunji Kasim) is Nancy’s love interest who wants to be closer to her even though she is keeping him at arm’s length. When she finds out he has a criminal past, she is initially cold, then accepting, but then right back to cold when she finds out he has a connection to the victim from the diner. Nancy’s father (a still baby-faced Scott Wolf) is also distrustful of Ned and warns Nancy away from him. This has mixed results, since Nancy has a strained relationship with her workhorse father, who has failed to connect with her after her mother’s death. Their relationship only gets worse when Nancy finds out her father is dating the detective (Alvina August) who tried to defend her at the diner.
There are three other employees at the diner and thus three other suspects: Bess Marvin (Maddison Jaizani) is a rich city girl who appears to have stolen the ring off the victim. Georgia Fan (Leah Lewis) is a high school rival of Nancy’s who appears to be having an affair with the victim’s husband (Riley Smith), who may have had her murdered. Ace (Alex Saxon) is a dishwasher who appears to be a snitch passing information to the local police chief (Adam Beach), who despises Nancy for sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong. All of these threads lead to a powder keg that will probably explode by the season finale, but for now they are mysteries for Nancy to figure out.
There’s definitely a lot of plot to fill up a season; hopefully this show will favor the supernatural mystery over the teen drama but, given that it’s on the CW, I suspect it will favor the melodrama.
Interest Level After Pilot: 5: Not my cup of tea but I can see the appeal for others. It is perfectly paired with Riverdale and probably only a matter of time before they cross over. I might check in later but I am admittedly not the target audience.
