2013 Fall Pilot Battles

I was hoping to write another post about the fall TV season earlier, but it has been difficult to keep up with all of my shows. So I decided to wait until I watched all of the pilots that I wanted to watch and briefly review them all in a single post. I only watched the pilots whose trailers interested me, so keep in mind that there are several other new shows this season that I will not discuss. Also, some of these shows are a few episodes in because the pilots aired at different times. Therefore, I will try to limit my reviews to the pilot episodes. Finally, since there are six pilots that I watched, I decided it would be fun to pair them up by genre and say which one in each pair I liked better. That's about all I have to say as an introduction, so let's get to it.

The Sitcoms: The Millers (CBS) vs Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX)

The Millers: The only reason I watched this pilot is because it stars Will Arnett. Arnett plays a recently divorced man whose mother (Margo Martindale) moves in with him after separating from his father (Beau Bridges). The pilot was very predictable and many of the jokes fell flat. However, I did think Arnett was very good as the straight man, and his reactions to his irreverent parents were pretty funny. That said, this show will have to hook me in the next couple of episodes for me to continue watching it.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Andy Samberg leads the cast of this workplace comedy as goofball detective Jake Peralta whose NYC precinct comes under new command when hard-ass Captain Ray Holt (Andre Braugher) takes over. I thought Samberg was hilarious as the childish-yet-effective detective, and Braugher was great as the stoic, seasoned captain. I look forward to seeing their relationship take shape. The rest of the characters each have their quirks and were only mediocre in the pilot, but I think that with time and character development, this show can be great.

Winner: Brooklyn Nine-Nine wins by a long shot, but I do hope that The Millers can find its footing, if only for Will Arnett.

The Monday Night Thrillers: The Blacklist (NBC) vs Hostages (CBS)
The Blacklist: James Spader stars as elusive criminal Raymond "Red" Reddington who turns himself into the FBI and offers to help them catch other terrorists and criminals under the condition that he speaks only to new recruit Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone). I enjoyed this pilot and thought Spader was great as the cryptic fugitive. Something about Spader's delivery makes me question everything that Reddington says, which I'm sure is the point. I'm not sold on Boone quite yet, but I think she'll grow on me in time. The episode had several twists and set up multiple plot points, so I am interested to see where this show goes.

Hostages: Dr. Ellen Sanders (Toni Collette) is a day away from operating on the president when her family is taken hostage by a group led by FBI Agent Duncan Carlisle (Dylan McDermott). The acting in this pilot was solid all around, and the plot is new and exciting. The twist at the end sets up for an interesting dynamic between Ellen and Duncan, and I look forward to seeing how it plays out. My only problem with the show is that Ellen's husband, son, and daughter each have a secret that is very predictable, so I hope the show doesn't dwell too much on those subplots.

Winner: I have to give a slight edge to Hostages because of the plot and acting. Even though The Blacklist had better twists, there may have been too many. Also, Hostages seems to be more of a serial, which I prefer to procedurals.

The "Superhero" Dramas: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC) vs The Tomorrow People (The CW)
S.H.I.E.L.D.: Marvel's TV spinoff of its movie franchise, S.H.I.E.L.D. takes place after the events of The Avengers and Iron Man 3 and sees a revived Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) lead a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents as they deal with extra-normal situations. This was easily one of the most hyped shows of the season, and sadly, the pilot didn't live up to the hype. However, I still enjoyed it and I think the show has potential. Gregg gives a good performance, but the rest of the cast needs to find some chemistry. The best part of the pilot was Fitz-Simmons, a pair of scientists, Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons, who deliver some of the funniest lines of the episode. Given some character development and strong storylines, I think this show could be a hit.

The Tomorrow People: Strange things have been happening to high school student Stephen Jameson (Robbie Amell, cousin of Arrow's Stephen Amell), who finds out that he is a member of a superhuman race called "Tomorrow People." These people have the powers of teleportation, telekinesis, and telepathy, and they are being hunted by an organization called Ultra, led by Dr. Jedekiah Price (Mark Pelligrino). I originally wasn't planning on watching this pilot because it is on The CW and the only CW shows I've liked are Smallville and Arrow, both based on DC Comics characters, but I decided at the last minute to give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised. While not a great show, the plot kept me interested and the action sequences, though not Arrow quality, were pretty good. Also, the ending surprised me, and it seems that the show is going in a direction that I had not expected for this type of show. I'm intrigued, so I will keep watching for now.

Winner: Based solely on the pilots, this one is a draw. S.H.I.E.L.D. was over-hyped and fell short, while The Tomorrow People didn't seem too interesting but was a surprise. If I could only watch one, I would probably choose S.H.I.E.L.D. simply because of the Marvel brand, but quality-wise, these pilots were pretty even.

That's it for now. There are more pilots that I'm looking forward to this season, but they don't air for a while. In the meantime, I'll be trying to catch up on these shows and all of the returning shows that I watch. If anything strikes me as exceptionally noteworthy, I'll write about it, but since I'm very behind, don't expect another post any time soon. As always, feel free to leave your thoughts on these or any other pilots in the comments.