It’s one of the best times of the year…the weather is getting more chilly, trees will start changing colors soon, people are going out and picking pumpkins and going to apple orchards…and all the new and returning TV show premieres roll out!
The idea of a laugh track disgusts me, tropes are boring and unimaginative. However, I can’t help but watch or at least try all of the sitcoms that come out every year. Since I watch them all, I wanted to spotlight some that might be worth checking out!
The Good Place Season 4 (NBC)
The Good Place is arguably one of the best things on TV. It’s unprecedented that a show this unique is aired on a major broadcast network. Shows like Community struggled if they did one “weird” episode. The Good Place does full seasons of “weird” and we didn’t have to worry about sudden cancellations ending their story early. If you’re tired of the generic sitcom plot that is always used and you want a change of pace, give this one a try if you haven’t already.
They are only a few episodes out so far and they haven’t missed a step. All of our favorite characters are back, and we have a few couple new residents to The Good Place. So far the new residents haven’t been fleshed out a ton, but I have no doubt, considering the track record, that they will be able to do so. They have set them up for quite the challenge with one of the new characters. Brent, played by Benjamin Koldyke, who plays a horrible male chauvinist trash person. We’ll see if they can make him likeable at all, they have to keep us on our toes somehow.
Each season finds a new way to reinvent itself to keep the amazing story going. I can’t really go too far into this without spoiling things. So please, just go over to Netflix and catch up on the series so you can watch along for the final season.
The Neighborhood Season 2 (CBS)
This one really surprised me. I had a lot of negative opinions from the premise and commercials. It seemed like the point was to criticize the black neighborhood for not accepting the white family moving in as a gross “see all people do this!” validation. I was thrilled to see that it wasn’t the neighborhood that had a problem with the white family moving in, just the grumpy neighbor.
Despite my concerns when first learning about The Neighborhood, I was looking forward to Max Greenfield having his own show with New Girl ending. I loved his character Schmidt and I just needed more Max on my TV. Greenfield has a certain charm and excited energy to him that lends well to Schmidt’s “Bro” persona but still being endearing, which allows the negative aspect of his womanizing to not be his defining characteristic. In The Neighborhood he is able to strip all of that douchiness and he is just pure excited charm which is perfect for his role as Dave.
The second season is a couple episodes in so far and its following the same solid path the first season went. With it being more a typical sitcom, there isn’t really a big overarching plot line that was resolved and then a new one starts on the next season. The episodes usually revolve around the growing friendship of Max Greenfield and Cedric The Entertainer’s characters. A lowkey great relationship is between Cedric the Entertainer’s adult sons and Greenfields young son. They look out for him like a little brother and create some cute moments together. This one might be a little bit more difficult to catch up on since you can’t stream it anywhere except CBS All Access.
The Unicorn Season 1 (CBS)
Confession: I love Walton Goggins. Anything he touches is gold, and when I saw he was getting his own sitcom I was on board immediately. Goggins plays a widower with two young daughters. A year plus has passed and he is encouraged to get back in the dating scene by his group of friends. He is considered a “Unicorn” because he is a single father and it’s not by any negative actions of his own. AKA he isn’t an ass..
Goggins regularly plays villians. Sometimes they are flat, by-the-book villains. Other times, like his character Boyd Crowder in FX’s Justified, he is very complex and it doesn’t feel right calling him a “bad guy”. In all these roles it’s clear he has leading man qualities, yet nothing ever comes. Seeing him play a sweet father to two young daughters is such a breath of fresh air. One would think your mind would immediately jump to him as one of his many nefarious characters, it just doesn’t happen in The Unicorn. He immediately pulls you into the character and you’re along for the ride with him getting his life back together.
Aside from Goggins the rest of the cast is really strong as well. Rob Corddry, Omar Benson Miller, and Michaela Watkins creates a pretty strong and compelling supporting cast. They all have their own kids and so far after two episodes the chemistry between all of them is strong and there will be a lot of real estate for the story to go.
This show is about as much of a guarantee you can get to having multiple seasons. Goggins is arguably the biggest star CBS has on any of their new shows this season and as long as he wants to hang out there, they will keep letting him.
Bob Hearts Abishola Season 1 (CBS)
This one is a unique story of a Detroit businessman falling in love with a Nigerian immigrant nurse. It has a lot of things going for it. Folake Olowofoyeku, as Abishola, is pretty fantastic. The budding relationship between the two is very sweet. Also, I’m always going to root for a story that takes place in my city, Detroit.
Bob Hearts Abishola is included on this list because it will be a fun one to watch for a season. I would be willing to bet it won’t get a second season, though. CBS is throwing everything at the wall and hoping something sticks. They have too many sitcoms and something has to give. It doesn’t feel like they put a lot of money into the budget or time into the writing. A lot of the jokes fall short and don’t have the punch you know they wanted. I don’t really have a lot of love for many of the supporting players either. Despite pulling some names like Vernee Watson, Barry Shabaka Henley, and Matt Jones…I just don’t care about any of their stories and I don’t think this one can last long relying so heavily on just Bob and Abishola.
Also it’s a horrible name for a show…
Sunnyside Season 1 (NBC)
I’m all for a group comedy. Community is one of my favorite sitcoms of all time. Taking a bunch of different personalities and throwing them into a room and having them play off each other and see what happens. Sunnyside stars Kal Penn as a former New York City councilman who is disgraced and fired. He finds himself tutoring a group of immigrants studying for their US Citizenship test.
The cast of this show is very diverse and from the first couple episodes, quite funny together. The character Griselda played by Diana-Maria Riva has a running joke where she always shows up working different part time jobs. She catches a lot of characters off guard being in unexpected places and they way she plays off everyone is very entertaining. The character The cast, aside from Penn is fairly new. It’s hard to tell how successful the show will become this early. It all relies on how well the actors hold up and are fleshed out by the writing. This could either be the next big thing that goes 7 or more seasons, or it could be a dumpster fire and be done after a season, there will be no inbetween.
I would definitely recommend hopping on early here and going for the ride. You could be on the ground floor for the next Office. If it gets cancelled after a season, no harm done!
UPDATE: Sunnyside was cancelled after 4 episodes.
There ya have it, folks! Of course, there are a ton of other shows out there, but here are a handful to check out to help navigate the wild waters of Fall TV Premier season.
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