May has been full of new trailers for shows that start to air during the 2016-2017, fall/winter season of American TV. In this post we offer our thoughts on some of them.
The Exorcist
Network: FoxThe Exorcist
Starts airing: Fall 2016
Tova Crossler Ernström
Imaginary Mary
Imaginary Mary
Network: ABC
Starts airing: TBA (likely midseason)
Starts airing: TBA (likely midseason)
Well, this is certainly one of the more unique television trailers. Honestly, only Rachel Dratch makes me actually want to see the show. She is very funny and talented. Still, the imaginary creature that she plays is just ugly. The animation seems out of sync with the live-action movements. Mary is some kind of unholy melding of a troll doll and one of the Gremlins. I don’t know how I’m going to be able to stand watching it during the show. Rachel Dratch has voiced hallucinations before, mostly on 30 Rock, and I wish that they had just gotten permission to use those instead. Wouldn’t you rather see this than the spawn of Kyubey and a Care Bear?
As for the live-action portions, I’m not really feeling it. The jokes are substandard at best, and irritatingly predictable at worst. The trailer feels like whoever edited it just picked out random moments from the first episode. It just seems so disjointed and confusing. I almost want to watch the pilot just so I can make sense of it all. At some points, it feels like the entire plot of the pilot has been revealed, but then it just throws a curve ball at the viewers. Was that the intention? Oy, I need to wash my brain out with some of Rachel’s quality comedy. If you need me, I’ll be watching a “Debbie Downer” sketch.
Zachary Krishef
The Good Place
Network: NBC
Starts airing: Fall 2016
Starts airing: Fall 2016
I’m going to fake some confidence in an area I have no expertise in whatsoever in order to tell you that I think this is the most perfectly cut out of all the TV trailers I’ve watched this week. It doesn’t give away too much, uses the right type of musical cues and keeps a good pace throughout. It’s so pleasant to watch compared to other trailers out there that I might be convinced to watch it simply because of that fact, but the show has more going for it: Kristen Bell. Ted Danson. Mike Schur. The afterlife as theme and setting is unusual (I can only think of one other show in that category) which automatically makes it more interesting to me than any show about crime solving, hospitals or high school kids. Based on what we see in the trailer, the writers have also used the theme in a fresh way: The “oops, I accidentally got into heaven” plot is simple, but full of opportunities for entertaining storytelling. There are plenty of neat details, like when the main characters attempts at swearing come out as “fork”, “bullshirt” or “bench”, since swearing is not allowed in the good place. Bell does funny, bad, funnily bad person well and is one of the few people I can imagine being awful throughout several season without making it a chore to watch her (though the show seems to be going in the direction of some type of redemption instead). William Jackson Harper - who I haven’t heard of before - has a combination of voice, intonation and body language that doesn’t remind me of anything else, in the best way. It’s always a plus when a comedy show makes you think both “oh, that reminds me of…” and “hey, that’s something new!”. I don’t have any remarks about Ted Danson except that I really appreciate his peacock bow-tie and his face. It’s difficult to find something to criticize, but if there’s one issue it is that the trailer gives the impression that there are only two noticeable female characters on the show: Bell’s character and the “bench” with a big mansion. Not every TV show needs to feature several relationships between women, but I definitely prefer it when they do, and I would like to see the apparently antagonistic one seen here be counterbalanced by something different (perhaps we can’t have another Mac/Veronica, but how about a later seasons Buffy/Cordelia?). Aside from that, I’m very optimistic about The Good Place.
Tova Crossler Ernström
Making history
Network: Fox
Starts airing: Winter 2017
Starts airing: Winter 2017
Chris Miller and Phil Lord, don’t fail me now. Making History looks okay. Maybe it’s just that I haven’t been in the best mood today, but I almost expected more. As it stands, I am pretty interested in the show. I’ve always liked learning about colonial times, and seeing that at least the first episode takes place in that era makes me happy. On the other hand, the jokes about using modern references to succeed in the past come disturbing close to the mediocrity of Hot Tub Time Machine.
Finally, from a feminist standpoint, the scenes with Debra mostly seem to revolve around her in relation to the male characters. It does show her firing a gun and she was able to slaughter a bear, even if that was only off screen, but I’m hoping that she will be a character in her own right. I’ll give the show a try. I have to get my Fox comedy from somewhere while The Last Man On Earth is off the air, and this seems as good as anything.
Finally, from a feminist standpoint, the scenes with Debra mostly seem to revolve around her in relation to the male characters. It does show her firing a gun and she was able to slaughter a bear, even if that was only off screen, but I’m hoping that she will be a character in her own right. I’ll give the show a try. I have to get my Fox comedy from somewhere while The Last Man On Earth is off the air, and this seems as good as anything.
Zachary Krishef
Conviction
Network: ABC
Starts airing: TBA (Either fall 2016 or winter 2017)
This one is tricky. Just as Veronica Mars fans want to follow Kristen Bell wherever she goes, those of us in mourning over Agent Carter’s cancellation want to love Haley Atwell’s new show. And the theme is intriguing! If you’re going to make me watch another procedural, focusing on exoneration instead of convictions is a good way to do it. Unfortunately the trailer is a little too slick - too “sexy” - and Atwell’s American accent breaks the TV illusion half the time. Focusing on yet another rich, depraved person is another choice which bores me - do we really need more shows about rich people, whether good or bad (or both)? They make up a fairly small portion of the population, and the abundance on our TV screens reinforces the idea that they’re more interesting than poor, or even average, people. Despite all the negativity here, there are things to like about the trailer: Atwell’s acting when she’s not failing at being American, race issues being brought up early (though given the subject matter of false convictions that’s more or less a given) and heavy hinting at real character development. Focusing on imperfect female characters is always welcome, and though the declaration that “Hayes Morrisson is a bad girl” is a bit on the nose, the show may still turn out to handle her with complexity and nuance. This may be a case of “bad trailer, good show”, and I think it’s worth checking out the first episode when it airs this fall.
Tova Crossler Ernström
Son Of Zorn
Network: Fox
Starts airing: Fall 2016
Starts airing: Fall 2016
I previously reported on this bizarre show earlier in the month, and now an official trailer has been released. So far, the trailer only confirms my belief that the show will be incredibly weird. I have so many questions. Will we see more cartoon humans or humanoids? How does interaction between a live-action character and a cartoon character work? Does this fictional universe have racism and prejudice against cartoons? Is it even acknowledged that cartoons are sentient?! Most importantly, will the show actually be good?!
Judging from the trailer, I think it has potential. The show promises to delve into the cultural differences between our normal human lives and an animated barbarian from a foreign land. Hopefully Zorn will become less of a rampant misogynist and discover that it takes more than freeing your slaves to be a good person. The slaves are only mentioned in a one-off line. They don’t appear in the trailer. Son Of Zorn continues to engage and perplex me. I can’t wait for it to premiere.
Zachary Krishef
Tova Crossler Ernström is a bisexual Swede, feminist, socialist, INFJ, Hufflepuff, HSP and Taurus. She is fond of personality tests, labels and lists.
Zachary Krishef is an evil genius. Do not question his knowledge of Saturday Night Live trivia or the Harry Potter books.
