We're about four weeks into the 2015-2016 television season, and so far it's off to an excellent start. Choosing a handful of the new series on offer from the big four networks is always a tough task, but so far I'm pretty happy with my choices. It's also great to see the array of returning series I follow starting the season strongly and setting up some nice new arcs leading into the new year.
So, here's a few thoughts on the series I'm following this season. If you want to skip down to a show you're interested in, click the name in the list below. Note you may have to scroll up a couple of lines as the menu bar at the top of the page may hide some text.
Blindspot • Castle • Code Black • Criminal Minds • How To Get Away With Murder • Limitless • Quantico • Scandal • The Blacklist • The Player
Blindspot (NBC)
I've been relatively impressed with Blindspot thus far. Though it's not the most spectacular viewing, and has the odd plot hole, the creative team behind the series have developed a story that has nailed the balance of being easy to follow whilst maintaining a degree of complexity that doesn't allow it to become too predictable. While NBC series do well when it comes to casting lead characters, its achilles heel often tends to be rather generic supporting roles that lack solid casting talent. We are only four episodes in of course, but Kurt Weller and Jane Doe, played by Sullivan Stapleton and Jamie Alexander respectively, are the only characters I'm warming towards.
Blindspot is one series which has a more imminent endpoint simply because of the nature of the story. Theoretically the tattoos covering Jane Doe's body will run out eventually. Nevertheless, the creative team received an early nod for an additional nine scripts thanks to the show's strong ratings performance early on, and I'm sure there's enough tattoos to fill out another season at least. The question the series will need to answer quickly is if there is a strong secondary arc that will lift some of the load off the over-arching arc, because I don't think I'll be able to live with solving tattoo mysteries every week.
The technical sides of Blindspot is one of the things I'm enjoying most about the show. The shaky camera technique combined with tight angles and rapid panning to people and objects of interest produces a much more intense viewing experience, and I prefer that much more over the more simple and traditional cutting from angle to angle approach. The makeup artists deserve some credit for producing the full body tattoo too.
Castle (ABC)
ABC's second longest running drama is being helmed by its third showrunner in three years after David Amann handed the reigns over to Terence Paul Winter and Alexi Hawley for its eighth season. For the third year in a row, Castle began the season with a 2 part premiere, with the first of the two this year being the strongest premiere ever in my opinion. Part two wasn't quite as good, but the ending left the Castle fandom, myself included, bitterly disappointed.
Remarkably, however, the following two episodes completely reversed my opinion on Winter and Hawley's move to split one of television's most loved couples apart. The sole reason for this is because the pair have addressed Castle's most prominent weakness that dogged the first six seasons when creator Andrew W. Marlowe was in charge. The lack of continuity from the big episodes featuring the longer story arcs completely deflated the sails and sapped the momentum that had just been created. Despite Richard Castle and Kate Beckett being more or less temporarily separated, the creative team have placed heavy emphasis on ensuring that elephant in the room is addressed multiple times in each episode, along with regular progression by Kate as she seeks the answers she wants.
I'm good with that. I know what's happening, and I'm enjoying the change-up. With the old school tension between Castle and Beckett revitalized, in addition to plentiful references to events and cases in prior seasons (something that was seen less often than Halley's Comet under Marlowe's control), it's much more rewarding for long-time fans to watch, and it just makes plain sense. Splitting Castle and Beckett up was a very bold and ambitious move by the new showrunners, but I'm loving the results. An added bonus is seeing Alexis garner additional screen time. Molly Quinn is managing the change very well indeed.
Code Black (CBS)
Medical dramas are seeing a slight resurgence in recent times as network television becomes saturated with shows leaning toward law enforcement. While the long-running House M.D. will always reign supreme for me, CBS's Code Black is proving well worth my time on Wednesday nights.
The first thing that struck me when the series debuted was the effort the creative team had invested in making the hospital environment feel more genuine than other efforts in the genre. You immediately notice the lower lighting levels, more shadows, less pure white, and more weathered looking objects and surfaces. The absence of super computers and tablets as seen elsewhere is also noticeable, and the use of a sizable extras cast adds a new dynamic too.
Like virtually all medical dramas, Code Black features a handful of experienced doctors working alongside a handful of newbies to the profession. It's a simple concept that relies on its execution to set it apart, and it's done very well in this show. Though we've only seen three episodes as Code Black debuted a week later than most, it's clear the lead doctors led by Dr. Neal Hudson, Dr. Leanne Rorish, and Nurse Jesse Sallander push their juniors hard and use the action occurring on the bed in front of them as their primary teaching tool. In among the chaos, Code Black focuses on what identifies and drives each character, and hasn't wasted time on hook-ups and unnecessary dramatic frills. Though the ratings aren't promising, I'm definitely going to enjoy this show while it lasts.
Criminal Minds (CBS)
Code Black's lead-in, Criminal Minds, also got off to a later start. The dark procedural drama is without AJ Cook and Jennifer Love Hewitt thanks to maternity leave, with the latter being replaced by Aisha Tyler. The Criminal Minds cast has always been a wee bit larger than perhaps necessary, and I had hoped the creative team may have opted to leave both spaces blank for a while and use the available screen time to flesh out some of the veterans. That would have left Penelope Garcia as the only female character though, which may have been the reason the creative team opted against that.
One thing the long-running procedurals on CBS have in common is their consistency, and Criminal Minds is no exception. Consistency does breed predictability, but the show manages to nuke that pretty well with the vast variety of UnSubs featured. So far, Criminal Minds' eleventh season looks much like its predecessors. Erica Messer has discussed integrating the shutdown of Silk Road into the new season, and that's something I'm interested to see.
Coming in 2016 is the second Criminal Minds spinoff, titled Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders. A backdoor pilot aired in April this year and didn't look too bad. I'm hoping Beyond Borders will do a bit better than the previous failed attempt, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behaviour.
How To Get Away With Murder (ABC)
How To Get Away With Murder is already a quarter done after just four episodes, given it shorter 15 episode format on ABC. The first four episodes of season two have all been very impressive hours. As with the first season, creator Peter Nowalk is utilizing flash forwards in each episode to build to a significant event, this time being the wounding of Annalise Keating and the death of Emily Sinclair at the Hapstall Mansion, the home of two siblings accused of murdering their parents and a witness.
The five students, Wes, Laurel, Michaela, Connor and Asher are still under the pump, with the added burden of the Sam Keating murder weighing down on all but the latter. The Murder cast, led by the incredible Viola Davis, continues to perform outstandingly well, and it's up there in the top two or three casts on television right now.
I think it's fair to say that thus far Murder's second season is an improvement on its first. While the weekly cases are much the same, the previous season's events allow the over-arching Hapstall case to excel over last season's, and combined with small refinements in the episode structure such as fewer flash forwards and better balanced character time, a great viewing experience has been improved overall. This season will fly by, and it looks set to be another wild ride.
Limitless (CBS)
In one word, Limitless is fantastic. I didn't think I would take so kindly to this series at all when I first heard about it, but I've been pleasantly surprised.
The reason Limitless works for me is because it doesn't try too hard. It relies on one character, and one drug as its core concept, and although most other aspects of the show have been done in television before, such as the FBI, tag-along crime consultants, unhappy senior management and abuse of power, the showrunners are happy to leave those things untouched and work with them as they are instead of attempting to alter reality completely to set the show apart. Jake McDorman is perfectly cast for his role as Brian Finch, as is Jennifer Carpenter who plays FBI agent Rebecca Harris. They are two fresh faces who have great chemistry.
Limitless is based off the movie by the same name, and I haven't seen it, but do plan to soon. Even though the show has a really nice procedural side, and genuinely good humor, I need an ongoing arc with some substance to keep me interested, and Limitless is delivering here. What the creative team need to be wary of is ensuring the ongoing arc, with guest star Bradley Cooper, doesn't engulf the series and make it too dark or serialized. It's early days but I hope Limitless holds steady in its ratings to secure a longer tenure on our screens.
Quantico (ABC)
Unlike Limitless, ABC's late Sunday night addition is struggling to gel with me. Quantico can't seem to pick a drama category and stay there. It's trying very hard to create a massive conspiracy which frames lead character Alex Parrish, played by Priyanka Chopra, for a massive bombing in New York City.
The handful of FBI recruits the series centers around are all up to something in some way, shape or form. They're all young, hot, sexy, and they all have a dark side. None of the cast have a lot going for them in terms of acting, and the show has borrowed many of its techniques such as flash forwards, character dynamics, and even episode title conventions from others in the television landscape. All of this is specifically designed to get younger viewers' bums on seats glued to the screen.
But despite its shortfalls, Quantico remains weirdly addictive. It shouldn't be, really, but for some reason it is. However I can't see how the series will continue on once the bombing has been solved, with another concern being that the characters will be so fractured and wary of each other that they shouldn't want anything to do with each other by the end of it all. ABC still believe though, ordering additional scripts recently. It remains to be seen whether a short format season could suit the nature of the story better.
Scandal (ABC)
With widespread frustration leveled squarely at Shonda Rhimes' persistence with the B613 storyline toward the end of Scandal's fourth season, the course needed to change in season five of ABC's strongest performing drama to win back the fans and explore what gave this show a cult following.
In a nutshell, it's been a highly eventful, if not frantic, first four episodes. The focus for the first three was trying to slash through the remaining tethers that hold President Grant and Mellie together as the former relentlessly strived to be with Olivia. Thankfully - and rightfully, Mellie hasn't made things so simple as she brought Cyrus onto her side, stamped her authority over Elizabeth, and made Olivia seriously consider backtracking on the whole thing. Mellie, now a Senator, is pushing toward the Oval too.
Hidden among the premiere especially was the damage control the creative team had to implement in the wake of B613. However the beast remains determined to hold onto life, albeit under another name as Jake met with Rowan in prison in the last episode regarding the Louvre being on fire. A trip to Paris with nemesis Charlie followed. I'm unconvinced this is what Scandal needs right now. The refusal to cut ties with these storylines is a bit concerning, but one has to wonder what purpose Jake or Huck would have to serve this season without such a storyline. I think exploring prospective changes for OPA would have found my favor far more readily instead.
The Blacklist (NBC)
Despite NBC's best performing Thursday night show being a shadow of its former self when it aired on Mondays, The Blacklist is still performing at a high level in terms of quality and execution. The third season kicked off a week after most, but all three episodes have been outstanding. With Red and Lizzie playing a high stakes game of cat and mouse following Lizzie's actions near the end of season 2, we've been treated with seeing Red in his element as his escape and evade skills trump anything Agent Ressler can muster in pursuit.
The Cabal and Fulcrum storylines continue to progress despite Red's time on the run. These two storylines are still pretty cryptic and aren't particularly easy for newcomers to the series to pick up on. Fans that analyse The Blacklist a lot more seriously than I've managed to will revel in the depth and complexity of the storylines, which is a credit to the creative team who are doing a better job than most in the television landscape currently. I'm trying, but not finding it overly easy to keep up, but that's exactly how good drama should be.
But the sure thing that keeps me coming back each week is the masterful James Spader. The man alone could account for half the viewership the show has without much difficulty. He is a true pleasure to watch. Spader's fellow cast members are no slouches, but he is a cut above them all.
The Player (NBC)
The final series I'll touch on in this piece is NBC's action-filled drama, The Player. I was initially drawn to the series when the casting was revealed to have included Philip Winchester and Wesley Snipes. Both actors are great to watch, with Snipes edging over Winchester for my preference thanks to the intriguing character he is playing in the form of Mr. Johnson. The cast is unusually small in this series, with Charity Wakefield playing the awesome Cassandra King and Damon Gupton as Detective Cal Brown. Small casts win me over because each character gets more time for development.
The concept of this series is also pretty unique. Anonymous gamblers with deep pockets partake in the betting syndicate in which money is gambled on the outcome of a impending crime. It leads itself to plenty of action and adventure for former security expert Alex Kane, who is also in the game to hunt down those who murdered his ex-wife, Ginny. It's a motive that is nothing new in television circles, but it's good to watch nonetheless.
It's a shame the ratings aren't overly flash for The Player because the opportunities for expansion for this series are much better than most. Such prospects include exploring who the gamblers are, delving into the backgrounds of Mr. Johnson and Cassandra, and of course more detail around Ginny's relationship with Cassandra. It's rather rare these days to see a network series with opportunities as plentiful as this one, so I hope the creative team explore these areas some more.
That concludes the summary of the shows I'm following this season. I'm looking forward to the new year as a bunch of new and returning shows kick off once more. In particular I'm looking forward to Person of Interest and The 100, and the debuts of The Catch, The Family, Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, and Containment.
It's early days for sure and there's a great deal more to come from these shows before they wrap up for the Christmas break and return in the new year. Thanks as always for reading, and be sure to share your thoughts on the series I've mentioned - as well as the series I haven't - in the comments section below.
