THE VIKINGS:  Sunday 10PM on History Channel In its pilot, at least, THE VIKINGS, which marks History Channel’s first step into the world of continuing scripted drama after its massive success last year with the Hatfields and McCoys miniseries, is so rudimentary a piece of historical fiction that it might as well have been […]

  BLOOD & TREASURE:  Tuesday 10PM on CBS Summer has come to network TV, which means 4 months with tons of unscripted offerings and the occasional downscale scripted series.  The latter is typified by CBS’s BLOOD & TREASURE, which had a 2-hour premiere after the NCIS season finale in an (unsuccessful) attempt to goose the ratings. Most of […]

  YOUNGER:  Tuesday 10PM on TV Land Although it’s a half-hour rather than an hour, TV Land’s new YOUNGER feels somewhat similar to VH1’s recent Hindsight.  Both are series versions of high concepts that might have been feature films starring, say, Sandra Bullock, a decade or so ago, and both revolve around women on the cusp […]

  MADAM SECRETARY:  Sunday 8PM on CBS  – Potential DVR Alert PLAYERS:  Series creator Barbara Hall, a veteran of everything from Northern Exposure to Joan of Arcadia (which she created), and Army Wives to Homeland.  Star Tea Leoni, and an A-list supporting cast that includes Keith Carradine, Tim Daly, Bebe Neuwirth and Zeljko Ivanek.  Pilot […]

  THE MICHAEL J. FOX SHOW:  Thursday 9:30PM on NBC (airing tonight at 9PM) – If Nothing Else Is On… Behind its feel-good star and tone, THE MICHAEL J. FOX SHOW is–even more than most TV shows–as much a business proposition as it is a piece of entertainment, so let’s start with that.  In a […]

  THE MOB DOCTOR:  Monday 9PM on FOX – Worth A Look   THE MOB DOCTOR may be the busiest pilot of the season.  The idea hatched by creators Josh Berman and Rob Wright (previously of Drop Dead Diva and a host of crime shows, including Bones and Crossing Jordan) is to graft a thriller […]

  POWER:  Saturday 9PM on Starz After its long respite in the past with the likes of The White Queen, Da Vinci’s Demons, Dancing On the Edge and Magic City, Starz returns to the 21st Century with the new POWER, a drama so contemporary that it boasts (as he’s billed) Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson among […]

  DYNASTY:  Wednesday 9PM on CW – In the Queue The new DYNASTY isn’t the fall’s worst new show, but it’s the most puzzling.  Was there really a surge of interest among CW’s 18-34 target demo for a revival of an ABC soap that went off the air 28 years ago?  The show has a […]