NBC Trailers: Our Knee-Jerk Reactions to 'New Amsterdam,' 'Abby's,' 'I Feel Bad,' 'The Enemy Within,' and More New Shows
NBC has unveiled its fall 2018 schedule, along with previews for its upcoming series, including the Ryan Eggold medical drama New Amsterdam and the Mike Schur laffer Abby’s, a multi-camera sitcom shot outdoors in front of a live audience.
Here at TVLine, we immediately jumped at the chance to screen each trailer — some of which are available here; others were only shown to members of the press at the NBC Upfront on Monday — and we’re ready to divulge our totally unfiltered, brutally honest snap judgments. (FWIW: A trailer for midseason entry The InBetween has not yet been made available to anyone — not even us.)
Below, Michael Ausiello, Matt Mitovich, Kimberly Roots, Andy Swift, Dave Nemetz, Vlada Gelman, Ryan Schwartz and Rebecca Iannucci share their gut reactions to each new series based on the first footage released by the network, then turn it over to you to tell us whether you agree or disagree with our pithy reviews.
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Keep in mind: The trailers we’ve seen are just a first glimpse and often are not wholly indicative of the series as a whole. As such, don’t take the following analysis to mean the series below will necessarily be good or bad. Previews can be deceiving — and we’ve all been fooled before.
Keep scrolling to see how Team TVLine reacted to each respective preview…
ABBY’S (Midseason)
MITOVICH | Loving the concept (improbable as it is), the cast, the taping outdoors…. Everything.
SWIFT | In a TV landscape where everything starts to feel the same, it’s refreshing to see a comedy like Abby’s trying something new (i.e. filming everything outside with an audience). I only have two questions: 1) Do we ever leave the bar? and 2) What happens when it rains?
GELMAN | Am I the only one who expected more laughs from a Mike Schur comedy?
SCHWARTZ | Sitcom pilots are hard. I’m more than willing to give a Mike Schur comedy starting Natalie Morales and Neil Flynn a chance to find itself.
THE ENEMY WITHIN (Midseason)
SWIFT | “Do you love Homeland, but wish it was less good? Have we got a show for you!”
SCHWARTZ | So it’s literally just The Blacklist: Espionage? Pass.
I FEEL BAD (Thursday at 9:30/8:30c; WATCH TRAILER)
AUSIELLO | I feel like I might give this an episode or two, if for no other reason than Paul Adelstein.
ROOTS | A woman who does what the title says all the time, carries guilt about work/life balance and fears she’s turning into her mom? I live this. I don’t wanna watch this.
SWIFT | I kept waiting for the 180 moment when this smart, successful, attractive woman realizes the men around her are idiots and their opinions don’t matter — I might actually watch that show. Sarayu Blue was fantastic in Blockers and deserves so much better.
NEMETZ | So she’s a “Bad Mom,” and… that’s the whole show? The tone is too frantic, and the sexed-up jokes are just gross. They cancelled Great News for this?
SCHWARTZ | Not even “from executive producer Amy Poehler” will get me to tune in for this one.
MANIFEST (Monday at 10/9c; WATCH TRAILER)
AUSIELLO | I was on board until the cheesy, tired, timeworn “this was just the beginning” tag, which my brain hears as “get ready for a potentially long, and unwieldy conspiracy arc!”
MITOVICH | I am so ready for takeoff.
SWIFT |This feels like a combination of Resurrection (ABC, 2014-15) and Believe (NBC, 2014), neither of which had legs. Adding a line like “This is just the beginning…” doesn’t change that.
NEMETZ | Hmmm… this one could work if it focuses on the real human emotions of the survivors, and stays away from the convoluted sci-fi mystery stuff. But there’s no way that’ll happen, right?
GELMAN | Given how often these type of mystery/conspiracy shows fail to satisfy as they meander and peter out, I wish this was a limited series.
IANNUCCI | I’ll try this out for a few episodes, but I’m bracing myself for a messy web of conspiracy subplots that end up derailing the whole show.
NEW AMSTERDAM (Tuesday at 10/9c; WATCH TRAILER)
AUSIELLO | I just don’t think I can take on another medical drama, especially one that feels this emotionally manipulative.
MITOVICH |Finally, a medical drama where the new arrival shakes things up and lobbies for a focus on patient care over profit!
ROOTS | I was out — another hospital drama? Then the cancer twist happened, and then I was waaaaay out.
SWIFT | This guy is clearly a Good Doctor — I just don’t see this show becoming a Resident of my DVR. It all feels a little too familiar.
SCHWARTZ | Why would I watch a generic NBC medical drama when all 15 seasons of the gold-standard, ER, are available on Hulu?
IANNUCCI | Predictable and depressing. Oof. Any chance The Blacklist can bring Tom Keen back from the dead?
THE VILLAGE (Midseason)
ROOTS | Guys, the dog has three legs and an altruistic soul. SHUT UP AND TAKE MY VIEWERSHIP.
SWIFT | At first, I was like, “Oh, this is a show about… literally everything?” But by the end of the trailer, I was suddenly emotional in a way I haven’t been since I watched the first This Is Us upfront trailer.
GELMAN | Hard to tell from just the trailer if the show will be able to recreate the magic of This Is Us, but it sure is trying.
SCHWARTZ | I’ve reached my limit with shows built to give me “all the feels.” And this feels like it was made in a lab to piggyback off the success of This Is Us.
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