CBS starts off the night with the new comedy The Neighborhood that stars several sitcom veterans.
Dave Johnson (Max Greenfield), his wife Gemma (Beth Behrs) and their son Grover (Hank Greenspan) move from a small town in Michigan to a predominately African-American town in Los Angeles. Gemma got a job as a principal at a nearby progressive school and that is why they moved there.
Their next-door neighbor Calvin (Cedric the Entertainer) is the African-American version of Archie Bunker. He cannot stand his new neighbor, who is overly nice. Thankfully, for Dave, Calvin’s wife (Tichina Arnold) and their sons Malcolm (Sheaun McKinney) and Marty (Marcel Spears) will do everything they can to get the two men to get along. Some things are easier said than done.
Tonight, Calvin holds a yard-e-que and invited the Johnsons and Dave makes things much worse for the families. Next week, they both have different parenting skills and their sons benefit for getting some fatherly advice from the other one. Then for the fourth episode, Dave hosts a party and Calvin closes it down.
When you put four funny comedy stars on one sitcom, you get a show that we can all enjoy. It has a lot of potential and I cannot wait to see what else they do with it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml2nRL6fS9Y
Then at 8:30p, Happy Together, a sitcom, loosely based on Harry Styles, comes to CBS. Out of all of the new sitcoms, this one us my favorite one. After watching the first three episodes, this one made me laugh the hardest in each episode.
Jake (Damon Wayans Jr.) and Claire (Amber Stevens West) are a married couple, who have become a boring old couple even though they are only in their 30’s.
Jake is an accountant whose client is Cooper James (Felix Mallard), the hottest pop star of the year. He just broke up with his girlfriend and the paps are following him around to get a scoop. James decides to hideout at Jake’s house because no one would expect him to be there.
Cooper James (Felix Mallard) has been living like a rock star for so long, he does not remember what it is like to be normal. Jake and Claire have become so dull, they do not remember what it is like to be cool. Together, they will help each other to find what they were missing. Especially, now that he is moved in with them.
Wayans Jr. and West are so good at being corny, you cannot help but to laugh with them. Meanwhile, Mallard is just so likable that you cannot help but to love him. Plus, he is east on the eyes. Together the three deliver a show that will make you laugh until it hurts.
Talking about deliver, West is pregnant with her first child in real life and they are no writing her pregnancy into the show. For a fun drinking game, drink every time they try to hide her growing belly.
https://youtu.be/vLX03XGOQSI
Also at 8p but over on Fox is The Resident. The episode starts off with someone getting arrested and that person hoping that they will get off with the crime. If they do not, then they have to report it to the Georgia Medical Board. Ending their career.
Now that Conrad’s (Matt Czuchry) dad owns the Chastain Park Memorial he wants to make it a better place for his son. Therefore, Marshall (Glenn Morshower) holds a meeting with Conrad and Dr. Bell (Bruce Greenwood) to see how they can do that. Conrad wants to put patients first, while Dr. Bell knows you cannot do that without money, lots and lots of money. The two men are adamant about what they want, and Marshall is stuck in the middle.
Meanwhile, a teenage boy comes in after getting into an accident and his parents are very wealthy. Dr. Bell sees dollar signs, while Conrad sees a boy he needs to save. How far will they go to save him and how much will it cost his family?
Now that Devin (Manish Dayal) is a second resident, he needs to train some of the first years. Some of the other doctors compare him to Conrad, and he does not want to be like his mentor. Will he be?
Each medical drama has their own focus and this one is about working in a hospital, saving patients, operating a hospital and doctors in love. It is the perfect combination and not too soapy.
Tonight is the second night of the fall season and it is the worst night of television on all of the networks except for NBC. Tonight, we will be crying over This Is Us and tomorrow the heads of ABC, CBS and Fox will be crying over their how bad their shows are.
As I did yesterday and will continue to do, I will do my opinion of best to worst and tonight is a lot of worse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvMCbzrToAo
I will start off with New Amsterdam that debuts at 10p on NBC. It is my favorite new show of the season. It was the only pilot that made me cry. That is because there is a lot of heart in the medical drama. It is not too focused on medical procedures or being a soap opera. It is about the patient as an individual and the doctors who want to make them feel better.
Dr. Max Goodwin (Ryan Eggold) is the brand medical director at Bellevue Hospital in NYC. He is going to shake things up at his new job. He tells the doctors put the patient before billing and he means it. He fires the whole cardiac surgical unit because that is what they do.
He wants to hear what the doctors want, so they can make the hospital a better place. The doctors are more than willing to do it, and it is starting to make them better doctors. How long can they do this before the money people make them stop? Not only that Dr. Goodwin has a secret of his own, one that might limit how long he stays at the hospital.
Thankfully he has a lot of good doctors to back him up like Dr. Hana Sharpe (Freema Agyeman), Dr. Laura Bloom (Janet Montgomery), Dr. Floyd Pearson (Jocko Sims), Dr. Anil Kapoor (Anupam Kher) and Dr. Iggy Frome (Tyler Labine).
I just love the feel of the show because it is a medical drama but not one that makes you feel like you might get diagnosed with one the unusual illnesses they have. Plus, Ryan Eggold plays the role so brilliantly. He is one of them, while also being their boss. You can feel the compassion in his performance.
Actually, you feel the compassion about the whole show and that is why it is my favorite new show of the season.
Back in May, Fox and Lethal Weapon fired Clayne Crawford from the show and then they hired Seann William Scott to replace him.
Now we are getting a first look to see how well he and Damon Wayans will play off of each other. I think we can all agree that they have enough chemistry to make it work.
So much so, I cannot wait to see him make his debut as Wesley Cole on September 25th. But then again Scott makes everything better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL1Ptjh9LtI
Tonight at 9p on NBC, Marlon’s sisters come for a visit and someone needs to give Kym Whitley and Sherri Shepherd their own show ASAP.
Marlon loves his sisters, but there is something he has not told them. He has hidden from them the fact that he and Ashley (Essence Atkins) are divorced. Therefore, he asks his ex-wife to pretend like they are still married. How will that go over? Let’s just say the 9:30p episode has the former couple going to divorce counseling.
Back to Whitley and Shepherd, these two play off of each other so well, someone needs to give them a sitcom where they can just be fabulously funny together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTS7oRYNBx8
What is not fabulously funny is The Gong Show that is back on ABC tonight at 8p. I still cannot get over that they have Mike Meyers in a Robin Williams clown suit as their host. I mean since the cat is out of the bag, why not just let Mike Meyers be Mike Meyers? That and he is not funny like a cheeky monkey as the host.
If I could get past that, then maybe the judges would have me laughing. Not tonight. While I adore Will Arnett, the flat Armisen and unfunny Rita Wilson make me want to gong the gong.
When it comes to the acts, it starts out with a contestant losing all of his clothes. And I do mean all. I thought OK, this is off to a good start. Mostly because I have liked this couple since I saw them on America’s Got Talent. But then it gets kind of boring. The problem is that an hour is way too long for this show. After a while, it is like I cannot watch any more of this.
That is why the original worked. It was just 30 minutes and Chuck Berry was as wacky as the contestants. Meyers makes it too much about his character and not enough the contestants. I want to like this revival but I cannot. Maybe you will and I hope you do. But I suggest watching Marlon instead at 9p over on NBC.
https://youtu.be/nf8etdIkhRk Marlon Wayans show is back for a second season tonight at 9p on NBC and you do not want to miss the back-to-back episodes every Thursday night.
If you missed season one, then here is the basis of the show. Marlon and Ashley (Essence Atkins) are recently divorced but he still spends most of his time at his ex-wife’s house. Not to hang with their two teen kids (Notlim Taylor and Amir O’Neil), who are more mature than him, but because he is still not over being married. It also does not help that his freeloading friend (Diallo Riddle) is living at his apartment. What makes him want to get out his old house is his wife’s BFF (Bresha Webb) and they hate each other. They are both very sassy.
Now that you are caught up, here is what you can expect. Tonight, Marlon is Ashley’s wingman as she tries to meet a new man at a club. She needs a lot of help, and he is too busy getting it on with the bartender. What happens next, you will never expect.
Next week, his sisters (Kym Whitley and Yvette Nicole Brown) come to town and they do not their brother is divorced. He asks Ashley to pretend that they are still together. What is the worst thing that can happen? Lots of laughs and NBC needs to give them a sitcom ASAP.
In the final episode I saw, Ashely and Marlon go to marriage counseling to work on their divorce and even she thinks they need to be divorced. Will Marlon finally take things seriously?
What else are you watching Thursdays at 9p? Nothing, so why not watch something that you will really enjoy!
