Fox has picked up an upsetting amount of shows for midseason. Stephen Dorff doing edgy David Ayer things. Kim Cattrall fighting her husband’s bastards with Jesus in her heart. The “What if Alexa created a vast murder conspiracy?” show. Alas, we must wait until the new year for these. Thankfully, some of the shows selected to premiere in the fall actually look kind of fascinating.
Almost Family
Starring: Brittany Snow, Emily Osment, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Mo McRae, Mustafa Elzein, Timothy Hutton, Victoria Cartagena
Pros:
It’s a really interesting premise for a show and there are talented people involved. Leslye Headland of Russian Doll directed the pilot and is a producer, as is Jason Katims who created Roswell, Friday Night Lights, and Parenthood. Do you think this will mostly be focused on the main trio of sisters getting to know each other or will it be a thing where they discover a new sibling every episode? Or like Orphan Black and its clones where new people just show up occasionally to all of our excitement? I would watch all of those shows.
Cons:
Sooooooo…yeah. I get the impulse to focus on the fuzzy wuzzies of finding long lost siblings but I’m gonna need the people who run this show to stop describing it as whimsical. The situation described here is medical rape. It is apparently a thing that a bunch of fertility doctors in the seventies. And eighties. And nineties. Actually one of these dudes only got his clinic closed down in 2009. There’s hundreds of people who have learned (mostly through DNA kits) that they were fathered by the doctor running the fertility clinic. Like I said, this is a very interesting premise for a show but I have a few concerns especially with the fertility doctor character played by Timothy Hutton. I haven’t seen the Australian show this is based on, so I don’t know how they handled this character. I don’t know how much focus goes on to how these children and their mothers feel about what he’s done. The showrunners say that they’re going to deal “seriously with the consequences of his actions.” It’s a very fine tightrope they’re walking but it has the potential to be fascinating. Or something we cringe through. It’ll probably take more than the pilot episode to tell. We’ll see.
Premieres October 2nd. Airs Wednesday 9PM EST
Prodigal Son
The series centers on Malcolm Bright who has a special gift in that he knows how killers think — because his father Martin Whitly was one of the worst — a notorious serial killer dubbed “The Surgeon.” That said, Bright is the best criminal psychologist around because murder is the family business. He uses his skills as a forensic profiler to help the NYPD solve crimes and stop killers, all while dealing with a manipulative mother, annoyingly normal sister, a homicidal father still looking to bond with his prodigal son, and his own constantly evolving neuroses
Starring: Tom Payne, Michael Sheen, Bellamy Young, Lou Diamond Phillips, Halston Sage, Aurora Perrineau, Frank Harts, Keiko Agena
Pro:
JAUNTY SERIAL KILLER MICHAEL SHEEN.
HOOK IT TO MY VEINS.
LOOK AT AS HIS HANNIBAL LECTER CUBE.
BEHOLD HIS WIFE THAT IS THE EXCELLENT BELLAMY YOUNG FROM SCANDAL.
JAUNTY SERIAL KILLER MICHAEL SHEEN AND MELLIE FROM SCANDAL MADE A WILL GRAHAM.
Con:
I mean…I don’t love that they keep making Hannibal but not homoerotic. Also I watched Chris Fedak’s last series about the Magic Cop and this…seems super familiar. I loved that weird ass show though so I don’t mind as much. Do you think they can get Billy Zane to randomly show up on this series too?
Premieres September 23rd. Airs Monday 9PM EST.
Bless The Harts
The Harts are a Southern family that is forever struggling to make ends meet. They hope to achieve the American dream, but they’re already rich — in friends, family and laughter. Jenny Hart is a single mother supporting her family working as a waitress in the small town of Greenpoint, N.C. While Jenny’s the head of her family, she’s often at odds with, or scheming with, her lottery scratcher-obsessed mother, Betty, and her witty, creative daughter, Violet. Jenny’s doting, eternal optimist boyfriend of 10 years, Wayne Edwards, is the love of her life and a surrogate father to Violet. He’s a charming dreamer who may never hit the big time, but he’s not going to give up the fight. In the end, the Harts may not have much, but they may just have everything they need.
Starring: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Jillian Bell, Ike Barinholtz, Mary Steenburgen, Drew Tarver
Pros:
This show is created by Emily Spivey, who has written for some amazing things (The Tina Fey/Amy Poehler era of SNL, Parks & Rec, and The Last Man on Earth.) It’s cool as hell that things made by women are getting room in the Animation Domination lineup. All three animated comedies Fox picked up this year are created by women. Lord & Miller are executive producers on this and the cast is completely filled with comedy ringers. That’s a very impressive pedigree. It should be worth a watch.
Cons:
…I don’t want to.
Maybe it’s just because I’ve only seen the little snippet of the show that’s available, but I have no desire to watch this. I can’t even articulate why I don’t want to watch this.My current theory has to do with the Animation Domination lineup. For awhile, the lineup been The Simpsons, Family Guy, Bob’s Burgers and then one show that lasts for a season before being unceremoniously cancelled? Remember Allan Gregory? Remember the Napoleon Dynamite cartoon? I don’t! I had to google it a lot and I still don’t believe it’s real. I feel like we’ve been Pavolved into not caring about the show in that fourth spot. I think it’s possible that Fox might have cottoned on to this and are throwing a bunch of shows at the wall to see if one sticks.
Premieres September 29th. Airs Sunday 8:30PM EST
What More Interesting Shows Did They Move To Midseason?
Filthy Rich
When the patriarch of a mega-rich Southern family, famed for creating a wildly successful Christian television network, dies in a plane crash, his wife and family are stunned to learn that he fathered three illegitimate children, all of whom are written into his will, threatening their family name and fortune.
Starring: Kim Cattrall, Aubrey Dollar, Corey Cott, Benjamin Aguilar, Mark L. Young, Melia Kreiling, Steve Harris, Olivia Macklin, Steven Pasquale
Outmatched
For most parents, parenting is hard, but for Cay, a caustic, take-no-prisoners casino pit boss, and husband Mike, a handyman and uncultivated guy’s guy, parenting may as well be advanced calculus. Dealing with the demands and egos of three high-IQ children would be tricky for any parent, but it’s especially hazardous for two working stiffs who barely got through high school. Mike and Cay are committed to bringing some normalcy to their kids’ hectic, unconventional childhoods, but these geniuses don’t make it easy.
Starring: Jason Biggs, Maggie Lawson, Connor Kalopsis, Ashley Boettcher, Oakley Bull, Tisha Campbell-Martin
Deputy
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is one of the largest police forces in the world, but when the elected sheriff dies, an arcane rule in the county charter, forged back in the Wild West, suddenly thrusts the most unlikely man into the job. Bill Hollister is a fifth-generation lawman who is only interested in justice. The bad guys don’t stand a chance but neither do the politicos in the Hall of Justice. The dangers associated with the job often lead the police to LA County General Hospital, where Bill butts heads with the hospital’s chief trauma surgeon — who is also his wife. Given a job he never wanted, in an unfamiliar sea of politics, Bill quickly learns that doing what is expected and doing what is right are two different things, and that his innate, dogged pursuit of justice is the only skill the job truly requires.
Starring: Stephen Dorff, Yara Martinez, Brian Van Holt, Siena Goines, Bex Taylor-Klaus, Shane Paul McGhie, Mark Moses
neXt
A fact-based thriller about the emergence of a deadly, rogue artificial intelligence that combines pulse-pounding action with a layered examination of how technology is invading our lives and transforming us in ways we don’t yet understand. A Silicon Valley pioneer discovers that one of his own creations – a powerful A.I. – might spell global catastrophe, and teams up with a cybercrime agent to fight a villain unlike anything we’ve ever seen – one whose greatest weapon against us is ourselves.
Starring: John Slattery, Fernanda Andrade, Michael Mosley, Jason Butler Harner, Eve Harlow, Aaron Moten, Gerardo Celasco, Elizabeth Cappuccino, Evan Whitten
9-1-1: Lone Star
Follows a sophisticated New York cop who relocates to Austin along with his son and must try to balance saving those who are at their most vulnerable with solving the problems in his own life.
Starring: Rob Lowe
Duncanville
Spectacularly average Duncan is a teenage boy with a rich fantasy life. His mother, Annie, a parking enforcement officer who dreams of someday being a detective, lives in perpetual fear that her teenage son is one bad decision from ruining his life and will do anything to stop him from doing so. His father, Jack, is a classic-rock-obsessed plumber who’s determined to be a better dad than his father. Rounding out the family is two younger sisters Kimberly and Jing. Helping Duncan navigate adolescence are his friends, class clown Bex, trendy influencer Yangzi, aspiring troubled youth Wolf, and his on-again, off-again crush, Mia.
Starring: Amy Poehler, Ty Burrell, Riki Lindhome, Rashida Jones, Wiz Khalifa, Joy Osmanski, Yassir Lester, Betsy Sodaro
The Great North
Follows the Alaskan adventures of the Tobin family as single dad, Beef, does his best to keep his weird bunch of kids close, especially as the artistic dreams of his only daughter Judy lead her away from the family fishing boat and into the glamorous world of the local mall.
Starring: Nick Offerman, Jenny Slate, Megan Mullally, Paul Rust, Aparna Nancherla, Will Forte, Dulcé Sloan
A Moody Christmas
Revolves around the Moodys, including Sean Sr., his wife, their three grown children and an assorted mix of extended family members who gather for the holidays, with each packing his/her own eccentricities and complications.
Starring: Dennis Leary, Elizabeth Perkins
What Show Do We Wish They Had Picked Up?
I like the idea of spending an entire season at one wedding but I would probably have to go with Richard Lovely, the show where Thomas Lennon hates children and hallucinates a mouse friend.
