Jess's Take: FOX’s Friday Renaissance

Welcome to a new installment of Jess's Take, where I give my take on what is happening in television. This week, I have plenty to say about what is going on in the TV world, because it was Premiere Week for all the networks. For the most part, the networks were experiencing new lows and previous lows, with the exception of NBC.

On Friday, the game changed. In the Friday ratings report, Last Man Standing premiered to a 1.8 and The Cool Kids premiered to a 1.5 in the key adults 18-49 demographic. This has not been seen in years on FOX Friday. Now FOX has a chance to crack #2 this season with a high rated comedy block. Obviously, something happened.

Here is a plausible explanation:

1. Promotion
Sure there may be cases of which promotion backfired this week, but on FOX, cross promoting between the many different 21st Century FOX networks, including FOX News. And the angle in which it was promoted worked.

Any more plausible explanations? Let me know in the comments below!

Predict the Premiere Ratings of God Friended Me and Rel

Tonight sees the conclusion of premiere week and the premieres of two new series. CBS brings a different type of drama to their network with God Friended Me, while Fox brings its Last Man on Earth replacement, Rel, to its official Sunday lineup after a preview earlier this month.

God Friended Me, Sundays at 8 PM (8:30 for the premiere) on CBS:



Rel, Sundays at 9:30 PM on Fox

Saturday TV Ratings 9/29/18: FBI Repeat Does OK, ABC Dominates

Final numbers to come.
Time
Show
18-49 Ratings
Viewers (mil)
Channel
8 PMCollege Football: Ohio St. v. Penn St.2.7/138.87ABC

College Football: Stanford v. Notre Dame0.9/53.45NBC

FBI (R)0.4/22.98CBS

College Football: BYU v. Washington0.3/21.02Fox
9 PM48 Hours (P)0.6/33.70CBS

Friday TV Ratings 9/28/18: Last Man Standing and The Cool Kids Have Excellent Starts (UPDATED)



Finals Update: 'Masters of Illusion' (0.1, -0.1) and a repeat of 'New Amsterdam' (0.4, -0.1) adjusted down. 
Time
Show
18-49 Ratings
Viewers (mil)
Channel
8 PMLast Man Standing (P)1.8/108.13Fox

MacGyver (P)0.7/45.77ABC

Truth & Lies0.6/33.03CBS

Manifest (R)0.5/33.44NBC

Masters of Illusion0.1/10.67The CW
8:30 PMThe Cool Kids (Series Prem.)1.5/86.87Fox

Masters of Illusion (R)0.2/10.67The CW
9 PMHawaii Five-0 (P)0.9/47.49CBS

Hell's Kitchen (P)0.9/42.98Fox

New Amsterdam (R)0.4/33.15NBC

Penn & Teller: Fool Us (R)0.2/10.71The CW
10 PMBlue Bloods (P)0.9/58.79NBC

Dateline NBC (P)0.7/43.91CBS

20/200.7/33.45ABC
Key: 
(P) = premiere
(R) = repeat

Last Man Standing Season 7 Premiere Review

The world said farewell to Last Man Standing a year and a half ago, following its relatively-surprising cancellation by ABC. Most of its fans, myself included, thought that was the end. Until Fox came around to rescue it. I wasn't the biggest fan of Last Man Standing, but I did really miss it on Friday nights last year, and I'm very glad to have it back now. There have been a few cast changes since the cancellation, and while I'm not thrilled about them, I'm open to seeing how the new additions will work alongside the cast. Luckily, the season premiere has been made available a week early via Twitter, so some of the show's most devoted fans got to see it before the rest of the world. Without further ado, my review of the return of Last Man Standing...
(Beware! This review is filled with spoilers! If you plan on checking out the seventh season premiere of Last Man Standing, but you haven't yet, proceed at your own risk.)

Recap: 

Mike stops by Kristin and Ryan's and gets into a political argument with Ryan (shocking, I know). Mike tries to convince Ryan not to obsess about politics on TV, and Ryan maybe sorta listens. Who knows. The next day, Ryan stops by the Baxter house and thanks Mike for the advice. He then tells them that he's moving his family to Canada, and that Kristin is considering it. Obviously, this is some devastating news for Mike and especially Vanessa.

Mandy and Eve then get into a huge argument about politics, which is particularly surprising because Mandy was completely oblivious about anything intellectual the last time we saw her. They drag Kyle into the argument, and then they drag  Mike and Vanessa into it. Vanessa decides to ban all political discussion, since it's causing nothing but problems. Later that day, Eve and Mandy are still mad at each other and Mike tries to get the family to have a non-political discussion. Unfortunately, everyone suddenly seems to have lost their voice. After some coaxing, they start talking, but it's not the conversation they want. Ryan and Kristin then rush in, because Boyd is missing. The entire family splits up to call him, and Mike calls Chuck for some help. Mike knew exactly where he was: at Outdoor Man, working on his dirt bike.

Mike reprimands Boyd for running away, but then has a heart-to-heart with him. Boyd tells him he doesn't want to move to Canada, and that he's upset because everything is "broken". Mike uses the broken dirt bike as an analogy, saying that anything can be fixed with some dedication. He takes Boyd back home, and tries to fix the issues within the family. He gives an inspirational speech, and Eve and Mandy make up. Ryan is still upset and wanting to move to Canada. Mike tells Ryan to apply for US citizenship instead of running away from the issues he has with politics. And at long last, the Baxters are a family again!

Review:

As excited as I was to see the Baxters back on TV, the result was pretty underwhelming. It wasn't necessarily bad, it was just wasn't great. I can't honestly say that I found any part of the episode to be that funny, which isn't something I can usually say. Usually, I'll laugh out loud at the show quite a few times. This wasn't because the writing was anything revolutionary (it wasn't), but because the cast made it work. This was just too messy to be made into something fun. And then there was the opening. I expected some reference to the show's cancellation by ABC and later revival by Fox, but the way they went about this was just awkward. I just cringed during the entire thing, and was glad that it wrapped up as quickly as it did.

This show has always been political, but it's never really been about politics. They decided to change that for this premiere, and that was definitely a bad idea. No matter what side the characters were on, the attempts at political humor were unnecessary at best and annoying at worst. When it was contained, like in previous seasons, this was tolerable. It wasn't the best part of the show, but I didn't mind it. It bugged me this time around, though, because the entire plot of the episode was set around unfunny political digs and arguments. The return episode would have been much better without this.

The recasting of Mandy, as I mentioned earlier, was slightly troubling for me. I loved Molly Ephraim in this role, and it's really hard to see anyone as Mandy except for her. We didn't really get to see much of Molly McCook as Mandy in this episode, but I wasn't that impressed by what I saw. She didn't have the same chemistry with the rest of the cast that Ephraim is and the character really didn't feel like Mandy. Mandy was always my favorite character, so a change this dramatic will take some getting used to. I'll give McCook a fair chance before giving the definitive thumbs up or down.

All in all, the return of Last Man Standing was a pretty big disappointment. However, I'll give it some time to get better and hopefully it will grow back into what it was in its original run: a fun, easy way to spend a half hour on a Friday night.

Score: 5/10
Grade: D

ABC Renew/Cancel - September 28: Single Parents is a Toss-Up

ABC Renew/Cancel - September 28: Single Parents is a Toss-Up
Welcome to the return of ABC renew/cancel! In this first week, we will take a look at the scripted shows that premiered on ABC during premiere week, which includes two new shows, comedy Single Parents and drama A Million Little Things.


Certain to be Canceled

Likely to be Canceled

Toss-Up
A Million Little Things (1.1)
Single Parents (1.3)

Likely to be Renewed
How to Get Away with Murder (0.8)
Modern Family (1.6)

Certain to be Renewed
American Housewife (1.2)
The Goldbergs (1.4)
The Good Doctor (1.3)
Grey's Anatomy (1.9)


Single Parents: This is a tough show to predict at the moment for many reasons. First, this premiere rating doesn't really indicate that Single Parents is a hit, but it doesn't look like a failure either. Then, a lot is still unknown on the ABC comedy front. Modern Family may be in its final season, but we don't know. Splitting Up Together may continue to perform well, or it could suffer a sophomore slump. If Fresh Off the Boat disappoints in the ratings on Fridays, we don't know if Disney's upcoming acquisition of 20th Century FOX will keep the show living on or not. And, ABC has another new comedy coming this fall (well, two more really, but The Conners is a spin-off of Roseanne and I'd be shocked if it didn't perform well at least for its first season), with The Kids are Alright premiering on Tuesday, October 16th. Too much is unknown right now to be able to predict Single Parents one way or another without a clear indication of its strength.

A Million Little Things: With the way things are going with ABC's dramas, it shouldn't be too hard of a feat for a new drama to score a renewal. Still, a 1.1 isn't the most promising premiere rating, so I don't want to label this as likely to be renewed yet. I have to see what kind of ratings are coming for this show, whether it holds up well or not. There will also be more clarity when ABC's other new drama this fall, The Rookie, premieres on Tuesday, October 16th.

Modern Family: With what was ABC's top comedy for most of its run still doing strong ratings, and no cast members seeming to be ready to quit, the question of whether or not Modern Family will return for an eleventh season comes down to the amount of money the show makes in syndication compared up against the cost of paying for this large, expensive cast for another season (the cost of which will likely go up this season with contracts being up). I'm thinking that the show gets an 11th season because renewing for that season doesn't necessarily mean paying each of the six adult cast members for twenty-two more episodes (plus the cost of the younger actors for however many episodes they are in). The show could do a shorter season, or have each cast member not appear in every episode (like the final season of another large cast show, Parenthood). A 18-episode season where the adult cast members only appear in 13 episodes each could be a way for a less expensive, likely final, eleventh season.

How to Get Away with Murder: While its season premiere number certainly isn't impressive, I have a hard time not seeing ABC give How to Get Away with Murder a final season send-off. It really helps the show's chances that ABC continues to struggle in the drama department, and that they have a night (Sundays) that they have to fill before American Idol comes on the scene in the spring. How to Get Away with Murder could move there next season, either with its regular 15 or a shorter episode order.

The Good Doctor: Tying its series low isn't a good look for the series premiere of The Good Doctor, but the rating wasn't very concerning when all factors are looked at. This premiere went up against the large series premiere of Manifest (2.2), had a weak Dancing with the Stars lead-in (1.0), and was pre-empted somewhere in the country for Monday Night Football. But with all context taken out, 1.3 is a perfectly fine number for an ABC drama. This show will definitely return.

American Housewife: Is there anything better for your renewal chances on ABC than being an ABC Studios-produced comedy one season away from having a number of episodes where you could enter syndication? American Housewife will be back for season four, guaranteed.

The Goldbergs: When Modern Family does end, whether that's this year or not, The Goldbergs will be incredibly important to ABC's Wednesday comedy line-up. So, don't expect this show to go anywhere. It'll be back here on Wednesdays once again next fall.

Grey's Anatomy: ABC's number one drama has its lead actress locked into a contract for another year, so there's no reason that the show won't return next fall.


What do you think of my predictions? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Thursday TV Ratings 9/27/18: Murphy Brown Disappoints, SWAT Hits New Low In Return

It was certainly an "interesting" premiere Thursday, but that's not necessarily a good thing for fans of any Thursday show. Because pretty much everything returned to a disappointing level. Whether it was the Murphy Brown revival, The Good Place, or Grey's Anatomy, pretty much everything rated near the low-end of people's expectations. NBC's night was probably the least bad, but The Good Place is certainly in a less good ratings place than it was a year ago. With a 0.9-ish average for its premiere hour (with a 1.0 in in the 8:00 slot), it's a hefty decline from last year's premiere (1.4), and it marks a new low. Law & Order: SVU didn't return much better, but at least it showed growth over its two hours and was reasonably close to its finale rating. Still, its performance leaves something to be desired. Over on CBS, the night was a very disappointing one. The Big Bang Theory dipped a further four tenths from its already-low (for it) premiere, while Young Sheldon was down one tenth. Mom had a tepid premiere at 1.3, which ties last season's low. But it was the rest of the night that truly was disappointing. Murphy Brown's revival got off to an awful start. After heavy network hype, the series could only muster a 1.1, below what Life In Pieces did in this slot last year. Behind it, SWAT collapsed to 0.7, with a 0.6 in its second half. Over on ABC, Grey's Anatomy hit a new premiere low and was down from its finale, while How to Get Away With Murder hit an abysmal 0.8, with potential to go down further in the finals to 0.7.

Final numbers to come.
Time
Show
18-49 Ratings
Viewers (mil)
Channel
8 PMThursday Night Football3.3/1410.08Fox

The Big Bang Theory2.1/1011.74CBS

Grey's Anatomy (P)1.8/86.79ABC

The Good Place (P)0.9/43.12NBC

Supernatural (R)0.2/10.78The CW
8:30 PMYoung Sheldon1.6/710.08CBS
9 PMMom (P)1.3/57.99CBS

Law & Order: SVU (P)1.1/55.08NBC

The Originals (R)0.1/10.50The CW
9:30 PMMurphy Brown (Revival Premiere)1.1/47.42CBS
10 PMHow To Get Away With Murder (P)0.8/42.99ABC

SWAT (P) [10:05]0.7/44.98CBS

Off Topic -- Week 2 (2018-19 Season)

It is week 2, and things are just getting started! On my end, LSAT scores are being released tomorrow! On the other end, it may be a cryfest. Nevertheless, let's discuss what is on our minds!

Murphy Brown Season 11 Premiere Review

One of TV's most acclaimed comedies, Murphy Brown, returned tonight. It seems like the perfect time for a revival, considering the endless stream of news lately due to the Trump administration and its critics, and I'm excited to see how Murphy & Co. will fit into this new, tech-savvy world.

It's election night, and Murphy awakes to the news that Donald Trump has been elected president. She's not thrilled. A jump forward in time puts Murphy at Phil's, where we learn that she's still getting used to retirement from FYI. Two months later, Avery gives Murphy some big news: he's moving back to Washington to work for the Wolf Network. Murphy is incredibly disappointed, because the Wolf Network is terrible. Murphy then gives Avery bigger, more important news: she's coming back to TV. Frank and Corky will be on the show as well, just like old time. Unfortunately, the show will be competing directly with Avery's show. Later on, Murphy goes to see Miles, and he's a bit of a hermit. And he kinda lost his mind. After two years on The View, he had to go "away" for a while. And now he's back in town and the gang needs him to help them on their show. Of course, he agrees to be a part of the show.

Miles introduces the gang to Pat Patel, their social media guy. This first meeting doesn't go very well, but maybe they'll learn over time. Then, Hillary Clinton shows up for an interview as Murphy's secretary. She's definitely overqualified for the job, but that's still an improvement over... every other secretary Murphy has ever had.

It's the day before the big premiere, and Murphy is setting up social media accounts, with Avery's help. Avery tells Murphy how to tweet, and her first tweet is an interesting one, involving the president. Avery warns her not to send it, but she does anyway. The tweet goes viral, and Miles is freaking out about it. Murphy worries about the show flopping, and Miles actually gives her a pep talk. And then, they're on the air and it begins with an interview of an (unqualified) EPA official, Mary Vernon. Corky has a hot flash live on television, and then Mary falls through the ice. Immediately after this, Trump tweets about Murphy, calling her Old Murphy. This causes Murphy to freak out, which makes Corky's hot flash look like nothing. That night, Murphy is pretty upset about the way she acted on TV, but she's proud of Avery. The ratings come in for the shows, and Murphy's show blows Avery's out of the water.

Wrap-Up:
While it was great to see the gang back together again, the show itself felt a bit off. It is understandable, though. It's been a long time since Murphy Brown was last on TV and these revivals usually do take some perfecting. Revivals of Roseanne and Will & Grace were similarly off at first (I will admit to over-marking their debuts in my early reviews, the nostalgia factor blinded me), and later found their footing. That's why I think this show can be the same. But I can only review what we've already seen, and this premiere was just okay, and not outstanding.

I'm not sure why all of these revivals think it's a good idea to go full steam ahead with politics for their premieres, but it's really not. Some handle it better than others, but for the most part, it's just a bit awkward. It made sense with Murphy Brown, but I still think it could have been executed better. It felt cheap to just make the same Trump jokes we've heard time and time again, and this all culminated in the cringe-worthy scene involving Trump tweeting back at Murphy. I could have done without that, and the show could have, too.

Despite my criticisms, I actually did enjoy this episode. While it wasn't the best all-around, the cast was still pretty funny, especially Candice Bergen, who is still hilarious as Murphy Brown. There were also quite a few instances of me laughing out loud (I will admit to laughing at a Trump joke, I know I'm a hypocrite), and that's definitely the most important part of a sitcom for me. The dig at Roseanne's cancelation and the Hillary Clinton appearance were some of the highlights for me, and they were responsible for some of my biggest laughs.

I will keep giving this show a chance, because I can still feel some of that old magic. Maybe it'll just take some time to truly become its best self.

Score: 6.5/10
Grade: C

Mom Season 6 Premiere Review

Mom returns for its sixth season with Christy beginning law school. Additionally, the show is still heading toward Bonnie and Aadm's wedding, which I am excited to see happen. The season premiere addresses both of these ongoing stories.


S6E1 "Pre-Washed Lettuce and a Mime"

Law school is a challenge for Christy, especially considering how much she has going on in her life she has to balance. She shares this in a meeting, and it's funny when she adds on listening to Bonnie talk about Property Brothers to the list of things she has to do. While Anna Faris is endearing here, her struggle here feels very familiar--a bit too familiar. While this is a bigger challenge than her past work/school balance, it doesn't feel much different.

A flashback to Christy's first AA meeting is incredibly powerful, as she remembers how much of a challenge it was for her to not drink. Remembering this prompts Christy to keep going to law school, as she has done tougher things. This is followed by a heartwarming moment, where Christy decides not only to go back to law school, but to offer help to a new person at AA.

Meanwhile, Bonnie is working on planning her upcoming wedding. She has a funny monologue about how it's an event about her planned by her. Then, however, her part of the episode descends into a typical "woman mad at man for something that happened in her dream" story. At least Allison Janney keeps it relatively entertaining, and there are funny lines about how the woman Adam cheated with in her dream is gay in real life.


This wasn't the best Mom season premiere, but it was still an enjoyable episode. It is great to have the show back, and the humor is still great, but I wish that the episode had done more original stories than this. At least Anna Faris and Allison Janney were wonderful.

Score: 7/10

What did you think of "Pre-Washed Lettuce and a Mime"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

The Good Place Season 3 Premiere Review

Two years ago, The Good Place premiered with the premise that Eleanor was in the good place, but was not supposed to be there. The show has gone a long ways from there, with many reveals, obstacles, and changes. Season 3 begins by giving us Michael's perspective on what happened in the previous season finale.


S3E1-2 "Everything is Bonzer!"

The premiere begins with Michael going to Earth to save Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason. The opening scene is a hilarious one, where Michael talks to the doorman for the door to Earth. Michael's enthusiasm about Earth is very entertaining, as Ted Danson is absolutely wonderful. After this, he intervenes in the lives of the humans to get them connected. His Australian accent isn't that great, and Janet gets a funny moment reacting to that. Later in the episode, he visits Tahani and Jason, playing entertaining eccentric characters. The wonderful Maya Rudolph makes an appearance as the judge near the end of the episode. She almost catches Michael for the tampering, but doesn't. She is hilariously too focused on her crush on Mark Harmon from watching 300 episodes of NCIS.

Following his near-death experience, Chidi decides to work on his indecision. This doesn't last forever, but it does lead him to psychology Simone, an entertaining character who he ends up connecting with. The most entertaining moment here is when Eleanor gets involved and begins asking questions to get Chidi and Simone together. The wonderful entertainment of that scene continues when Eleanor finds out that Chidi didn't kiss Simone on their date, which he regrets, so they go to her office to make it happen.

After Chidi decides to do his thesis on people with near-death experiences, we get to see what happened with Tahani and Jason since their near-death experiences. The most entertaining moment here is definitely when Michael visits Jason. Sometimes the dumb Jason jokes get a little old, but here they were great. I wish we had gotten a little more of these two characters, but there was a lot of story to tell in this hour.

In a part of the episode that I really didn't expect, the show's wonderful villain of Shawn has a team attempting to hack into the judge's system to find out what's going on with our humans. I find it odd that he would attempt to undermine the judge, but these are demons here. This leads to the episode's big twist ending, a complication to Michael's plan. Adam Scott returns to the show as demon Trevor, and in the final moments of the show he joins the group in the study.


While I wish that we had gotten more of Tahani and Jason, and how the episode would go was for the most part obvious from early on, everything else about this premiere was great. The season is heading in an exciting direction, and in this hour, the comedy in the show was just as good as ever. Once again, The Good Place really delivered in a premiere.

Score: 9.5/10 (part 1)
Score: 10/10 (part 2)

What did you think of "Everything is Bonzer!"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Predict the Revival Premiere Ratings for Murphy Brown

Premiere week continues again tonight, with only one new program on tap. Murphy Brown, the iconic series from the 1980s and '90s, makes its return tonight after twenty years off the air. Starring Candice Bergen, the revival was announced back in January of this year. It features many members of the original cast, as well as Cagney & Lacey's Tyne Daly and Limitless' Jake McDorman. Revivals of Will & Grace and Roseanne both had exceptional starts last season, though they lost 66% and 50% by their finales, respectively. Can Murphy Brown have a similarly solid start, or will it disappoint out of the gate (like many shows this season)?

Murphy Brown, Thursdays at 9:30 PM on CBS:

Wednesday TV Ratings 9/26/18: Single Parents and A Million Little Things Do OK In Premieres (UPDATED)

It was another rough premiere night for ABC, as most of their shows underperformed on a night dominated, for a change, by CBS and Fox. ABC kicked off their night with The Goldbergs and American Housewife both down four tenths from last year, which is surely a disappointment. Modern Family was down virtually the same amount, but it was still the network's highest show. Single Parents started with a 1.3 behind it, which is actually decent retention for the new comedy. At 10, A Million Little Things was the biggest disappointment for the Alphabet Net, but it was actually the only timeslot steady with last year's timeslot occupant. Then again, it shouldn't be proud to be tying Designated Survivor considering where that one ended up. CBS had the premiere of Survivor, which was down just a tenth from last year's premiere. Big Brother ended with an uptick that tied its season high. Fox was #1 in scripted programming for the night, with Empire being the #1 show of the night and Star performing solidly with a 1.4 behind it. NBC's #OneChicago night didn't start too well, with 1.2s for Med and PD and a 1.3 for Fire. All three were relatively steady with last season, but NBC's night was a far cry from their huge Monday and Tuesday wins.

Finals Update: Chicago Fire (+0.1), Survivor (+0.1) and Big Brother (+0.1) adjusted up. Star (-0.1) adjusted down.
Time
Show
18-49 Ratings
Viewers (mil)
Channel
8 PMEmpire (P)1.9/96.08Fox

Survivor (P)1.7/77.75CBS

The Goldbergs (P)1.4/75.13ABC

Chicago Med (P)1.2/67.68NBC

Burden of Truth0.1/10.58The CW
8:30 PMAmerican Housewife (P)1.2/54.43ABC
9 PMModern Family (P)1.6/75.40ABC

Star (P)1.4/64.73Fox

Chicago Fire (P)1.3/57.96NBC

Supergirl (R)0.1/10.50The CW
9:30 PMBig Brother (F)1.7/75.64CBS

Single Parents (Series Premiere)1.3/54.91ABC
10 PMChicago PD (P)1.2/67.14NBC

A Million Little Things (Ser. Prem.)1.1/55.06ABC

The Goldbergs Season 6 Premiere Review

My favorite '80s family is back tonight with the premiere of its sixth season. While imperfect, their fifth season was an improvement on the mixed bag season four. I hope this can be another solid season, and tonight's opener should be an indicator.

It's Adam's 16th birthday, and he's not getting the attention he's used to. Bev and Murray are busy yelling at Barry and Erica for their misdeeds, and Adam gets forgotten entirely. It's just like Sixteen Candles. Later that day, Bev decides to take Lainey and Barry to an open house to show them how expensive it'll be to start a life together. Unfortunately for Bev, this backfires. Once they mention the thought of grandbabies, Bev seems to be on board with this plan. In fact, she wants to move this plan along faster. Back to Adam, at least his friends remember his birthday. Dave Kim wants to have a party to celebrate, and Adam asks Pops for help. Meanwhile, Erica is freaking out because of the high electric bill that she caused. But she's given some help when Adam asks for help with the party, planning to stab him in the back to get him out of trouble. Downstairs, Bev tells Murray and Bill that she's on board with Lainey and Barry's marriage, and also that she's suspended the Bevolution. Erica sends them off to Atlantic City to "celebrate," setting her evil plan into motion. During Adam's party, there's a few issues. Nothing that can't be resolved.

In Atlantic City, Beverly keeps rambling on about her hypothetical grandbabies, which is driving Barry and Lainey insane. Back at home, Adam proclaims that he doesn't want the party, and that it's more Erica's party than anything. This is not a great development for Erica. In Atlantic City, Lainey decides that she can't deal with Beverly as her smother-in-law, and she ditches Barry. This causes Barry to give Bev a stern talking-to, which doesn't go well for Bev. At the house once again, Erica admits her plan because she learns about it being Adam's birthday, and she promises to make things better. Adam runs off anyway.

Barry tells the dads that Lainey ran away, and Murray decides to help Barry. Not for the right reasons, but he still helps him find her. At the party, Erica tries to patch things up with Adam, and it works (to nobody's surprise). She gives him the party of his dreams, and everything's okay between tham again. Back in AC, Barry finds Lainey, and Murray actually is the one to convince Lainey to give Barry another chance. Lainey even makes things up with Beverly, and then Beverly remembers that it's Adam's birthday. They charge home immediately, because of course they do.

Wrap-Up:
This was a hilarious episode, mostly because of the wonder that is Wendi McLendon-Covey. Beverly was definitely the best part of the episode, and she's definitely the character I missed the most this Summer. Her obsessing over becoming a grandma made me laugh out loud, and it was so over-the-top that I almost thought she was lying about her excitement. And then I remembered that this was Beverly Goldberg, and it only made sense for her to act so insane. It was also interesting to see the fallout of Barry's proposal, and David Koechner returning as Lainey's dad Bill was the icing that made that story such a sweet, sweet cake. Adam and Erica's storyline was pretty good too, but it felt pretty similar to plots we've already seen on the show, so it was definitely the weaker story this week. Nevertheless, while not the most original episode, or the most thrilling one, it was still quite funny and was one of the better episodes I've seen this premiere week.
Score: 8.5/10
Grade: B+

American Housewife Season 3 Premiere Review

American Housewife, one of my favorite comedies on TV right now, is finally back for its third season, once again in a new timeslot. I've missed it a lot throughout the Summer, so it's nice for the Ottos to be back again with what hopefully will be a hilarious episode.

It's the first day of Katie's new job! She's pretty worried about messing up, which makes her crankier than usual. Of course, the kids are also cranky, because that's just their thing. At her work, Katie is given her first assignment: throwing a party for Nancy Granville. Katie's not pleased, but she has to go along with it. At school, Oliver tries to help Taylor find a club to join, which proves less difficult than one would expect. She settles on drama club. Katie is meeting with Nancy to get ideas for the party. It turns our that the party is actually for her kid, but Nancy chooses the theme that she wants. Unfortunately for Katie, the Nancy meeting takes longer than expected. She gets home just moments after Anna-Kat falls asleep, and she's devastated to learn that Anna-Kat didn't even ask about her before bed.

Katie is talking to Nancy's daughter about the party, and she's really not thrilled about it because it's wht Nancy wants and not her. Katie tries to convince them to change the theme, but Nancy isn't enthused. Meanwhile, Oliver tries to cheer Taylor up after her disastrous musical audition, and they actually have a sweet moment. Well, as sweet as any moment with them could be. Katie returns home late again, and she finds a disaster. All of their tupperware is dirty, because Greg and Anna-Kat used it to make slime.

The slime actually gives Katie an idea, using it to make the party a magical experience. Nancy hates everything about it, but her daughter loves it. Nancy is selfish though, so she doesn't care about her daughter being happy and she threatens to call Katie's boss. Elsewhere, Taylor auditions and does well, though she doesn't get a great part because she gets every lyric wrong. Katie gets a call from her boss, and it's not what Katie expected. She'll be working more now, because the other parents at the party loved it. Katie feels guilty about this, but they family encourages her to go for it.

Wrap-Up:
I loved this episode, just like most episodes of this show. I love that they shook things up a bit by sending Katie to work, and I'm excited to see where this goes. If it's anything like tonight, I will be quite happy. Katie's storyline was by far the highlight of the episode, because this was such a different experience for her. It was interesting to see her outside of the "mom" role and in the workforce, with Greg instead being the home parent for much of this episode. Anna-Kat was also hilarious this week, and she might be the thing I missed most about this show. Her Katie impression alone was enough to make me love this episode. Also, Oliver making Taylor feel better was adorable and I need to see more of them together. And as always, Greg is just the best for putting up with all that crazy. Kudos to him for being the glue that keeps these wackos together and almost sane. Almost.
Score: 9/10
Grade: A-

Predict the Premiere Ratings of Single Parents and A Million Little Things

Premiere Week continues tonight with the premieres of two ABC shows (their first newbies of the season), Single Parents and A Million Little Things. The shows are taking over for American Housewife (which moves to 8:30 to replace Speechless) and the canceled-then-revived by Netflix Designated Survivor.

Single Parents, Wednesdays at 9:30 on ABC:
The first new comedy the debut in premiere week (not counting early premieres of Rel and I Feel Bad) is Single Parents, a different sort of family comedy for ABC. While traditional family comedies are their forté, unconvential family comedy Splitting Up Together did reasonable well last season and it easily earned itself a second season. The series stars SNL's Taran Killam, Everybody Loves Raymond's Brad Garrett, and Gossip Girl's Leighton Meester. Can it start as well as previous Wednesday at 9:30 comedies like Blackish and American Housewife, or will it disappoint?



A Million Little Things, Wednesdays at 10 on ABC:
The second premiere of the night, A Million Little Things has been heavily promoted by its network, making it one of their most important launches of the fall. It's taking over for the tremendous disappointment that was Designated Survivor, so it doesn't have a huge bar to pass in order to be considered a success. However, ABC has been known recently for their struggles in the drama department. Will A Million Little Things be another ABC flop or a rare drama gem for them?

Tuesday Cable Ratings 9/25/18: Mr. Inbetween Starts Decently, Mayans MC Falters

Below are the Top 25 programs on cable on Tuesday, 9/25/18. Items of note include the series premiere of Mr. Inbetween on FX, The Purge on USA, and Wrecked on TNT.
(Note: Click any show with its name in green or blue to be taken to its page in the TV Ratings Guide Cable Ratings Database.)
Show
Network
18-49 Viewers
Viewers (mil.)
WWE SmackdownUSA0.722.19
Mayans MCFX0.591.53
The ChallengeMTV0.450.71
The PurgeUSA0.441.13
The Rachel Maddow ShowMSNBC0.363.02
Tosh.0Comedy Central0.350.62
OutdaughteredTLC0.331.32
HannityFox News0.333.41
WreckedTBS0.320.79
SpongeBob SquarePantsNickelodeon0.321.25
The Devil SpeaksInvest. Discovery0.321.09
Tucker Carlson TonightFox News0.313.14
Sweet Home SextupletsTLC0.31.20
Independence Day: ResurgenceFX0.31.03
Married At First SightLifetime0.290.81
The Last WordMSNBC0.282.42
ChoppedFood0.280.86
Pardon the InterruptionESPN0.270.82
Flipping OutBravo0.270.73
Ink MasterParamount0.270.64
The FiveFox News0.272.77
Cuomo Prime TimeCNN0.261.25
CNN TonightCNN0.261.26
The Ingraham AngleFox News0.252.84
Desert FlippersHGTV0.251.09




Highlights Below the Chart:


Mr. InbetweenFX0.230.65
Mr. InbetweenFX0.170.52