We've all heard the stories about great TV shows whose pilots were shrugged off as less-than-stellar starts. As every true boob-tube fan knows, series openers are prone to poorly integrated info dumps and storyline overload—the result of trying too hard to hook as many viewers as possible while establishing the premise, characters, and conflicts at hand. But you know how lots of people get cooler as they get older and grow out of being annoying kids or angst-y teenagers or insecure twenty-somethings? The same is true for television, and generally, once a series hits the four-episode mark, it's a bit easier to tell whether it's going to be satisfying in the long run.

Enter the TV.com 4-Episode Test™, the internet's most respected benchmark for judging new shows. Below, you'll find our first round of (admittedly inconclusive) verdicts for this season's freshman series; share your own results in the comments, then check back soon for Part 2!







Forever





Episode 1:

★★★★

|

Episode 2:

★★★★

|

Episode 3:

★★★

|

Episode 4:

★★★

★★★★

Verdict: Keep watching!

The more time I spend watching Forever, the more convinced I become that the series actually has magical powers. As someone who's easily bored by formulaic shows, I've found each episode of the ABC drama to be completely enjoyable in its vanilla-ness, and only rarely have I felt the desire to do my laundry or clean out the fridge instead. The show's cases aren't terribly exciting, but Henry's flashbacks to his past continue to enhance the events of his present. Plus, the show has a sense of humor! Episodes 2 through 4 were either average or above average compared to most other procedurals—and for a series that's mostly playing dress up with immortality, scarves, and fancy accents, that's saying something. Ioan Gruffudd's inherent charm is still Forever's biggest draw, but Henry and Abe's relationship is a close second, punching viewers right in the heart and grounding the series with an emotional undercurrent. And the overarching mystery of Henry's "fan" is layered in just lightly enough so as to not overwhelm the rest of the action, which allows more casual viewers to drop in on the series whenever they want, which is exactly how it should be. —Kaitlin Thomas





Gotham

Episode 1:

★★★★

|

Episode 2:

★★★

|

Episode 3:

★★

|

Episode 4:

★★★★

★★★★★

Verdict: It's no Smallville and we've got it on a short leash, but we still have hope

I hate the idea of recommending something based on "potential"; saying that something has potential is like freely admitting that it's not that great. But the truth is, even though Gotham has ambition for days, its greatness is restrained by a series of hang-ups: an 8pm timeslot that fuels an ongoing identity crisis, a pathological fear of doing a Batman show without a Batman (or even a baby Batman), and some "meh" casting (sry, Ben McKenzie). However, Gotham also features some great casting (Donal Logue, Robin Lord Taylor, and David Mazouz), and when the show occasionally stops worry about freaking out the children who are surely watching and presents Gotham City as the crime-ridden cesspool of batshit insanity that we all know and love, it's pretty good. Gotham LOOKS good, and sometimes, when its not mired in terrible dialogue, the writing is decent. I still think Gotham can be great if given the chance to work out its issues (and given Fox's decision to go ahead with a full-season order, I don't think I'm alone), but in its current state, I find it difficult to work up the energy to fangirl over it. But what's the alternative? Tuning in for the billionth season of The Big Bang Theory? My fellow nerds, we are better than that. And Gotham can be better than it is... if it can make it through these growing pains. —MaryAnn Sleasman





Madam Secretary





Episode 1:

★★★★

|

Episode 2:

★★

|

Episode 3:

★★

|

Episode 4:

★★★

★★★★★★★★

Verdict: Definitely not a must-watch, but not outright terrible, either

There's no doubt that Madam Secretary is well made and has a respectable cast, but it's definitely not appointment television... by a long shot. While I'm sure it appeals to some, I find it boring; so far, I just haven't found the characters or the ripped-from-the-headlines plots to be all that compelling. I suspect that the show would benefit from a more relatable human element, or a "show of the people" feel that could brighten up its political agenda. But at the same time, I'm not sure what to make of the secret daughter we met in Episode 2 (the result of a network note, perhaps?), or the Episode 3 storyline that involved Henry being blackmailed into giving a student an A in exchange for weapons to save an American official (the student was the daughter of a Russian diplomat). In short, I'm not sure if Madam Secretary is trying to be an Important Political Drama or a politics-themed soap. However, it's not the worst thing on TV and it hasn't actually done anything egregious enough for me to declare it unwatchable. It's truly a matter of personal taste at this point. —Kaitlin





The Mysteries of Laura

Episode 1:

★

|

Episode 2:

★★

|

Episode 3:

★★

|

Episode 4:

★

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Verdict: Unless you're a card-carrying member of the Debra Messing fan club, you can leave now

Laura Diamond is just a mom who's trying to be a cop! Or is she a cop who's trying to be a mom? I suppose it's both, which is why The Mysteries of Laura is a muddled mess. The show doesn't know how to balance those two main "characteristics," an issue that's persisted throughout each of its first four episodes. The result is just a series of misadventures in which Laura and her work friends solve crimes involving various demographics (bikers! gamers!), all while Laura says things like, "I think I accidentally just twerked." The pilot was dampened by a lame twist on the case of the week; Episode 4 featured an even lamer storyline about gamers who were so stereotypical they left me nauseated. I'll be the first to admit that The Mysteries of Laura wasn't made for me, but I also have to wonder if it was made for anyone. —Tim Surette





Red Band Society

Episode 1:

★★★★

|

Episode 2:

★★★

|

Episode 3:

★★

|

Episode 4:

★★★★★

★★★★★

Verdict: OMG SO TORN. Don't rearrange your life for it, but go ahead and set the DVR

I was ready to quit Red Band Society after a so-so pilot followed by two bland-to-awful follow-ups, but then—then—Episode 4 managed to provide everything I'd been wanting from the show all along, with a healthy balance of humor and drama. Not many people want to settle in each week for an hour-long angst-fest (except for Supernatural fans), and Red Band Society's second and third episodes reached Glee levels of Nothing Matters-itis (which even Glee has a hard time selling these days). It shouldn't be a struggle to care about terminally ill kids on a show that's all about inappropriately beautiful terminally ill kids, but those two middle hours failed to muster anything more than mild amusement at their melodramatic antics. A series like Red Band Society should never take itself too seriously, but it would be nice if it more consistently addressed its' characters illnesses. It's all fun and games until someone loses a leg... and then it's more fun and games. Consequently, I quickly relegated the Wednesday-night series to weekend-DVR-viewing status, and I was prepared to pull the plug on The Cancer Kid Comedy Hour... until "There's No Place Like Homecoming" mixed up a potent drug cocktail involving a botched homecoming dance, painfully believable parenting issues, and an honest discussion of the appropriateness of pity. This could be a turning point for the series, so I encourage you to keep watching if you're still on the fence. I just don't think one episode is enough to declare a full recovery. —MaryAnn





Scorpion

Episode 1:

★★★

|

Episode 2:

★

|

Episode 3:

★

|

Episode 4:

★★

★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Verdict: Stop watching and save your brain cells for something better

Scorpion's pilot wasn't great, but its boom-pow ending—in which a sports car sped along beneath a commercial airliner flying about 10 feet off the ground while the co-pilot dangled an Ethernet cable to Katharine McPhee so she could hardwire a laptop and download some sensitive data—made it worth a watch. Of course, the promise of crazy, episode-ending stunts concluded there because they're expen$ive, and Episodes 2 and 3 amounted to little more than a bunch of egotistical or hypochondriac nerds insulting the intelligence of others while talking about firewalls and IP addresses. Episode 4 earns an extra star because it allowed the gang to have a bit of fun in Vegas, and even though it was corny, it was refreshing to see Scorpion lighten up a bit. However, McPhee is still only on the show to serve as eye candy, and solving the capers usually boils down to the team uttering a bunch of over-my-head tech jargon and tapping a few keys on a Microsoft-sponsored computer. If you're looking for a nerd-focused drama, you're better off watching The Big Bang Theory with the laugh track stripped away. —Tim





Z Nation





Episode 1:

★★★

|

Episode 2:

★

|

Episode 3:

★★★

|

Episode 4:

★★★

★★★★★★★★★★

Verdict: We won't make fun of you if you continue to watch this goofy zombie farce

Z Nation knowingly recycles plots from every zombie show or movie that's ever been made, it has a far-too-large cast of mostly personality-free characters, it features gore effects that resemble an overturned pot of spaghetti sauce, and it regularly sinks to the depths of extreme stupidity. So why all the three-star ratings? Because "mindless entertainment" is the only thing this silly show, from the producers of Sharknado, is trying to achieve as it brings a weekly dose of straight-to-video camp to Syfy. Episode 1 featured a zombie baby that ate Harold Perrineau, Episode 3 showed us what happens when the Liberty Bell tumbles down a street full of zombies, and Episode 4 answered one of the most important questions of zombie-ism: Can a zombie get stoned? (Answer: YES.) Meanwhile, Episode 2 forgot that Z Nation is a joke and attempted to resemble actual television, resulting in a flaming disaster of oily zombies and stupid music boxes. Z Nation isn't a good show by any means, but when it says "F it!" and drinks heavily, it's at least an enjoyable one (in that Z movie—ha!—sort of way). —Tim









What do YOUR verdicts look like for these seven new shows?



