 "Stranger Things, Mr Robot, Jerry Before Seinfeld: Your TV guide for September-October")
It’s that time of the year! If you thought that keeping up with all of your summer TV viewing schedule was difficult, just you wait. “Fall TV” is upon us, and as if it’s their mission statement to alternately-bombard-and-pamper-us, broadcast networks have lined up their slew of new and returning shows. In the meantime, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon etc. keep doing what they do, i.e. continue creating content. Admittedly, even for a TV fanatic like myself, deciding (from the seemingly endless list) which new shows I want to watch, can be challenging; heck, just sifting through the premiere dates of my favourite shows is exhausting! How on earth do you make sense of it all? Well, you can’t. Womp womp . Which is why you have nerds like me to nudge you in the direction of what, we think, are the best new and returning shows this fall. And remind you of the dates, of course. Let’s have a look at the top few; you can also check out the calendar below for a larger list. Here goes: Must-watch returning shows: The kind of shows that are unmissable, and if you haven’t watched the previous season/s, please get on it! Bojack Horseman****, season 4 — 8 September All right all right, I’ll admit it — I’ve watched the Bojack Horseman season 4 trailer more times than is necessary (or healthy!), but…there’s so much going on! At the end of an insanely good and rather dark season 3 (RIP Sarah Lynn), we saw Bojack driving far away from Hollywoo onto the great American open road towards…the deserts of New Mexico. But wait, he has a daughter? Diane is going to write for a feminist blog (hurray!) and Mr Peanutbutter is running for mayor (why not?). Is Princess Carolyn going to be a manager and also go the family way? And Todd (ah Todd) is apparently MIA (or so Diane thinks), except he’s busy living his best life — walking the runway, skiing, and conducting an orchestra. All this, according to the season 4 trailer. Cannot. Wait.
The Good Place****, season 2 — 20 September It was the best “forking” season finale a sitcom ever had, leagues better than any finale even The Walking Dead ever hoped to have. In a twist that would’ve made Keyser Söze proud, we found out that Eleanor and the gang are not in “the good place” after all, but in the bad place. One designed by Michael, who they all thought was the slightly-awkward but swell guy looking after their interests. Alas, what use is casting the great Ted Danson in the role of Michael if you aren’t going to turn everything upside down and have him be the “bad” guy (I use the quotes because I still can’t quite get over Danson being the nefarious architect that he apparently is!), instead of an endearing weirdo. Season 2 begins with Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jianyu (aka Jason) not remembering this bombshell of a reveal because….remember their memories were wiped out! Which brings the focus back to Michael (yay, more Ted Danson!). To see the story from Michael’s point of view in season 1 would have given away the plot instantly; in season 2 though, as the other characters go about their lives, we’ll get to see this world from Michael’s POV. Bring it on!
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency****, season 2 — 14 October Holistic. Interconnectedness. Coincidence. BBC America and Netflix brought Douglas Adams’ geniusly mad story to a whole new generation by adapting it for the screen last year. In a season that was equal parts bonkers, equal parts absurd, and yet wholly entertaining, we were introduced to the holistic detective Dirk Gently (Samuel Barnett), the reluctant Watson to Dirk’s baffled Sherlock, Todd Brotzman (Elijah Wood, in, as I wrote in my review for the series last year , “yet another troubled-everyman, or everyhobbit, kinda role”), the kickass Farah Black, and a host of I-know-they’re-ridiculous-but-they-somehow-still-work characters. A lot’s going on this season, as this crazy clip will tell you. The teaser trailer promises more chaos and madness, but for true Dirk Gently-ness to savour until season 2 drops, I suggest watching this exclusive clip of Dirk being held in some facility, and Todd and Farah (full armed and gloriously badass) break in to rescue him. Oohhhhh..I’m tingling with anticipation!
The Walking Dead****, season 8 — 22 October Who am I kidding, of course The Walking Dead is on my list of must-watch shows! It’s going to be a while before zombies go out of fashion . Alexandria, the Hilltop, and the Kingdom have finally aligned together to take on Negan and his mob of unruly Saviours. And damn, shit’s gonna go down! That Comic-Con trailer, which was meant to tide us all over till 22 October, has only made us hungrier. I just have one request — please return Carol and Michonne to their fully badass former selves!
Stranger Things****, season 2 — 27 October From the moment I finished binge-watching the first season of Stranger Things on a warm July weekend last summer, I have been waiting for 27 October 2017. (Of course, back then I didn’t know the exact date, but you know what I mean; my yearning for a second season was legit!) As a mega-fan of Winona Ryder, all things nostalgia-inducing, and the genius of the finished product that was season 1 , Stranger Things’ second season couldn’t get here any sooner! By now, we all know the episode titles of the second season of the show that may have single-handedly increased Eggo sales in the US; we’re all glad Eleven’s returning (as if there was any chance she wouldn’t!), and that there’s going to be “#justiceforBarb”; we’ve seen the season 2 trailer way too many times, and drooled over these retro posters non-stop (just look at those lines where the poster folds into your magazine…way to amp up the ’80s-90s nostalgia factor!). I’m just waiting to get my hands on this Winona Ryder/Joyce Byers poster , while I wait until season 2 drops on Netflix on 27 October. I’ve already cancelled all social engagements for the October 28-29 weekend. Stranger things are happening indeed!
Other top returning shows: Mr Robot (long before Rami Malek was Freddie Mercury , he was Elliot Anderson in one of the best crime/drama/thriller shows around) , Search Party (generational satire, existential dramedy, Nancy Drew -meets Gone Girl -meets David Lynch ), Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Modern Family (it may not be as sharp as seasons 1-6..but it’s still one of the best sitcoms out there), Broad City, Transparent, The Mindy Project (the final season, and Mindy Kaling has promised us the best one yet!), Superstore (Amy and Jonah kissed in the season 2 finale..and the store was completely destroyed by the tornado!), The Big Bang Theory (Sheldon proposed to Amy!), Curb Your Enthusiasm, One Mississippi, Fuller House. Must-watch new shows: These are the new shows that look unmissable. Simple! Mindhunter — 13 October Of all the new (and most of the returning) TV shows this fall, no other show has me as excited about it as Mindhunter. Maybe it’s my psychology and criminology background. Maybe it’s just the over-obsession I have with crime thrillers and true crime tales. Or maybe it’s the fact that this is a David Fincher directed and produced (yes, THE David Fincher), Charlize Theron produced (yes, THE Charlize Theron) show on Netflix, about Mark Olshaker and John E. Douglas’s book Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit . Honestly, I get goosebumps just thinking about it, and the official trailer has made it even more so! Also, Anna Torv as a psychologist on this show makes me so happy (getting Fringe flashbacks just hearing her voice in the trailer!).
Ghosted — 1 October Adam Scott has been on such a roll recently - his modern-day, comic, totally-unlike-Gregory-Peck-in-The Omen portrayal of the father of a child who’s labelled the Antichrist in the horror-comedy Little Evil that released last week, was pitch perfect! In Ghosted, he co-stars as a professor who has to team up with an ex-cop (played by co-creator Craig Robinson, hello! Cue nostalgia for The Office..sigh) to investigate the paranormal. These two, and a few others, are part of a paranormal investigative organisation called The Bureau Underground. You might be forgiven for thinking this sounds like The X-Files with two male leads, except that, with these two comedic powerhouses as the protagonists, Ghosted is like The X-Files…if The X-Files was a half-hour sitcom!
The Orville — 10 September I’ll admit it, I’m not really a fan of Seth Macfarlane’s acting skills. But the guy’s comedic chops are worthy. And as a huge fan of Carl Sagan and his teachings, as the executive producer of Cosmos, and as a diehard “trekkie”, it isn’t surprising that Macfarlane has chosen to create, produce, and star in The Orville (as Ed Mercer, captain of the spaceship “The Orville”). Jon Favreau (who’s a co-producer on the show) directs the first episode. It looks promising enough, and who isn’t game for a high-concept space adventure sitcom. Exactly!
Top of the Lake: China Girl — 10 September It’s slow, it’s languorous, it’s raw, it’s dark, it’s very un-American. But boy, is it captivating! I include Top of the Lake: China Girl in the list of new TV shows because the first season (if you can even call it a “season”), just called Top of the Lake, was completely different from China Girl. Except that both series starred Elizabeth Moss as Detective Robin Griffin, a New Zealander who now works in Sydney and specialises in sexual assault. Oscar-winning director Jane Campion, who directed the first series, returns to direct the sequel. China Girl shifts the action from New Zealand back to Sydney, where Detective Griffin is investigating the murder of an Asian Jane Doe, whose body washes up in a suitcase on Bondi beach. Griffin, who is played brilliantly by Elizabeth Moss (as if there was any other way Moss can act!), has her own demons — the first series showed us that Robin was gangraped and pregnant when she was a teenager (she gives her daughter up for adoption). The sequel also explores her relationship with her estranged daughter. Nicole Kidman also stars as the daughter’s adoptive mother, and Game of Thrones’ Gwendoline Christie stars as a constable and Robin’s partner on this case.
The Mayor — 3 October An aspiring rapper, looking for a PR stunt, unwittingly finds himself involved in local politics and subsequently, as the mayor of his town. Hell yeah, victory for common folk! Relatively low on star power (Lea Michele is the biggest “star” on this show) but high on humour and heart, have a look at this trailer and tell me you’re not interested in The Mayor.
Other top new shows: Ten Days in the Valley (Kyra Sedgwick is a TV producer whose daughter suddenly goes missing), Future Man (a Seth Rogen co-created sci-fi comedy starring Josh Hutcherson as a janitor by day and gamer/time-traveling savior fighting aliens by night), The Deuce (James Franco double roles in this David Simon created series exploring the seedy underbelly of the porn industry back in the ’70s), Star Trek: Discovery, Young Sheldon (yup, it’s Sheldon Cooper’s backstory…with Iain Armitage — who played Ziggy in Big Little Lies, and does the most adorable musical theater reviews on YouTube — as possibly the only bright spot), SEAL Team/Valor, Marvel’s Inhumans. One off specials (new and returning): Jerry before Seinfeld — 19 September It’s Jerry Seinfeld. Talking about his pre-Seinfeld days, with unreleased material from “a library of legal pads with every joke he’s written since 1975.” There’s something in there about the jokes that _“put him on the comedy map.”_A lot of it is classic “my dad would wait for me to come home so I could help him move furniture…” and “socks hate their lives..we all know that…” and such. And it’s hilarious! It’s all very Jerry. Before Seinfeld.
Will & Grace revival — 28 September Ah, remember the year 2000, when best friends Will and Grace lived together in their expensive New York apartment, while Harry Connick Jr., Taye Diggs, Bobby Cannavale and a slew of other gorgeous men played love interests to both Will and Grace? Shenanigans ensued between them and their friends Karen and Jack. What a jolly gang they were! The LGBT sitcom (both Will and Jack are gay) was pathbreaking at its time (in 2012, Joe Biden said that the show “probably did more to educate the American public” on LGBT issues “than almost anything anybody has ever done so far”). Now, 11 years after the final episode of the show’s original run, Will, Grace, Karen, and Jack are reviving their time together. There Will and Grace are, living together again (and playing Heads Up! according to the trailer), Karen is still rich, Jack still lives across the hall (and petty-complains about Brangelina announcing their divorce the same week his relationship ends). It’s like…nothing has changed. Except that in 2017, their storyline is again relevant in the Trump era.
Check out the calendar below for more shows and the dates they premiere/return. New shows are listed in red. You’re welcome!
