Watch Showtime’s ‘Masters of Sex,’ CBS’ ‘We Are Men’ pilots online (video)

Over the past few years, giving viewers access to pilot episodes of shows is something that has become a little bit of a tradition. It allows folks the opportunity to figure out in advance whether or not they would like to watch a given show in the long-term, which is helpful in that some of these people may not have chosen to watch live otherwise given everything else on their schedule.

Sometimes, this rule even applies to pay-cable stations such as Showtime, who has put the entire pilot online for their new series “Masters of Sex.” We’re going to wait on our full review until later, but this is one of the best pilots we’ve seen for any show since “Game of Thrones.” We haven’t included it in our fall TV preview series since it is on cable, but it may be the network’s way of proving that even though they will no longer have “Dexter” in a matter of weeks, they are going to be just fine.

Meanwhile, you want to see a pilot that is completely different: CBS’ “We Are Men.” It’s basically a tale of guys who got dumped, and are now living near each other in what is described as “short-term housing.” The pilot here is really just okay, but when you consider that we have both Kal Penn and Tony Shalhoub as a part of the cast, there is a ton of potential here for this to improve in the weeks ahead. It will need it, given that its timeslot Mondays at 8:30 p.m. Eastern is difficult, and we would not be too shocked if it is the first show CBS cancels for the fall.

“Masters of Sex” launches on Sunday, September 29 at 10:00 p.m. Eastern. Meanwhile, “We Are Men” premieres on September 30 following “How I Met Your Mother.”