A Look Back at This Season’s New Shows

We’ve tried to keep our discussion broad, but it goes without saying that there may be spoilers in this post for all shows listed. Tread carefully, ye who enter here.

Before the 2015 TV Season began, we spent some time outlining our hopes and excitement for new and returning shows. Now that the season has come to an end, we’re taking a look back at what we had been anticipating, and reflecting on how the shows fared over the season. We’ll also tip our hats to shows we hadn’t included in our initial anticipatory write-up, but ended up watching just the same.

We have so many feelings about these things that we’ve ended up having to split this roundup into two posts, so our first installment is only about shows that were new this season. Keep an eye out for our thoughts on returning shows tomorrow!

New Shows We Were Anticipating

Blindspot

Teija: This show has an intriguing case-of-the-week situation going on since Jane’s tattoos are all clues to crimes. Crimes that are all planned in advance and happen one by one in a sequence. Honestly, this show promised to be something better than it is. Jaimie Alexander is fantastic, and the show does have its good qualities–they didn’t pull a Lost and stack questions on top of questions without answering any of them. The biggest problem with Blindspot is the supporting cast. Jaimie Alexander is trapped in a cast that can barely keep up with her, and some of them (particularly Ashley Johnson’s character) are written as far stupider than we’re told they are. There’s a lot of telling and not a whole lot of showing going on. The introduction of Jane’s pre-tattoo life and players has thrown the whole show off-kilter in that they are far more interesting than the folks at the FBI, and her chemistry with former-fiancee Oscar is leagues better than it is with Kurt Weller, whose two settings seem to be “broody mumbling” and “shouting his feelings.” The crime-of-the-week format of the show keeps it easy enough to pop in and out of, so it’s possible this show will continue sadly onward for a few seasons, and since I’ve already watched the whole of season 1, it’s probable that I’ll keep on with it until it dies a sad, slow death. Jaimie Alexander really deserves better than this.

Heroes Reborn

Teija: I watched a few episodes of this, and despite the inclusion of Zachary Levi, I just could not get into it. Sorry, Heroes.

Lauren: I was SO EXCITED for this one. I shared all the promo and even eagerly watched the web series lead-in. But the show itself proved to be highly disappointing. The most compelling parts were the nods to original characters (my ears even perked up every time they mentioned Mohinder, despite original Heroes absolutely destroying Mohinder’s character), but those parts weren’t nearly frequent enough to carry the show. Likewise, resting the reboot on the shoulders of HRG, who was never interesting enough to be a leading man, felt like a misstep. The new characters lacked the compelling humanity of the originals, and even Zachary Levi, whom I love in pretty much everything else, felt shockingly wooden and lacking in chemistry with his scene partner. I gave this reboot as fair a shake as I could, but after getting half a dozen episodes in and still not being able to tell you the name of a single new character due to abundant not-caring, I had to tap out.

Sarah: I tried to get into this, I even watched the first four of five episodes, but honestly I cannot remember a single thing that happened. Well, other than Zachary Levi showed up and made a very pretty villain. To be honest, I don’t even remember when I really stopped watching, just that it was never compelling enough for me to remember when it aired or to look it up OnDemand afterwards.

Supergirl

Teija: I wanted to watch this show, I really did! And I tried! I got through about four episodes. My biggest problem with this show is that it was on CBS. They’ve decided they want their shows to be on their own separate streaming location, and therefore to keep up with Supergirl, I would have had to use the CBS.com streaming service–which my computer seems to hate. So after four episodes I gave up out of sheer frustration. I did tune in for the crossover episode with the Flash, which was an utter delight, so I’m hoping season 1 ends up on Netflix before season 2 starts. Now that the show is moving to the CW, I should be able to keep up with it on Hulu like I do with all the other CW hero shows.

Lauren: I had every intention of watching this show. I watched…five episodes? Six? I don’t remember for sure, because I didn’t make a conscious decision to stop watching. I didn’t have a problem with the show — I actually found it super (heh) fun! It just didn’t quite hit that must have next episode now sweet spot for me. I could watch an episode, enjoy it, and then not care if I kept going. However, I did tune in for the Flash crossover episode, which was maybe my favorite episode of TV all season, and still have all the episodes I missed saved on my DVR, so I fully intend to catch up over the summer.

Sarah: I was so excited for this show and I started watching the night it aired! But then, life happened? Or Something? And I kept forgetting to watch (it didn’t help that it was on Monday nights) despite how much I enjoyed it whenever I did manage to catch up. I did tune back in for the crossover with The Flash and that was the best episode of TV all season. Hands down. I’ll definitely catch up on this one over the summer so I’m ready to start season 2 in the fall.

Legends of Tomorrow

Teija: I watched the pilot of this, but for some reason or another, I didn’t go back and watch more of Not-A-Time-Lord Rory Williams and his Not-A-TARDIS. I’ve always loved Victor Garber (Spydaddy!) but even his involvement didn’t keep me watching. I might catch up when it shows up on Netflix, I might not.

Lauren: I watched three or four episodes and, while they had their enjoyable moments, I couldn’t shake the feeling that none of these characters was ever meant to carry a show. It was cheesy and over-the-top and didn’t evoke any strong feelings from me. While I liked some of the characters individually in small doses as side characters, I wasn’t really invested in any of them as leads. I might catch up on this one before next season starts, as I didn’t find it tortuous by any stretch, but it’s not a high priority for me.

Sarah: Okay, I’m in the minority here but I really, really love this show. I don’t claim that’s it’s super high quality television, but it’s fun and cheesy and really, who doesn’t love watching time traveling superheroes? It took a while for the team to gel and find their footing, but once they did they were an utter delight to watch. There was a good blend of stories for all of the characters, the crossovers with Arrow and Flash were solid, and Rory-I-mean-Rip was a convincing lead. I’ll continue watching next season, and really for pretty much as long as Victor Garber remains a main cast member.

Jessica Jones

Teija: This. Was. Incredible. Hands down a fantastic show. The cast was strong, the storyline was tight, and the writing was superb. I loved getting into the psychological side of what it’s like to live in a world full of superpowered heroes and villains. David Tennant’s Kilgrave was completely unnerving, and Simpson’s violent white knight provided another example of how not to romance a woman. It was refreshing and completely unique to see a TV show that so well represents women’s perspectives.

Lauren: This show was amazing. I binged the whole thing over one weekend and still find myself thinking about it months later. In addition to everything Teija said, I also really enjoyed the introduction to Luke Cage, and now can’t wait for his show.

Sarah: I cannot say enough good things about this show. I loved everything about it from Krysten Ritter’s spot-on portrayal of Jessica, to David Tennant’s creepily psychotic Kilgrave. The show went darker than we are used to Marvel going, but they handled it impeccably. Also, I cannot wait to see Luke Cage headline his own show; if his performance on Jessica Jones was any indication, it will be incredible.

The Expanse

Teija: This is a show I didn’t catch when it aired, but based on everyone’s response to it, I am actually really, really hoping to catch on some streaming service or another before the next season starts.

The Muppets

Teija: I definitely never ended up watching this, despite my love of the Muppets. From its critical reception and eventual cancellation, it sounds like I dodged a bullet.

Lauren: I wasn’t part of the original post AND I didn’t watch this, so there.

Sarah: I meant to watch this? I watched the pilot and it was adorable, but when it comes down to watching The Muppets or The Flash (they shared a time slot), well… there’s no contest. And so this one dropped off the radar for me.

New Shows We Hadn’t Mentioned Previously

Killjoys

Lauren: This show is just fun. I didn’t have very high hopes going in — SyFy shows tend to be more miss than hit, in my experience — but was very pleasantly surprised. I love the strong friendship between Dutch and John, I love the sibling tension between John and D’Avin, and I love the wacky space heist hijinks that call back to the best episodes of Firefly. I will admit that I haven’t fully finished the first season yet; while thoroughly enjoyable, this show tends to be pretty episodic, which makes it a little easier to put aside than more serialized shows. However I have every intention of catching up and am excited for season 2.

Sarah: I was hooked on this show from the premise alone. I mean, how can you not be intrigued by a show about bounty hunters in space? I’ll admit I was a bit worried going in, because I’ve been burned by Syfy shows in the past, but in this case it absolutely lived up to my expectations. The crazy space adventures will remind you a little of Firefly, but with a strong female lead, a mysterious backstory, and a solid male/female friendship, I dare say it surpasses Firefly. (And If you still aren’t convinced to watch this show, I wrote a post outlining all the reasons that you should.)

Quantico

Teija: I started this season and pretty quickly soured on this show, as it had some serious missteps and clunky writing up front. For a while, I was actively mock-watching. However, I got attached enough to the characters to keep watching, and I am so glad I did. The writing really tightened up around the midseason mark, and by the end I was on the edge of my seat with every twist and turn. The final reveal of who was masterminding the whole season’s villain arc was especially interesting, as Sarah and I had completely ruled out the culprit, and yet the show made it satisfying and believable. A few things about the season were slow and boring (Alex and Booth, for the most part) but overall, it ended up being a really satisfying season.

Lauren: I watched two episodes of this show and gave up, thanks to (what I found to be) a frustrating gimmick and contrived storytelling. However I’ve been told I should give it the full season, so I plan to catch up before season 2 airs.

Sarah: I started this show and fully intended on making it it my “guilty pleasure, hate watching” hour of television. And for a while, it absolutely lived up to that. And then I stopped watching for a while until Teija told me it actually got good. Which is how I found myself binging half a season in a day and then waiting impatiently for new episodes every Sunday. While the show had its slow moments and missteps, overall it did so much right and I will absolutely be back for round 2.

Mr. Robot

Lauren: This is a summer show and technically aired its first season before the initial “New Show” post went up here on Avenging Force, but I wasn’t a contributor then and dangit, I want to talk about this show because it’s so good. I wasn’t sure what to expect of this dark cyber-thriller, but what the first season delivered was a twisty slow-burn of intriguing characters and smart, tight writing. Watching this show peel away its complex layers all season long was consistently captivating, and while season 2 almost certainly will look a lot different than season 1 thanks to a game-changing shift in the finale, I can’t wait for its return.