There’s some beloved big name shows back this week. Paradise is back for season 2. The second part of season 4 of Bridgerton is back too. And there’s also season 2 of Apple TV’s Godzilla spin-off show Monarch.
As far as new shows are concerned, this week is pretty dire.
The first episode of new Dick Wolf drama CIA is titled ‘Directed Energy,’ but the reality is that this spin-off from the fairly successful FBI franchise is ‘low energy.’
The show just sits there on the screen, doing nothing with its flat cast of dull actors, rote pilot premise (you will be shocked when the mismatched CIA agent and his FBI agent partner, who don’t like each other, develop a begrudging respect for one another by the end of the show), and tired execution. It’s uninspired wallpaper that will undoubtedly run at least four seasons.
Just learned this minute I learned that FBI, a show I have never actually seen, was not a revival of 60’s Quinn Martin show The FBI.
As much as I disliked CIA, I’m more inclined to make a return visit to watch that show than I am another episode of the Scrubs revival.
It commits a sin worse than being boring: It made me feel really sad. The youthful vitality of Scrubs is back on screen 25 years later, with the cast of the original series back for more. But what was cute with a cast of 20-25 year-olds is an embarrassing cringe a quarter of a century later.
Even in a heightened reality like the world of Scrubs still needs a certain grounding to buy into it. Watching JD and Turk running around the hospital acting like goofballs as senior leaders in a hospital where life and death is on the line just made me feel sorry for all involved.
Revival series very rarely ever work. The trick is to give the audience what they actually want, which is just a return of beloved characters. I often find myself thinking about the really awful Murphy Brown 13-episode revival in 2018. Audiences tuning in weren’t after a return of the sitcom – they wanted the Murphy Brown character as played by Candice Bergen. Bring her back and put her in an entirely new show. Go the Lou Grant route and make it an hour-long light drama.
Scrubs (2026) is the worst thing I have seen on television since seeing this:
The Gray House on Prime Video is headed up by Mary Louise-Parker and somehow also stars Ben Vereen (who I assumed would be around 150 years old by now, but he’s actually only a spritely 79). It’s based on the story of real-life union spy Elizabeth Van Lew during the American Civil War. Rich topic-area, but reviews have been middling:
Though sprawling and highly detailed, “The Gray House” becomes so clunky and overrun with extraneous characters and narratives that the women at its center nearly get lost in the chaos.
-Aramide Tinubu, Variety
The Gray House is not, however, the sort of artistic failure that can only be made by incredibly talented people. It’s just a throwback mess, half endeavoring to tell the under-appreciated story of the Southern women and Blacks who risked their lives to assist the Union cause in the Civil War, and half a hodge-podge of caricatures and stereotypes that go back centuries. There’s no aesthetic excellence or narrative complexity to add value, and while several of the performances are sturdy, many more are underdeveloped at one end of the spectrum or ridiculously hammy at the other.
-Daniel Fienberg, THR
Returning TV
American Dad (s22), Paradise (s02), Bridgerton (s04-2), We Might Regret This (s02), Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (s02)
New TV
CIA — Paramount+
Who’s in it: Tom Ellis and Nick Gehlfuss
What’s it about? Follows a partnership between a CIA Case Officer & an FBI Special Agent who work together on a clandestine taskforce to prevent domestic terrorism in New York.
Scrubs 2026 — Disney+/Hulu
Who’s in it: Zach Braff, Donald Faison, and Sarah Chalke
What’s it about? Old friends JD and Turk scrub in together for the first time in a long time, learning that medicine has changed; interns have changed; but their bromance has stood the test of time.
The Gray House — Prime Video
Who’s in it? Mary-Louise Parker, Amethyst Davis, Daisy Head, and Ben Vereen
What’s it about? Set on the Underground Railroad during the US Civil War, four women help turn the tide of the war in favor of the Union by turning from railroad operatives into spies.
Crap Happens — Netflix
Who’s in it: Dimitrij Schaad. With Anton Schneider, Sky Arndt, Dimitrij Schaad, Jördis Triebel
What’s it about? Rapper Toni returns to his hometown for his mother’s funeral and suddenly finds himself juggling career dreams and surprise fatherhood to a teenage son.
BAKI-DOU: The Invincible Samurai — Netflix
Who’s in it: Troy Baker, Kirk Thornton
What’s it about? Baki and the strongest Underground Arena fighters face a threat of historical proportions: the resurrected Musashi Miyamoto, Japan’s greatest samurai.
Banksters — HBO Max
Who’s in it: Numan Acar, Eren M. Güvercin, Merlin Von Garnier
What’s it about? Berlin, 2004. Yusuf is arrested during a soccer game, accused of multiple bank robberies. The question: Who were his accomplices?
Blue Skies — Up Faith & Family
Who’s in it: Scarlet Hunter
What’s it about? National Park Investigator Jodi Larsen and a lost dog named Blue team up to solve mysteries in the wilderness, forging an unexpected bond amidst danger and healing.
New Movies
In The Blink of an Eye — Hulu
Who’s in it: Kate McKinnon, Rashida Jones, Daveed Diggs, Jorge Vargas
Who directed it: Andrew Stanton
What’s it about? Three intersecting storylines spanning thousands of years explore the nature of life, love, hope and connection.
That’s the newsletter for this week.
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