Which of These New Fall TV Shows Will Fail First?
We're going to go out on a limb and predict that not every new television series this season will be a success. While recent years have brought new ratings hits in the form of This Is Us, The Good Doctor, and Young Sheldon, there have also been plenty of failures. At some point in the coming months, one show will be the first to go.
Which newcomer will be the first cancellation victim of the 2018-19 season? In the gallery above, we discuss the outlook for each of the 18 first-year shows headed to the five broadcast networks this fall. Note that this year (unlike in past years) we don't have quotes from critics' first impressions of the new fall pilots, since several networks have issued new guidelines to reviewers prohibiting such early reviews over the summer. (But over the past week several reviewers have started posting their evaluations of all the new fall shows, so we have summarized those where applicable.)
Special premiere aired September 9; regular debut September 23 on Fox.
The Cast: Lil Rel Howery, Sinbad, Jessica Moore, Jordan L. Jones
The Premise: Get Out and The Carmichael Show supporting star Lil Rel Howery plays a version of himself as he tries to build a new life in Chicago as a single father after he discovers that his wife is cheating on him with his barber. (He also needs a new barber.)
The Outlook: There's talent in front of and behind the camera, with the latter group including producer Jarrod Carmichael (of the aforementioned The Carmichael Show) and showrunner Mike Scully (The Simpsons, Parks and Recreation). Thanks to a special NFL-following sneak preview that just aired on Sunday (the show will normally air in the post-Family Guy slot, though not until the end of the month), Rel is the first new fall show to debut, giving it a showcase that other newcomers won't have.
But that just means that it's also the first new show to have its lousy reviews surface to the public. And lousy they are (though, to be fair, not every critic has weighed in yet). Ratings for the Sunday night premiere were decent, though well below those of Fox's similar sneak peek of The Orville last fall. But even if Rel performs poorly in its regular timeslot, a quick cancellation seems unlikely, solely because Fox's bench is thin and there is nothing to replace it with other than reruns.
| Buy on |
|
| Stream On |
|