It’s mid-September, and we’re getting a flood of new shows. The Network season is beginning and we’re starting to get all kinds of options on a weekly schedule and in streaming drops. But which of these new shows is worth your time to check out? Let this weekly post be your guide as I review the pilot and second episode of new series this Fall. Don’t see a new show listed below? Check previous weeks.

Mondays:
Line of Fire, Mondays at 10 p.m. on NBC (Premiered September 21)
About: This new series is about a family of law enforcement professionals embroiled in a big case. It’s the latest Monday night drama for NBC, coming behind The Voice, which is a swell lead-in. The series follows a family of law enforcement agents stretching across the US Marshals Service, FBI, Secret Service, and Department of Justice. The series features Peter Krause and Hope Davis, among others. It’s clear all of them, despite being in different agencies, are going to be pulled together on the same case. The pilot moves at an OK pace, and it’s an ambitious concept. But it’s hard to say how this works season-long, let alone over multiple seasons. Still, there’s some potential here.
Pilot Grade: =

Tuesdays:
The Drop: A Snowfall Saga, Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on FX (Premiered September 8)
About: This new series takes the action to Southern California in the 1990s and focuses on the tensions between the Bloods and the Crips, and the burgeoning rap industry. I liked the pilot and some of the potential of the world. I wasn’t a faithful watcher of Snowfall, but I thought the set up here made for some good potential. The second episode felt a bit stiffer. It seems to lean more into the spin-off aspects of the story. It was a tighter episode, but it felt a little less engaging. If you’re pre-disposed to enjoy this world, or were a faithful watcher of the original, this might hold a bit more sway. But given the crowded Fall TV landscape, I think this might find a tough time keeping audience. It’s not bad, but the second episode felt uneven.
Pilot Grade: C+
Second Episode: C-

Thursdays:
The Traitors: New Blood, Thursdays at 8 p.m. on NBC (Premiered September 17)
About: We’ve seen The Traitors before. In the pas the reality series, hosted by Alan Cumming, has featured celebrities playing a game in a castle in the Scottish Highlands. Now, we have a new version for NBC, this time with regular folks. In the two-episode premier, we meet the 22 contestants and found the first two who were eliminated. If you’ve been a fan of previous versions of the game, you’ll be drawn into this new take. It’s toned down a bit since it’s airing on network TV, and it doesn’t feature the same familiar faces, but it’s still a lot of fun and quite engaging.
Pilot Grade: C+
Second Episode: C+

Sundays:
Trespasses, Sundays at 10 p.m. on PBS (Premiered September 20)
About: This new drama on PBS stars Gillian Anderson and Lola Petticrew and is set in the 1970s in Northern Ireland. The focus is on Cushla (Petticrew), who lives with her divorced and drunk mother (Anderson) and begins an affair with a married man. Doubtless there will be consequences in this four-episode series, which airs Sundays. The pilot sets up the world and the key relationship that will be at the center of things. The subsequent episodes will depict how it goes wrong, as we started in the future with the pilot and are presumably moving back to that point. It’s a solid period drama and a quick binge if you subscribe to Passport.
Pilot Grade: C+

Youth, Sundays at 10 p.m. on HBO (Premiered September 20)
About: This new comedy comes from Sharon Horgan, who plays a divorced literary agent trying to balance life and love in her 50s. We meet Alex (Horgan) as she’s trying to get her life together. She’s worried that her time as a productive lover is nearing an end, but the problem is trying to fit it all into her chaotic life, which includes a job she doesn’t love, a son who is a mess, and an on-again, off-again relationship with a man (Rupert Friend) that could be something or nothing. Horgan is a talented performer and the first two episodes, which aired as a block Sunday, did a nice job of establishing the world and the rhythm of the series. It’s an eight-episode season, with episodes running about half an hour. If you’ve enjoyed these kind of HBO comedies in the past, this will be for you.
Pilot Grade: C+
Second Episode: C+

Streaming Series:
Golden Axe, Now Streaming on Paramount+ (Premiered September 16)
About: Is there anything Matthew Rhys can’t do? Fresh off of winning two Emmys for lead of two different series, he’s back as the lead voice for this adult animated series. It’s something of a send up of series like Masters of the Universe, with Rhys voicing a feisty troll named Gilius as they try to safeguard the realm. There’s a solid voice cast here, including Danny Pudi, Lisa Gilroy, and Liam McIntyre, among others. The episodes are 20 or so minutes, making for a quick binge. This is a step above the normal adult animated fare. With just a 10-episode season it makes for a quick binge. But if adult animated series aren’t your jam, there might not be enough here to hold your interest, especially in a crowded Fall landscape.
Pilot Grade: C+
Second Episode: C+

Route 187, Now Streaming on Paramount+ (Premiered September 16)
About: The second streaming series of the week for Paramount+ is a four-episode drama focusing on the lives of people living and working along Route 87, a bus route dubbed Route 187 because of the death that happens in the area. The episodes are only a half an hour, with the four-episode series making for a quick binge. It comes from producer Tyler Perry and is focused on the crimes in that area and the people whose lives are shattered. That has the potential to be an interesting idea. The execution of this series was something else. I wasn’t taken with the construction of the episodes, the tone, or the way it sought to explore the stories. It might resonate with other differently, but this was a real miss for me.
Pilot Grade: C-
Second Episode: C-

Neagley, Now Streaming on Prime Video (Premiered September 16)
About: This new series for Prime Video is a spin-off of Reacher. It focuses on Frances Neagley (Maria Sten), the former military cop turned private investigator who worked with Reacher (Alan Ritchison) and appeared in the first few seasons of that series. Here, the focus is on her and her work as a private investigator. While Reacher appears in the pilot to help with the handoff, this is quickly about a case involving Neagley and that requires her unique touch to solve. Unlike the original series, this one dropped all in a binge. The whole eight-episode season is now available to watch, making for a short commitment for those who are fans of the world. I enjoyed the first two episodes, which each run around 45 minutes. Sten is great in the lead role and there is plenty of potential for this to be an engaging detective drama and fill that Reacher-sized hole between seasons.
Pilot Grade: B-
Second Episode: B-

Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, Now Streaming on Netflix (Premiered September 17)
About: By now we’re used to the annual drops in the Ryan Murphy anthology series Monster, which spends each season focusing on a famous killer. Now, for the fourth installment, the focus is on Lizzie Borden (Ella Beatty) who turned on her parents. We see the infamous slaying in the opening moments of the pilot before we spin back to four months earlier to see what pushed Borden over the line. The series is eight episodes, with Rebecca Hall playing her stepmother, Charlie Hunnam playing her father, and Vicky Krieps as the new maid who exposes Lizzy to new ideas, a new sense of purpose, and a new murderous outlook. For fans of the franchise, this is another interesting addition to the anthology series with a famous criminal and a famously brutal crime. The episodes are all about an hour, making for a reasonable binge that seems timed with the spooky season. But if blood and gore aren’t your thing, this will be a long watch.
Pilot Grade: C+
Second Episode: C

Matthew Fox is a graduate of the Radio, Television and Film program at Biola University, and a giant nerd. He spends his free time watching movies, TV, and obsessing about football. He is a member of the FSWA. You can find him @knighthawk7734 on Twitter and as co-host of the Fantasy Football Roundtable Podcast.