Aside from “The Blacklist,” NBC did not have a great fall season last year despite the heavy hitters, Michael J. Fox among them, that programmers thought audiences wanted to see.
With all the detritus cleared away, the network released trailers on their new prospects. Among the stars recruited this time around are Debra Messing — despite her obvious limitations (“Smash”), someone in LA really, really likes her because she just got another show, “The Mysteries of Laura” — and Katherine Heigl, who has come crawling back to TV after the cessation of an unremarkable film career (“One for the Money,” etc.).
Here are the trailers and some initial reaction.
State of Affairs
Imagine Carrie Mathison of “Homeland” in a pair of Jimmy Choos stomping around Washington, DC, and you have “State of Affairs.”
How’s it going to go down? It all depends on whether audiences will buy star Katherine Heigl as a CIA agent. Audiences remember her as Izzie Stevens, the kinda kooky and awfully sincere resident on “Grey’s Anatomy.” Maybe they saw her in a string of forgettable rom-coms — except for “Knocked Up” — that she made after leaving the show and ticking off everyone in the business with her unsolicited opinions.
The parallels between Carrie Mathison and Charleston “Charlie” Tucker scream from every frame: She acts independently (“You don’t make policy!” one guy thunders), she has unemotional sex (“Hey you!” she tells one bed mate when she kicks him out at 2 a.m., “I’ve already called you a cab”) and so forth. There is one important departure from the new boilerplate: Heigl’s character was once romantically involved with the son of POTUS (Alfre Woodard). He was killed by terrorists and she wants to get even.
“State of Affairs” premieres in November, when “The Blacklist” moves to Thursday nights.
Marry Me
In an age of spiraling neuroses, the difficulties of making a weekly romantic comedy that we would watch once a week are becoming more difficult.
It’s the job of “Marry Me” to solve that problem. It’s hard to tell from the trailer whether that will happen. After six years of dating, a thirty-something couple (Ken Marino, Casey Wilson) are ready to tie the knot — or are they too impatient, hesitant, insistent, immature, loud, soft? A cornucopia of comedy choices awaits the actors as they milk a simple yes or no question.
On Tuesdays.
A to Z
Cristin Milioti won immediate fans when she appeared as the mom in “How I Met Your Mother.”
Some smart executive snapped her up for this appealing sitcom about Andrew, a very nervous online dating company employee who drives around singing Celine Dion songs at the top of his voice, and Zelda (Milioti), a young woman who catches his fancy. Ben Feldman, who played crazy ad man Michael Ginsberg on “Mad Men,” stars as Andrew.
On Thursdays.
Bad Judge
Kate Walsh (“Private Practice”) stars as Van Nuys judge Rebecca Wright who leads a wild life between trials and sometimes during trials (sex in her chambers). She combines the characteristics we’ve seen in female TV characters for a while now: She’s competent yet reckless. So what else is new? Rebecca has an opportunity to grow up when she meets a young boy whose parents she put behind bars and decides to mentor him. Will Ferrell is the executive producer here.
Constantine
Based on the DC Comics “Hellraiser” series, John Constantine (Matt Ryan), an enigmatic and irreverent con-man-turned-reluctant-supernatural-detective, is thrust into the role of defending us against dark forces from beyond. Lucy Griffiths, Harold Perrineau and Charles Halford co-star.
For fans of “Arrow” and “Elementary.”
The Mysteries of Laura
Debra Messing as a New York City police detective?