CBS

Taking a page out of Black Mirror's playbook, Poppa's House tries to tackle a relevant subject in Episode 16. And like recent Black Mirror, it's misguided rubbish.

Call me naïve, but I thought Poppa’s House was onto something. After finally introducing a halfway-compelling new element, it regresses into its default state in Episode 15.

Here’s a potentially controversial statement, but I much prefer Watson when it’s playing down the Sherlock Holmes association. Given I also prefer it when it isn’t about John Watson, I can admit that I’m setting the show some perhaps unreasonably strict parameters.

After a week or two off, the return of Poppa's House doesn't exactly feel like a tantalizing proposition.

I’ve been pretty up-front about the fact that Watson doesn’t work as well when it’s focusing on Watson himself, so Episode 7 is a bit annoying in the respect that it proves me wrong.

I’ve figured out what Watson needs to do to be interesting, which is to focus on everyone other than Watson himself.

“The Man with the Glowing Chest” isn’t about a man with a glowing chest, though one does briefly feature.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it's worth reiterating that Poppa's House is a significantly better show when it's focusing on Poppa -- especially his relationship with Ivy.

There might come a time in the not-too-distant future when I’m able to look back and say Watson got good around Episode 4. It’s weird, though, because “Patient Question Mark” isn’t even a hugely notable improvement over the first few episodes.

Pardon my ignorance, but I thought a slumber party was something teenage girls did. Perhaps that’s true and Junior is just regressing even further into his default state of unevolved moron in the absence of his wife, who is sadly elsewhere for Episode 12 of Poppa’s House.

Watson isn’t doing itself any favors by titling Episode 3 “Wait for the Punchline”, since it gives smug critics like me too many openings to be all like, “Still waiting!”.

Episode 2 of Watson is about a guy who thinks he’s someone else, which is pretty apt since this is a show that can’t seem to decide what it is.

If you asked me to design an episode of Poppa's House that perfectly exemplified all of the show's myriad issues, it'd look a lot like Episode 11, "Dirty Laundry".

Episode 10 of Poppa’s House is so close to being a decent episode that the fact it remains pretty rubbish is genuinely frustrating.

CBS is hoping the Sherlock well hasn’t run dry after Elementary, but crucially that show had Holmes in it. The premiere of Watson opens with his apparent demise after a tumble down a waterfall in pursuit of James Moriarty (who else?).

Returning in Episode 9 after a hiatus of several weeks, Poppa’s House abides by the principle that a dog makes everything better.

Poppa’s House mires a good message in questionable presentation in Episode 8, but there’s still some value in its ideas.

Episode 14, “Life Is a Promise”, is about as good of an ending as we could have hoped for given the circumstances.