Seasons: 1
Starring: Deborah Ayorinde, Ashley Thomas, Alison Pill
Description: The period piece “Them” has a black couple move into a white neighborhood during the fifties with their young daughter, and before long, the white neighbors are terrorizing them, trying to get them to move out. There also seems to be something a little supernatural going on, which just adds to the mystery.
Why it’s lukewarm: The setup almost seems like it’s old hat by now. The black people move in, and the white people don’t like it. While the production is slick, there just isn’t enough new and interesting to keep people watching. The show is also EXTREMELY brutal, which turned off a lot of audience members and critics. Throw in a dash of staid “Stepford Wives” elements, and you have a show that just doesn’t do enough to separate itself from the pack.
Panic (So-So)
Seasons: 1
Starring: Olivia Welch, Mike Faist, Jessica Sula
Descriptions: Take the idea of “Hunger Games” and pit a bunch of teens against each other, except it’s in present-day Texas. Based on Lauren Oliver’s 2014 YA novel, “Panic” mysteriously organizes a game for graduating seniors of a high school, competing in dares to get their ticket out of the small town.
Why it’s lukewarm: “Panic” seems to think that everybody who watches the show will get squicked out with even a little bit of blood and can’t seem to stop coddling its audience. It also seems to be a little more interested in boosting the star power of Ray Nicholson than actually creating a good show. Check it out if the premise seems interesting, but it certainly isn’t the best thing Amazon has ever made.
Utopia (So-So)
Season: 1
Starring: John Cusack, Rainn Wilson, Sasha Lane
Description: A group of misfits and comic nerds discover that the comic “Utopia” is predicting the end of the world. There’s conspiracy, thriller elements, and a couple of big names to add to the show’s appeal. It was first a Channel 4 sci-fi thriller that was passed around before the adaptation finally came out on Amazon.
Why it’s lukewarm: The timing was poor. It’s a story about the government lying about a plague and making fake vaccines, and it came out in the fall of 2020. Seriously, talk about a bad release date. It also takes itself a little too seriously for people to enjoy without a wink and a nod to the audience. Black comedy has to have a subtle hand sometimes, and this one was going at it pretty heavy.
The Hunters (So-So)
Seasons: 1
Starring: Al Pacino, Logan Lerman, Jerrika Hinton
Description: Grindhouse Fun combines with Al Pacino’s inimitable acting style to create a show about Nazi hunting as a group of people hunt down members of the Third Reich that are living in seventies America. It has to be good if it was able to convince Al Pacino to make the move to TV, right?
Why it’s lukewarm: The show isn’t terrible by any means, but you have to be in a grindhouse state of mind to be able to enjoy it. The show is also a little unexpected. Sometimes that’s a good thing, but sometimes it keeps you from getting comfortable. Still, the show has plenty of power to give to people who are able to tough it out and plenty of catharsis.
Truth Seekers (So-So)
Seasons: 1
Starring: Nick Frost, Simon Pegg, Malcolm McDowell, Samson Kayo Description: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost once again come together to make some comedy, and this time, it’s a combination of “The X-Files” and shows like “Ghost Hunters.” They star as broadband installers who double as paranormal investigators who find themselves being followed by ghostly events and sights.
Why it’s lukewarm: The show has plenty of fun moments and lots of the comedy chops that the two main actors have shown us since they got together in “Spaced,” but the show as it is remains a little light. It’s billed as a horror/comedy, but there isn’t much horror to be had, and the laughs don’t always land for every viewer. Other comments tell us that it just wasn’t up to the standards that we had gotten used to from the duo.