Eugene’s One-Stop Guide to the Fall TV Season

By Eugene Sims

Ladies and gentleman, THIS is my favorite time of year. The new television season is upon us!

Sure, new shows appear year round these days. There are so many options. But traditionally, now is the time when the over-the-air broadcast networks feed the masses their buffet of new episodes of returning favorites and some new side dishes looking for the palate of acceptance.

I’m not a fan of “reality” shows or competitions, so I won’t be mentioning them. They don’t do well in syndication or DVD/blu-ray sales. So if you’re never going to watch it again, why bother the first time.

Just watch something that is crafted by writers, actors, and directors.

I call it my ‘Gilligan’s Island’ rule. If you’re not going to watch this over and over for the next 30 years, leave it alone.

So let’s get started with what’s being offered this fall!

Monday

‘Gotham’ returns for its third season on FOX. In case you’ve been in a reclusive cult, this series centers around Jim Gordon and a young Bruce Wayne. Look for it at 8pm.

‘The Big Bang Theory’ is back for another season on CBS. Look for it at 8pm as well.

Then at 8:30pm, ‘Kevin Can Wait’ is a new series starring Kevin James. It’s a comedy about a newly retired policeman who looks forward to spending more quality time with the family. Of course, he finds out that retired life is tougher than anything he faced in the mean streets for policing.

‘Lucifer’, another comic book inspired series, is back for a second season on FOX at 9pm.

‘The Good Place’ gives you a sneak peak on NBC at 10pm. Starring Kristen Bell and Ted Danson, it’s billed as a comedy about good and not-so-good people.

 

Tuesday

‘NCIS’ is back for another paint-by-numbers procedural season. Find it on CBS at 8pm.

Fox will be serving up the returning dishes of ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ and ‘New Girl’ at 8 and 8:30pm. Followed by ‘Scream Queens’ at 9pm.

CBS tosses us a new series at 9pm based on the early career of Dr. Phil McGraw. They changed the name to possibly protect Dr. Phil from any embarrassment he may suffer from this predictably bad series. We are talking CBS here. And the “C” in CBS isn’t for “cerebral”. We’ll see how that works out for him.

‘Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ is amazingly still alive and kicking off a fourth season on ABC at 10pm.

If you cannot get enough painfully predictable procedurals, well you’re in luck at 10pm over on CBS. ‘NCIS: New Orleans’ is back at 10pm.

NBC’s new “feel good” drama hits at 10pm and it’s called ‘This Is Us’. Sponsors include Kleenex and Puffs, but this series is purely for wiping with Charmin.

 

Wednesday

‘Blindspot’ is back on NBC in its new time slot of 8pm.

‘Rush Hour’ didn’t work on CBS last year, but FOX is ignoring that and launching ‘Lethal Weapon’ based on the 1987 film of the same name. The cast looks interesting with Damon Wayans, Clayne Crawford, and Keesha Sharp. I’m not expecting great things, but it I definitely have a plate in my hand for a scoop of this offering at 8pm.

At 8pm, ABC has a new season of ‘The Goldbergs’ followed by a new series about a mother with a special needs child and the problems real and imagined that they face. Just from the surface, I feel that this series will die quickly because I get the sense that the show will “try too hard” in the feel good sense. It’s called ‘Speechless’ and drops at 8:30pm

‘Empire’ returns to FOX at 9pm for a third season.

NBC’s police procedural offering ‘Law & Order: SVU’ drops at 9pm.

ABC has the stale pot of ‘Modern Family’ at 9pm followed by a fresh news season for ‘black-ish’ at 9:30pm.

‘Chicago P.D.’ is back on NBC at 10pm.

Since we need absolutely more political based series, ABC has come to our rescue with ‘Designated Survivor’ starring Keifer Sutherland. Look for it at 10pm.

 

Thursday

A show that doesn’t know it’s as dead, since the writing died years ago, ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ is back on ABC at 8pm.

‘Rosewood’ is back for a second season on FOX at 8pm.

‘Superstore’ returns to NBC at 8pm followed by the time slot premiere of ‘The Good Place’ (sneak peek was Monday) at 8:30pm.

‘Pitch’ is a new series on FOX about a woman pitching in the Major Leagues. It looks interesting enough, but unfortunately, baseball is something people think about when they DON’T want to get too excited. So yeah, I’m not excited about this series. But if you would like to check it out you can find it at 9pm.

‘Chicago Med’ returns to NBC at 9pm followed by ‘The Blacklist’ at 10pm.

‘Notorious’ is a new legal series on ABC at 9pm. Do we need more?? I certainly don’t. And that debut will be followed by a season premiere of ‘How To Get Away With Murder’ at 10pm.

 

Friday

A new season of ‘Longmire’ drops on Netflix.

One of my previous best new shows ‘Transparent’ is back with new episodes on Amazon. As much as the first season wowed me, the second season seemed laborious to get through because of all the whiny, self-indulgent characters. I found myself no longer caring for the characters only a few episodes in second season. It was like watching filthy pigs wallow in a dirty patch of self pity. I’m conflicted, but I think I’ll at least watch a couple to see if it grows out of the weak patch of a second season.

In the redo department, we have ‘MacGyver’ on CBS at 8pm. I didn’t bother with the first and won’t bother with this one.

‘Last Man Standing’ is back for another forgettable season on ABC at 8pm followed by the even more forgettable ‘Dr. Ken’ at 8:30pm.

Although I’m sure it will go the way of ‘Damian’, I am looking forward to seeing FOX’s take on ‘The Exorcist’ at 9pm.

Another season of ‘Z Nation’ and their version of the zombie apocalypse hits at 9pm on SyFy.

‘Hawaii Five – O’ is back for another season at 9pm on CBS. It’ll be followed by ‘Blue Bloods’ at 10pm.

‘Van Helsing’ is a new series on SyFy that hits at 10pm. It’s not THAT Van Helsing, the famous vampire hunter, but it’s his about his daughter. It’s from the producers of ‘Hell On Wheels’ and ‘Fargo’. Those are two shows that I love so I’m inclined to give this SyFy offering a taste.

 

Saturday

Disney XD rolls out a new season of ‘Star Wars Rebels’ at 8pm.

 

Sunday

‘Bob’s Burgers’ is back on FOX at 7:30pm give or take with football coverage. Then it’s ‘The Simpsons’ new season at 8pm.

ABC serves up a new season of ‘Once Upon A Time’ at 8pm.

At 8:30pm over on CBS, it’s a new season of ‘NCIS:LA’ with a 2 hour premiere.

‘Son Of Zorn’ makes it’s debut at 8:30pm on FOX. It’s an animated/live action series about an animated warrior who returns to southern California in order to win back his ex-wife and son. Style wise, think of it like a ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’.

‘Secrets And Lies’ is back for another go round on ABC at 9pm.

‘Family Guy’ returns for some reason on Fox. It surely isn’t because it’s good or funny. It has ratings good enough to keep it alive. You can find it at 9pm. And ‘The Last Man On Earth’ follows right behind at 9:30pm.

And rounding out the buffet for this week, ABC has the return of ‘Quantico’ at 10pm.

 

Just keep an eye out for my reviews of ‘Lethal Weapon’ and ‘The Exorcist’ the rest of this week. I’m expecting them to be rather bland like most of the offerings from over-the-air broadcast networks. But I’m willing to be surprised.

Stay Tuned.

-Eugene