I got my hands on three pilots for TV shows debuting this season. They were from two different networks working in arguably three different genres and three separate production companies. It’s a shame how shallow the creative talent pool must be that all three shows have a similar premise.

Lucifer (from Fox) is about Lucifer Morningstar, the Devil, coming to LA. He opens a club and decides to help the LA Police department, well one female detective in particular, solve crimes.

Minority Report (from Fox), based on the same movie, is about how one of the male pre-cogs comes out of hiding and is so haunted by his visions of crimes about to happen decides to help the Washington DC police, well one female detective in particular, solve crimes.

Blindspot (from NBC) is about a mysterious woman who has no memories and has her body tattooed with clues to upcoming crimes. Since she is turned over to the FBI and there is no record of her on any database, she decides to assist the FBI, in particular the male agent in charge of an anti-crime division and whose name is tattooed on her back, solve crimes.

Of the three I found Blindspot the most interesting, but I have to say that is faint praise. All three fail on a number of levels however since the plots are similar for me it was easy to see what worked and what didn’t between the three. Blindspot wins because despite the clichés, it used less than the other two shows.

It appears Blindspot looked at the NBC hit The Blacklist and used it as a guide for their show. Instead of detectives we have the FBI. We have a mystery person that has clues over her body about upcoming crimes. Unlike the other two shows, Blindspot doesn’t have our mystery person hidden from others in the department. Unlike the other two shows the woman with the mystery is a mystery. She has no memory of who she is, but there are clues. That will probably keep the audience occupied and is one of the things that elevates the show, ever so slightly, in my mind. Where I have problems with the show, and it’s another pet peeve of mine, is that the initial threat is big. When you have a show that deals with government agencies producers tend to ramp up things. So a bad guy isn’t going to rob a bank or just do a murder, they’re going to go after a symbol or do something incredibly huge. It’s another trope thrown out when an original idea can’t be had. I will say this however, another point in favor of Blindspot over the other two shows is because the threat is so high there isn’t a lot of time for joking around. Humor is something the other two shows put out there which just feels wrong to me considering the incidents that got both of those shows plots going was a murder.

From outside the TV world POV, I’m confused about how Lucifer and Minority Report got placed on the schedule at the same network. The premise of both are so similar. Female detectives not respected by male superiors. Both detectives have male equals they were romantically linked to. In Lucifer, the detective was married to him while in Minority Report they were dating. In my little pet peeve, both female detectives where impractical shoes for running (why to costume designers insist on female characters wearing heels when they know the script calls for them to run most of the time). Both the pre-cog and Lucifer, on paper, seem to have abilities that are convenient to the story, meaning you get the moment where the obvious criminal is not recognized early on even though they show the ability of being able to glean things from others that would seem to suggest it should have worked on the criminal. Another bothersome plot element for me is the constant disbelief by the female detective as to what both guys can do (c’mon he told her he’s the Devil and she doesn’t believe him) yet within a day of meeting either the Devil or the pre-cog they are a trusted member of their inner circle and meeting family members of the detectives.

If I had to guess, I would think Fox was desperate to get both shows, even with their similarities. Minority Report is from Steven Spielberg’s production company. If it looks half decent, and there is no denying Minority Report looks good, who is going to refuse Spielberg? As for Lucifer, comic adaptations on TV are a big thing. ABC has a couple of hit shows, The CW is close to becoming the king of comic books for TV, CBS looks to have a strong hit with Supergirl and even Netflix got acclaim with Daredevil. While Fox has Gotham, I’m sure the executives would like to have a string of comic shows.

The problem I see with using Lucifer is the same one I saw when NBC adapted Constantine last year. Lucifer is from the Vertigo line of comics, and the book it is based on came at a time when Vertigo was a hit for DC Comics because it broke conventional rules about comics. The premise of Lucifer is that the Devil, the Lord of Lies, decides to give up living in Hell, comes to Los Angeles and runs a piano bar. It’s out there as a concept but it worked in the comics because the basis wasn’t about Lucifer helping the police solve crimes. It was about understanding and redefining what we think about morals, something a bit heady for American TV. Just like Constantine, everything that made Lucifer interesting in the comic has been stripped for the TV show.

As for Minority Report, it’s tough to see exactly where it is going from the pilot, but the premise of the movie and the original book has been thrown out. Whereas the movie and book talked about the dangers of convicting people of crimes they might commit, the female detective and others in the show seem to think shutting down the pre-crime program was a mistake. I think a direction that the series will go, judging by the pilot, will be the implementation of directives and procedures that will create a new type of pre-crime unit. So in the TV show pre-crime is a good thing. Like Lucifer, which is another similarity in pilots, is the constant reliance of the fish out of water trope. The pre-cog isn’t good with people skills, so he says inappropriate things at the wrong time. This is supposed to be charming but after a few minutes of it the act becomes old.

If I had to make a prediction, I think Blindspot will be an OK hit for NBC, Minority Report will limp along on looks and Lucifer will probably bomb.