Here’s part two of our list of the most tantalising pilots and new shows to be aired in the US this year – with any luck we’ll be seeing a few of them on UK telly some time soon.
The Catch
Shonda Rhimes is one of the most successful television creators in recent years; the fierce force behind shows such as Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and How To Get Away With Murder.
This year, she is responsible for The Catch, a clever crime drama with a twist.
The show stars the incredibly impressive Mireille Enos, who was in the US version of The Killing, as sh*t-hot fraud investigator Alice Martin, a woman who catches white collar crime.
However, Martin has just been done herself, something she must solve or get over if she is to continue her career.
The Catch is clever in the same way as The Good Wife; it won’t win any box-set awards but it is a remarkably well-written, well-rounded series.
https://twitter.com/ABC_TheCatch/status/598173992453689344
The Player
Wesley Snipes will finally be in a position to pay his tax bill after landing the starring role as a mysterious pit-boss crime lord in The Player.
Snipes runs a high-stakes game in Las Vegas, where former military operative-turned-casino-security expert Alex Kane, played by Strike Back’s Philip Winchester, must attempt to prevent crimes before they happen or “lose” the bet.
Think Person of Interest if that person’s interest was gambling in sin city.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgbouVimpnQ
The Grinder
Rob Lowe is a man who can wear a suit (see: every episode of The West Wing), so it’s good to see him back, both in a shirt and tie, and on network television.
Lowe plays Dean Sanderson Jr., a successful television lawyer who returns home after his show, The Grinder, ends.
This family, however, are actual lawyers and he decides that given his TV court experience, he’s going to join them on the stand.
It’s a solid sitcom, also starring The Wonder Years’ Fred Savage and 24 president William Devane, that would sit perfectly on E4.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mybEO-Hb0Y
Limitless
Bradley Cooper, star of the original 2011 movie, is back as a guest star of this television adaptation.
Cooper returns as author Eddie Morra, the main character of the original film, who becomes the smartest man on the planet after discovering mysterious drug NZT.
However, the star of small screen version is Jake McDorman (American Sniper), who plays Brian Finch, the new guy who discovers the drug and uses its powers to help the FBI solve crimes.
The TV version is as pulpy as the film, but Cooper et al. will undoubtedly have a great time squeezing out more stories.
And what to miss:
Uncle Buck
One of this year’s television trends has seen a number of well-loved movies adapted for the small screen (see Limitless above).
However, it’s not always that easy to take a respected 90-minute film and turn it into a long-running television series.
The worst example of this in 2015 is Uncle Buck, the sweet John Hughes-penned film from 1989, that starred John Candy as the loveable-but-idiotic uncle looking after his brother’s kids.
The Candy film was already attempted as a TV series in 1990 but didn’t last one series, making it difficult to comprehend why it needed to be remade 25 years later.
This version, starring comedian Mike Epps, best known for playing Black Doug in The Hangover, is a total tin-can laughter disaster and most disturbingly opens with an extremely paedophilic joke and goes downhill from there.
You’d be better off digging out the original on VHS than getting involved in this update.
