Monday, January 01, 2018
Fox Mid-Season Pilot Review: LA to Vegas - Premieres Tuesday (Jan. 2)
LA to Vegas - Tuesdays at 9:00PM ET/PT on Fox
Premieres Tuesday, January 2, 2018 at 9:00PM ET/PT
Ed Weeks as Colin
Nathan Lee Graham as Bernard
Olivia Macklin as Nichole
Peter Stormare as Artem
Dylan McDermott as Captain Dave Pratman
Before getting into what's wrong with it, maybe it is worth pointing out the positives of the series. The individual cast members of the series make up a great are decent actors who could do well on a good TV series with good casting. But that long list of qualifiers already brings up the first problem with the series: it has a cast that doesn't seem to fit in with one another. In watching the first episode, you couldn't really see how they all fit together. So what we've got here is a case of a good cast that seems to be poorly matched.
I also couldn't really tell where the stories are going to go on this series. In the pilot, we got to see Ronnie losing out on a job opportunity and (possibly) opening a new door with a new relationship and the young couple who went to Las Vegas to get hitched. The possibilities with the main cast seem limited, though, as long as they're in the air, so this series will definitely need good guest stars with good stories, and the one in this pilot wasn't all that compelling of a story.
I had trouble finding the laughs in the pilot as well. I've always felt that not all sitcoms need a laugh every minute. In fact, some of the best sitcoms of all time won't necessarily make you laugh out loud at all. But they make up for that with solid storylines, which this series is lacking in what I've seen.
It is worth pointing out that one cast member that I sort of enjoyed that seemed to be underutilized in the pilot was Nathan Lee Graham. I had never really heard of him (although I've seen every episode of Scrubs, which he appeared in one episode, so I've undoubtedly seen him before), but some of the better scenes and somewhat funny (the comedy was still limited by the series itself) scenes came from him. Assuming this series doesn't work out, it would be nice to see him elsewhere, as he seems to have a lot of potential.
Preview:
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Monday, September 8
The Neighborhood - "Welcome to the Sting" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Calvin and Marty send Courtney on a mission to find out information about Fuse Box’s impressive new rival. Meanwhile, Malcolm attends an event for his creative writing program at USC, where he scores a meeting with a book agent, Lisa (Angelique Cabral).
The Neighborhood - "Welcome to Your Own Medicine" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
After Dave’s disastrous attempt to dunk a basketball, Calvin takes care of his injured neighbor. Also, Gemma befriends a cool mom group while babysitting Daphne.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of September 8)
Monday, September 8
- Christopher Guest as Nigel Tufnel (Family Tree/Morton & Hayes), Michael McKean as David St. Hubbins (Laverne & Shirley), Harry Shearer as Derek Smalls (The Simpsons) and Rob Reiner as Marty DiBergi (All in the Family/Morton & Hayes) - Watch Spinal Tap on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Fred Armisen (Los Espookys/Forever/Final Space) - Fred appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Langston Kerman (English Teacher/Bust Down/South Side/Bless This Mess) - Langston is a guest on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Steve Martin (Only Murders in the Building) and Martin Short (Only Murders in the Building/Mulaney/I'm a Big Girl Now/The Associates) - Steve and Martin are guests on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
- Charlie Sheen (Anger Management/Two and a Half Men) - ABC's Good Morning America has part two of Michael Strahan's interview with Charlie sometime between 7-9am.
- Marilu Henner (Evening Shade/Taxi) - Marilu talks about A Husband to Die For: The Lisa Aguilar Story on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
- Katie Lowes (How We Roll) - Katie and Jamie Ray Newman talk about the summer's most talked about show The Hunting Wives on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
- Rainn Wilson (The Office) - Rainn talks about Code 3 on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis at 7pm.
- Drew Barrymore (Santa Clarita Diet) - Drew will be on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
- Oscar Nuñez (The Paper/The Office), Alex Edelman (The Paper) and Gbemisola Ikumelo (The Paper) - Oscar, Alex and Gbemisola talk about Peacock's The Paper on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am.
- Holly Robinson Peete (Hangin' with Mr. Cooper/For Your Love/Like Family/Love, Inc.) - NBC's Today catches up with Holly in the 9am hour.
- Malin Akerman (Dollface/Sin City Saints/Trophy Wife/Childrens Hospital) - Malin talks about Netflix's The Hunting Wives on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
- Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland/One Day at a Time) - Valerie appears on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Halle Berry (Living Dolls) - Halle is celebrating aging helping a viewer over 50 achieve a glow up look on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
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04/01 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season
05/13 - The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* (missing 4 episodes and some music has been replaced or altered)
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