Every year I try and watch a few new shows. You know, broaden my television horizons. And every year I am disappointed. There has not been a good new sit com since The Big Bang Theory started eight years ago. This year there were six new shows I wanted to check out: Life in Pieces, The Muppets, Rosewood, Blood and Oil, Grandfathered and Grinder. I had great hopes for all of these for various reasons.

I had seen the promos for the new CBS sit com Life in Pieces all summer long. I was so excited to watch this. It looked hysterical and with such a great cast including James Brolin and Dianne Wiest. I watched the first episode just staring at the television – didn’t even crack a smile. First of all, I did not like the way it was filmed – the same reason I didn’t like Modern Family. I need a laugh track or laughter from a live audience. Guess I’m just old school with my sit coms. Second of all, Life in Pieces was not funny to me. It was dumb funny, which is not my thing. Also, it was way too raunchy to be in the 8:30 time slot. But everybody deserves a second chance right? So I watched it the following week and was still not impressed. I deleted Life in Pieces from my series manager.

The next show I watched was the one I was most excited for, and this time I was not disappointed. It is the new Muppet show called The Muppets. A lot of people do not like it because it is not like the original show, but I loved the original Muppet Show in the 1970s and 1980s and I love this new Muppets. The original series was definitely geared toward children and took place on a variety show. This new series is geared more toward adults and takes place on Miss Piggy’s late night talk show as well as the personal lives of the Muppets. My favorite is still Fozzie Bear. In the first episode, we see Fozzie meet his human girlfriend’s parents – hysterical! There is still the Kermit and Miss Piggy love dynamic, but this time they are ex’s and Kermit is currently dating a Miss Piggy lookalike. I look forward to revisiting my youth watching the Muppets in a more adult way. The Muppets air Tuesdays at 8pm on ABC. 

I was excited for Rosewood, which not a sit com, because it starred Morris Chestnut, and I will watch anything with Morris Chestnut in it. I’ve loved him since I first saw Morris on the big screen in The Best Man in 1999 (I didn’t see Boyz in the Hood until years after it came out). I will see pretty much any movie Morris is in. My favorites of his are The Best Man, The Brothers and Not Easily Broken. When Morris was filming Ladder 49 in Baltimore, I saw him in the airport. We were walking through BWI together – well I was following his close behind. Morris Chestnut had gotten off my plane and I didn’t even know I was the same plane as he was. I think it was Mother’s Day weekend. I remember Morris talking on a fan’s phone giving their mother a great surprise. And I also remember how short Morris was, well not short exactly, but shorter than me. I always pictured him a really tall guy, like at least 6’3″, he looked so big on the screen. To be fair, Morris is probably about 5’10” at most. (Google says he is 6′, but he was shorter than me and I’m 5’11”) Anyway, I did not love Rosewood. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t great. Morris plays a medical examiner in a private practice with his sister and her lesbian lover in Miami. But even though he is a medical examiner, he partners up with a cop and together they solve crimes. Oh and Morris’ character has a heart condition. It’s a little cheesy, but I get to watch to Morris for an hour as he is in pretty much every scene. There have only been two episodes, so it might get better. A lot of shows have terrible first seasons and turn into great shows. The first season of Beverly Hills 90210 was not that great, but it got better and ran for ten seasons and became my second favorite show ever. Rosewood airs Wednesdays at 8pm on Fox before Empire, which I love!

The other non sit com I was excited for this season was Blood and Oil because it looked like a modern day Dallas to me, and I loved Dallas (and Knots Landing). Heck, I just love all soaps. Although on primetime they are called dramas, but let’s be real, they are nighttime soaps. Blood and Oil is no Dallas, but it’s not bad. I’ll keep watching. There have only been two episodes so far. It stars Don Johnson and takes place in North Dakota, which doesn’t have the same cache as Texas in my opinion. But it is about oil and family and deceit and jealousy and betrayal. Blood and Oil has the potential of being a really good nighttime soap. Blood and Oil airs at 9pm Sundays on ABC. 

I decided to watch Grandfathered for the sole reason that it stars John Stamos, who gets even better looking with each year. I wasn’t expecting much from this show other than to admire John Stamos. Its premise is Stamos is a womanizing restaurant owner who finds out not only he has a grown son, but that son has a daughter, which makes him a grandfather. I don’t a lot of hopes for this show, but I may watch it a few more times just for the Stamos factor – I like him. Grandfathered airs Tuesdays at 8pm on Fox – the same time as The Muppets.

I watched The Grinder for mainly for Rob Lowe, but also for Fred Savage. These two back to back Fox sit coms provide a whole hour of 1980s nostalgia with John Stamos from Full House on Grandfathered and Fred Savage from the Wonder Years and Rob Lowe from many of my favorite 80s movies such as St. Elmo’s Fire and The Outsiders on The Grinder. Its premise is a little more interesting. The Grinder is Rob Lowe’s character on a tv show where he plays a lawyer. Fred Savage’s character is his brother, but he is actually a lawyer. Rob’s character’s tv show, The Grinder, has ended so he is searching for what to do next and decides to stay with his brother and help him – even though he’s only played a lawyer on tv and isn’t actually a lawyer like his brother. I think this show might be ok. The Grinder airs Tuesdays at 8:30 on Fox, right after Grandfathered. 

What new shows are you watching this season?