They said the third time is a charm, but not for the third day of the broadcast fall season. Of the screeners I saw for tonight, none of them made me go wow. They kept my interest but nothing groundbreaking.
As I have done for the last two days, I will review the shows from best to worst in my opinion. I have to say, it was a tie for best. When it comes to worst, there was no contest that that goes to A Million Little Things. I don’t know what ABC was thinking by putting the most depressing show on television after four comedies. Seriously?
I will start it off with Single Parents on ABC at 9:30p. It is a new comedy about 5 single parents trying to survive the day by raising their kids without a spouse.
Will Cooper (Taran Killam) and his daughter Sophie (Marlow Barkley) are new to the school and his whole life revolves around his kid. He acts more like a first grader than her dad. Thankfully, the other single parents are there to help him out. But they are only doing it so that he will leave him alone. He is like that lost puppy no one wants but will do anything to have you take him home. You know the type of dog.
Angie (Leighton Meester) used to be like Will, but not anymore. Now she will do anything to have alone time to drink. While Douglas (Brad Garrett) not Doug just want to hang with his dermatologist friends and not his twin daughters. Poppy (Kimrie Lewis) wants Douglas to help her with her son, who is a little eccentric and she accepts him for who he is. Finally, Miggy (Jake Choi) does not have a kid in the first grade like the others, they have adopted him and his baby boy into their group.
Even though they don’t want to hear that it takes a village to raise a family, it really does. Good thing they have each other in this endearing comedy that could become an ABC staple.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Wbt1wXGccw
Then at 8p on Fox, Empire is back on Fox and the 2-year time jump helps to breath new life into the show as more people die.
As you just read, the drama starts the season off 2 years after the season finale. Lucious (Terrence Howard) and Cookie (Taraji P. Hensen) are nearly broke without Empire and they are trying to start their own record label. Andre (Trai Byers) is in jail and Jamal (Jussie Smollett) is in London with a new love.
The Lyons are all over the place and something needs to get them back together. How about another death? Is that person the one in the coffin? Who is in that coffin?
I have seen the first two episodes of the season, and it feels as good as it during the first season. The restart is just what they needed and you do not want to miss it.
To read the reviews of the other shows, then
https://youtu.be/dAjlod1qY_Y
Then at 8p on NBC, we find out what happened after Dr. Charles (Oliver Platt) was watching as Dr. Reese’s (Rachel DiPillo) psychopathic father dying of a heart attack on the season premiere of Chicago Med. There will be repercussions for that.
Dr. Rhodes (Colin Donnell) is ready for the next chapter in his life, but Dr. Bekker (Norma Kuhling) does not want him to leave.
Sharon Goodwin (Norma Kuhling) is dealing with new management and they don’t see eye to eye with her and how she is running the ER. They will be plenty of head-butting between the two of them.
Dr. Choi (Brian Tee) and April (Brian Tee) are still broken up. Can they get back together when there is a new development with his sister?
Meanwhile, Dr. Halstead (Nick Gehlfuss) and Dr. Manning (Nick Gehlfuss) are planning their wedding and taking care of a deaf patient whose girlfriend does not want him to turn on the audio of his new implants. Who will win out?
All of that in one episode and so much more.
https://youtu.be/-MlvuEASNaY
After Med, it is time for Chicago Fire. Why isn’t this show higher up on the list? They finally deal with DuShon Monique Brown’s death and I thought it was colder than Chicago on it coldest day of the year on how they handle it.
Chief Bowden (Eamonn Walker) has a new problem in headquarters and of course, that will make it tougher for him to do his job. He will try to be the good guy around all of these bad guys who are trying to bully him and his house. Tell me if you have heard this all before?
Matt (Jesse Spencer) is still dealing with the fact that Dawson (Monica Raymund) left him for Puerto Rico. She is happy down there and does not want to come back.
That means that there is an open paramedic position and Brett (Kara Killmer) does not like any of the replacements. It has gotten so bad that Bowden tells her she is stuck with the next one whether she likes it or not.
If that is not enough, they still have to rescue people in between all of that. I still like this show but it is starting to become old.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0aB4nA5MOQ
Up until last week, A Million Little Things was, to me, the worst new show of the season. Since then, I watched another drama whose follow-up episodes and a comedy pilot that made this show more tolerable.
The show that debuts at 10p on ABC, has a great cast but an awful story. It is depressing to be depressing. There is no happiness to it whatsoever. At least This Is Us has some happy moments.
The show is about Jon Dixon (Ron Livingston), who commits suicide and his friends are dealing with his death. His friends’ lives are just as sad.
Rome (Romany Malco) was about to swallow a bottle of pills when he got the call about Jon’s death. Gary (James Roday) beat breast cancer and is the only man in his support group. Eddie (David Giuntoli) is married to Katherine (Grace Park) but having an affair with Jon’s wife (Stéphanie Szostak). See happy happy, joy joy.
Jon was the least messed up out of all of them and he is the one who is no longer with them. It is This Is Us with no redeeming qualities. Except the music is really good. Like the Big Chill, watch for the music.
I did not watch the screeners for Chicago PD and Star and I was not given ones for The Goldbergs, American Housewife and Modern Family.
