The new fall TV season is here! And that means there’s brand-new episodes of our favorite returning shows, and a variety of new TV series to check out!
Now, not every new series is going to be good (Dads *cough cough*) and not every series is going to see a second season. Hell, not every new show is even going to sound interesting, but if it does, then I really recommend giving it a chance to develop – watch more than the pilot.
Just because network executives judge TV shows on one 22 or 44-minute sampling doesn’t mean you have to. After all, how often do you put down a book after the introduction or turn off a movie after the first few mins?
I mean if it’s really that bad, then fine, but TV is long-form storytelling. It’s going to take a little while to get to the good part.
Sometimes TV Series Get Better
I believe this holds especially true for comedies. It’s not really ideal to introduce new characters, a new world, and possibly a storyline or two in less than thirty minutes. Plus, if you’ve watched any TV this summer then you’ve probably already seen most of the pilot episode chopped up and aired in thirty-second promos.
I certainly felt this way about the first episode of FOX’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine. I enjoyed it enough to want to watch more, but I have to wonder if I would have found it funnier if I hadn’t already seen the stomach tie, speedo, and robot voice gag a million times during commercial breaks for So You Think You Can Dance.
But I’m willing to bet on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, not only because it seems like it can be a fun ensemble comedy, but because the creators (Daniel J. Goor & Michael Schur) have Parks and Recreation among their writing credits.
And as you may recall, Parks and Recreation had a mostly mediocre beginning. New Girl also had a bit of a shaky start. I think most people were ready to write it off based solely on FOX’s “she’s quirky” campaign and Suburgatory and The Middle had mostly unassuming first seasons.
I find that comedies also tend to get better over time because a lot of the humor is derived from character interactions and relationships, which inevitably needs time to develop. So if you like something, or think you might like something then DVR-it, put it in your Hulu queue, find it elsewhere on the Internet, or whatever. You might just be glad you did.
