Well, it's now the beginning of November, and we're now about 5 weeks into the new tv season. Time to check in and see how some new and established shows are doing, both creatively and in the all-important ratings. There have been some surprises for sure.
Netflix Rules
Netflix has continued its string of successful shows with several high profile premieres this fall. The Haunting of Hill House came out of nowhere and became a buzzworthy horror breakout. The show is genuinely terrifying, but it's also a deep family drama with rich writing and many great performances. I didn't expect much from Making a Murderer season 2 (what else was there to learn about this story?), but it dove even deeper into the cases of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, richly exploring the appeals process and keeping me completely enthralled for all 10 new episodes. It also introduced true crime fans to a new breakout tv legal personality in Avery's lawyer Kathleen Zellner. She stopped at nothing to find new evidence in Avery's case, even though this meant implicating several of her client's relatives in the process (oops). I couldn't get into The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, the new darker tale of teen witch Sabrina Spellman, but it was a good substitute for fans of the Netflix hit Stranger Things, whose new season has been delayed from its usual October premiere. Although Netflix doesn't release viewership numbers, I imagine that the streaming service is doing just fine right now.
Reboot Fatigue
I was very much anticipating the return of Murphy Brown, the smart 80's-90's sitcom set in a fictional newsroom, but I've been highly disappointed in the new version (as CBS is in its ratings). I welcome any show that pokes fun at our president, but this reboot has decided to focus almost solely on Trump and his relationship with the media, completely ignoring any semblance of character development for both its returning players and new characters like Murphy's son (now working at a conservative Fox News-like network) and a bar owner played by Tyne Daly. Most of the jokes fall flat, and I kind of just want it to end, even before its already-promised 13 episodes. It's highly doubtful that CBS will choose to continue with this mess. In addition, the Roseanne-less reboot of the rebooted Roseanne, now called The Conners (did you follow that?) is pulling numbers much lower than Roseanne last season, and I wish that it was a lot funnier than it is. The choice to kill off the Roseanne character with an opioid overdose was, however, was a pretty bold and moving choice. Add to this a sad debut for the rebooted Magnum P.I., and the networks must be starting to rethink continuing on the reboot train. The one exception is Will and Grace, which remains pretty consistently laugh-out-loud funny and has even dove into some serious issues in the reboot's 2nd season, and Last Man Standing, which has become a bonafide Friday night hit for FOX after ABC axed it just over a year ago.
Fading Hits
I've been a fan of This is Us and its brand of heart-tugging storytelling since the beginning, but this season has me a bit worried for its future. Season 3 plotlines like Toby's depression and Randall's jump into politics seem unimaginative and boring, and the show now seems like it has to force its trademark tearjerker moment some weeks. The past stories of young Jack and Rebecca and the 10-year-old and teenage Big Three are far more interesting than the present-day storylines, but the writers seem to be finding it more and more difficult to weave past events into the present-day story. I have faith that it can recover, but I really hope that it can pull out of it's junior slump soon. In addition, Modern Family, now in its 10th and hopefully final season, has became almost painfully unfunny and unwatchable. Once a fresh take on the "modern family", it ran out of funny and believable plotlines several years ago. I was curious when the show promised the death of a "major" character this fall, hoping that a death could breathe new life into the characters, but that "major" character turned out to be someone who had only appeared in a handful of episodes throughout the past 10 years. The death episode itself was pretty moving and creative in its depiction of the characters' differing reactions to the death, but still it felt like a cheap ploy to keep me watching, and I'm not sure I can forgive that.
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