TV Reviews: “Archer,” “Chozen,” “Episodes,” and “Banshee”

Last night brought the premieres of two “mature” animated comedies on FX, and Showtime’s forever-disappearing sitcom “Episodes” is also back in the game. Plus, the early premiere of Cinemax’s unexpected delight “Banshee” is now available. All shows I like, to various degrees…

Archer…The season 5 premiere put in motion a major reboot of the spy comedy…mostly because it’ll no longer be about spies. The FBI raided the ISIS headquarters in the beginning moments, and abruptly put the kibosh on the agency’s entire existence (since they’ve technically been committing treason for years). By episode’s end, it was revealed Mallory had a literal ton of cocaine, and the agents are now going to form a drug cartel. Thus, the show was rebranded “Archer, Vice.” This (and Lana’s pregnancy…also visible last night) is the biggest development in the show’s history, so it’ll take time to see if this new direction really works out. Still, it gets major points for rebranding a show that isn’t failing or stale or in danger of getting cancelled…this seems to be purely because they wanted to. Grade for season five premiere: B+

Chozen…This series is proudly declared the first show to feature a “white, gay animated rapper,” but other critics were lukewarm on it. This is from the makers of “Eastbound and Down” and follows a similar arc in watching Chozen try to break out in the rap game. The premiere introduced a well-developed and engaging world, and the character of Chozen might be the most convention-defying character on TV: a gay buffoon who’s basically a good guy but a loutish, drunken, alpha-male screwup. Grade for pilot: B+

Episodes…This show’s never been more than mildly diverting, and yet it takes 18 months off between seasons and yet I’m still watching it! Oh well, I guess I’m too loyal to leave a bad TV relationship, but it is nice that it’s back…for eight episodes every year and a half. Maybe one day Episodes will get its shit together (how long can it really take to write jokes about how big an a-hole Matt Leblanc is?), but I’ll just be grateful for what we get. The season 3 premiere had Sean/Beverly dealing with the romances they had while separated, but the only real thing of interest was watching Leblanc try to charm his way out of a DUI. Grade for season 3 premiere: B

Banshee…This crazy-ass Cinemax show is back and that means that any given episode can feature Ukrainian crime princesses thrown out of suburban hiding, transsexual Asian computer hackers executing a robbery on an armored truck, or an ex-Amish crime boss having a murky relationship with his niece. The premiere is slightly draggy since they have to deal with the fallout from the batshit season 1 finale, but even if the episode’s not as crazy (or as fun) as I would have liked, I’m intrigued by the looming feud between a shady Indian casino magnate and formerly-Amish Kai Procter. Grade for season 2 premiere: B-    but season one is definitely worth checking out for those who haven’t.