CBS:
B Positive: Drew (played by Thomas Middleditch of Silicon Valley) is a newly divorced therapist and dad who is faced with finding a kidney donor when he runs into Gina, a woman from his past (high school) that he never thought he would see again who volunteers her own kidney. Together, they form an unlikely and life-affirming friendship as they begin a journey that will forever impact both of their lives.
Verdict: Cancelled. It is a very odd premise that is morbid when it starts off with the main character getting bad news about his health and potential death. The plot kind of keeps into one thing where either he gets the transplant or not, so how long can the show go maybe two years, and also the laugh track is annoying. Middleditch is a good actor but he is not lead material he is odd and quirky more like a supporting actor or good in an ensemble cast like on the show he was just on. Gina played by Annaleigh Ashford is annoying and nothing about her is redeeming, her life is a mess and yes she is supposedly helping Drew but most times I cannot stand her or her voice or her friends. It seems like Chuck Lorre has a lifetime deal with CBS that anytime he makes a show they have to green light it. It makes you laugh a few times here and there but that’s it. His ex-wife who divorced him and his daughter seem like filler to make him not seem like a lonely single guy. The funniest people are the dialysis group and the old people you might recognize, a few of them as character actors from previous works. Also, the intro to the show is so weird with famous composers/painters in a painting that is animated with them performing surgery and singing about “being positive” hence the name of the show. Covid 19 might help it stay on for a full season like the last few new CBS shows that were on this year, since they might not have another sitcom ready yet, but if it wasn’t for Covid19 it might have seen this show get the boot 5 episodes in.
NBC:
Connecting: Set against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the series follows the lives of a group of friends that are from all walks of life who try to stay connected via video chat as they navigate through the various nuances of life in a lockdown.
Verdict: Cancelled. It is what we all need during the quarantine seeing that we are not alone in all the problems we are experiencing during this pandemic. It has clever humor sprinkled into everyone’s problem and they do a good job in introducing every character well. It has made me laugh a few times per episode due to certain characters each portraying a different person during this pandemic. They have two married couples one with kids the other without, a few single people, someone who lost a job, someone living in a bunker and someone who is recently single. One nice touch is they have a friend who they haven’t talked to in awhile who is a nurse on the frontlines of NYC who shares her struggles, so it is sad but is nice they gave frontline workers a shout out. The cast is too diverse to be realistic in a small group of friends plus some are related to each other. They also add a secret love connection between the friends to which is kind of cliché to have one friend like the other but they don’t know. I think it was made last second because of the times of the quarantine and using Zoom to connect with people, but I do not think it will be renewed if this pandemic does end as it will not be relevant. It is just a nice distraction to watch a sitcom with actors we don’t have expectations until the regular shows come back.
ABC:
Big Sky: It is based on the series of books by C.J. Box where Private detectives Cassie Dewell(played by Kylie Bunbury of Pitch & When they See us), Cody Hoyt(played by Ryan Phillippe of Cruel Intentions & Shooter) and ex-cop/his ex-wife Jenny Hoyt(Katheryn Winnick of Vikings & Dark Tower) join forces to search for two sisters (one is dating his son) who have been kidnapped by a truck driver on a remote highway in Montana. When they discover that these are not the only girls who have disappeared in the area, they must race against the clock to stop the killer before another woman is taken.
Verdict: Cancelled. I usually get attached and like new one hour shows on ABC but usually those shows are good that deserve to be renewed but don’t and this is not even below average. This show might be a mystery that needs to be solved and you want to see how they solve it but it has not kept my attention and I never read the book, so I don’t know if it’s being told right or wrong. It has a love triangle between a separated couple who both happened to work as cops before and the third is the guy’s partner in private investigating. Their kid has a girlfriend who is driving up with her sister and get taken but if the kid wasn’t dating her would have they stumbled into this trafficking ring/the wife worked on the cold case years ago? I doubt it and it’s too much coincidence plus the secretary’s cousin’s ex husband is the state trooper involved too. I am also disappointed in the biggest actor in the show Phillippe is only in one episode (no spoilers). Also, one of the most underrated character actors in the last twenty years John Carroll Lynch (of Drew Carey show & American Horror story) is playing such a horrible corrupt man I am not enjoying him being on the show even if I am a fan. The other two actresses I know also don’t do much in Bunbury who I am glad has a show after they cancelled Pitch and Natalie Alyn Lind after they also cancelled her show The Gifted. The supposed lead also isn’t that convincing in her role and the other evil person in the show is a 30 something year old man who lives with his mom and sleeps next to her at night so he is weird. I don’t even want to want to see his role in this. Also they have a token LGBT character to throw into this mess which is nice to include everyone but it doesn’t help the plot. I don’t see this show getting renewed since ABC doesn’t have the track record of renewing new one hour dramas or ones that are have multiple genres in it, unless its medical/procedural/family drama show in the last five years or more but those were good shows. If it gets renewed how long can they drag this out? Will it be 10 or more episodes that each episode is a different day/time of the day because time is of the essence to find/save these girls? It probably should have been a limited series because either they die or they save them which is pretty much the only two options.
CW:
FOX:
Verdict: Cancelled. I get the appeal of people having a prime-time soap opera on the air currently but we already had “Dallas” & “Dynasty” plus their remakes. Most television shows are dramas to begin with but then fit a genre like Sci-Fi or action, so if you want to watch a family drama some with redeeming qualities with good people watch “This is us”. Most sitcoms on TV about families are a mix of drama and comedy so you can get your fill from those shows that teach lessons for the kids and have positive messages. It’s also about a family who advertises that they are religious Christians but then commit so many sins in every episode that I don’t see any redeeming characters except maybe the so called illegitimate kids. I can respect Cattrall as an actress who also produces the show and you want to see how far this show can go with twists and turns like most soap operas, but some are too cliché. It was supposed to be on in the Spring but because of Covid19 it was pushed to this Fall so that might help it get renewed as most Spring shows have a hard time being renewed, plus it could replace “Empire” as the family-soap-opera-drama on Fox.
Next: Silicon Valley pioneer Paul LeBlanc (played by John Slattery of Mad Men & Iron Man) discovers that one of his own creations, a powerful A.I. called NEXT, might spell doom for humankind, so he tries to shutter the project, only to be kicked out of the company by his own brother. It leaves him with nothing but mounting dread about the fate of the world but when a series of unsettling tech mishaps points to a potential worldwide crisis, LeBlanc joins forces with Special Agent Shea Salazar. The two of them are the only ones standing in the way of a potential global catastrophe, fighting an emergent super intelligence that, instead of launching missiles, will deploy the immense knowledge it has gleaned from the data to recruit allies, turn people against each other and eliminate obstacles to its own survival and growth.
Verdict: Renewed. I do like the suspense of what is going to happen next. It has you hooked into tuning in every week. It has the makings of a good investigating hybrid show with Sci-Fi. Where you got the law enforcement officer working with someone who isn’t this time, it’s a tech genius who was run out of his company. It is also an interesting way too look at how we have become too reliant on technology. It shows as we keep improving on technology to make it better and better that it will become too good for its own good. That it might become too smart and start controlling everything in life and if you go against it will come after you. I have seen plenty of intro respective looks at this idea in movies and TV shows like I, Robot (Will Smith), Eagle Eye (Shia Labeouf) and the Circle (Emma Watson) and usually they do a good job on it. They are also shows about it helping like in APB (Fox), Wisdom of the Crowd (CBS) and Person of Interest (CBS). The people who build it think it will help everyone but this show is what if it isn’t going to help people in the long run. I do not like the too much drama of the agent’s life, LeBlanc’s daughter and his brother but really his brother is the evil one you need to look into. They will probably give you more insight into her team as the show goes on because so far they are not doing much to help tell the story. The biggest hurdle will be that Fox did not renew APB, Almost Human and Second Chance to name some plus other networks have done the same with some hybrid shows like: Emergence, Limitless, Deception and the In between for example. With Covid19 Fox should renew this show unless it’s supposed to be a short term series and if so call it a mini-series.
