Looking Back at the 2016-17 TV Season

Has it really been a year since I blogged about the current TV season? [insert here cliche of how quickly time flies] [or not] Last year around this same time, I made a list of 17 new series that I was interested in watching. That is a long list of new shows to watch. I watched the entire pilots of all of them except three (Conviction, Bull, and Notorious). I think I watched about 15 minutes of Bull and Notorious, and they didn't pull me in, so I stopped. There were a few that I watched more than one episode, but in the long run, there were only two new series I ended up watching through the whole season. Two out of 17. Not great.

This is Us

I watched the entire season of This is Us, and I really liked it at first. In my post a year ago when I wrote about my hopes for this series, I said that I hoped it wouldn't get too "soap opera-ey." Well, for me it did. I loved Randall and his family, and I have to say that Sterling K. Brown is a heck of an actor. I found the "twist" interesting. However, the stories didn't really draw me in enough. I recorded it on my DVR, and I usually ended up fast-forwarding through it to catch the gist of what was going on. Big indicator that I didn't feel like the stories were compelling enough to sit through all of it.

I really don't know if I'll continue to watch the show next season. 

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And for me, the winning new series of the 2016-17 TV season is... (drum roll please)

Timeless

I loved this series. Each episode had a beginning, a middle, and an end (I prefer episodic television to serial), but the entire season had an overarching story line that connected all of the episodes. It started out a bit slow, but it got better and better as the season went on. I thought the three main characters had a lot of chemistry, and I cared about what happened to them. 

I loved the time travel aspect. I love history, and watching the main characters go back in time to actually see these famous (and sometimes infamous) events and historical figures was great. I thought the writers picked a nice variety of time periods and events to explore. I can imagine what a thrill it would be for a historian, like Lucy, to actually be able to observe and participate in these historical events, and to meet people you've spent your life reading about. 

The secondary plot - the reason why they were time traveling - felt a little bit forced and convoluted sometimes, and I wished there were more of a conclusion in the season finale, but overall I loved the series and I excited to find out what happens next.

And then... it was canceled. I was not happy. It was the only new show that I wanted to keep watching, and NBC canceled it!

And then... they uncanceled it. Yes, NBC actually listened to fans' protests, and they actually reversed the cancellation and ordered 10 new episodes for next season. And now, I'm happy.

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There is one new series I wrote about in my post last year that I wanted to watch that hasn't started yet: Still Star-Crossed. I am still looking forward to that series, and I hope it will be good. 

Next post: 2017 TV Fall Season Sneak Peek