You know, I had zero expectations for this show but I'm really liking it so far.
It feels like the perfect reinvention of Scream - it takes the concept (killer with storied past hunting teens in a high school setting) and then gives it the modern, self-referential spin that works surprisingly well. The Ghostface mask might be tweaked, but the Brandon James Killer moves, talks and kills like Ghostface. All of the character archetypes from the movies - Syndey, Gal, Dewey, etc. - are all represented in the new characters.
The show definitely isn't perfect but it handles genuine suspense, teen angst and humor with aplomb. The great thing about the show is that it actually makes you care for the characters, so when they die it means something. It knows exactly what it wants to be and on that level Scream succeeds. Sydney, Woodsboro and Ghostface were never necessary to make Scream work. What made Scream work was the self-referential spin, the homages to horror movies/TV and the witty writing - which the show has and then some. I love how the earlier episodes referenced Hannibal and other contemporary horror TV shows.
I was pleasantly surprised with this because I thought I would hate it. It's not the movies, but it has forged its own identity while being respectful of what came before. This way, it's not "fucking with the original" but it is its own, standalone thing. I think this is much better than an outright remake of the original Scream. Especially one that basically took the same characters and put them in new settings/situations. This takes the core concept of what made Scream so entertaining and takes a new spin on it and I think it works really well.