TV Talk: Soapy ‘Promised Land,’ comedies ‘The Afterparty’ and ‘Astrid & Lilly’ premiere

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers viewing tips for the coming week.

There’s promise in ABC’s latest prime-time soap, but its makers sure don’t make it easy on viewers initially.

Premiering at 10 p.m. Monday on WTAE-TV, “Promised Land” introduces the large, wealthy Hispanic family that owns Heritage House Winery in Sonoma, Calif., and begins to fill in the blanks of who’s who and how they’re related.

Eventually, it becomes clear the show is operating with two distinct storylines, but a viewer has to pay pretty close attention to figure out what’s going on. If you read your smartphone while watching this one, you’ll be lost.

If the show’s storytelling approach is confusingly complex at first, its dialogue is too on-the-nose simple. Heritage House patriarch Joe Sandoval (John Ortiz) faces off against a rival (Bellamy Young, “Scandal”), who threatens to buy his company right out from under him “and there’s nothing you can do about it!” A priest with a secret past returns and in front of his ex-love tells her drug-addicted son, who he’s helping, “Maybe I’m a big believer in second chances.”

Created by Matt Lopez, showrunner of filmed-in-Pittsburgh, one-season-and-done “Gone,” “Promised Land” proves a much better viewing experience in episode two. All the setup is out of the way and the parallel storylines are less confusing and more engrossing. It’s that rare occasion where it might have been smart to start with a two-episode premiere. As it is, one wonders if viewers will stick around to become invested in this propitious soap in the vein of the original “Dallas” and “Dynasty.”

‘The Afterparty’

Created, co-written and directed by Christopher Miller (“The Lego Movie”), “The Afterparty” takes elements from an Agatha Christie murder mystery and “Rashomon”-style storytelling and layers it with a comedic sheen. It works pretty well, too.

Streaming Friday, the series follows a police detective (Tiffany Haddish, hilarious as usual) investigating the death of pop star Xavier (Dave Franco) who plunged to his death from the balcony of his cliff-side mansion during an after-party that followed his high school reunion.

Each of the eight episodes is named after a different character who’s present at Xavier’s party, and in each episode, the night’s events get re-told from that character’s perspective. Most episodes are roughly 30 minutes, but the premiere, following sweet-natured suspect Aniq (Sam Richardson) and his recollections, runs closer to an hour.

Alongside Haddish, comic actors Ben Schwartz (“Parks and Recreation”), Ilana Glazer (“Broad City”), John Early (“Search Party”) and Ike Barinholtz (“The Mindy Project”) are also in the cast.

In addition to a different POV, each episode also apes a different genre style (rom-com, animation) with an early favorite being the Yasper (Schwartz) musical episode. The tunes are catchy (think: “That Thing You Do!”) and Schwartz has the charisma and singing chops to deliver.

More situationally and character-driven funny than jokey funny, “The Afterparty” offers a decent enough blend of humor and mystery that I’d definitely choose to watch more of it than …

‘Astrid & Lilly Save the World’

Great title. Great concept. Great leads. Woeful execution.

Syfy’s “Astrid & Lilly Save the World” (10 p.m. Wednesday following the 9 p.m. season two premiere of Syfy’s superior “Resident Alien”) is a show I wanted and expected to like. It’s the story of lovable teen BFFs Astrid (Jana Morrison) and Lilly (Samantha Aucoin) who often feel like outcasts among their high school peers who rudely refer to them as “pudge patrol.”

One day the friends inadvertently open a portal to another dimension that admits all manner of monsters into their town. Then they meet a handsome horned demon who gives them instructions on how to send the creepers packing.

The low-rent special effects, presumably intentionally cheesy, are fine and even add to the charm that begins with the show’s title, but everything else about the series proves poorly done, from character development to supporting performances. “Astrid & Lilly” isn’t just meant to look DIY, it may actually be.

Worst of all, the sloggish scripts by series creators Noelle Stehman and Betsy Van Stone only occasionally live up to the fun implicit in the show’s name.