Seriously. Y’all aren’t good yet. Like…getting rid of your one shitty guy at the top doesn’t erase twenty odd years of toxic corporate culture. We see you with your “we made Michael Weatherly take leadership training so now we can all forget about the Eliza Dushku thing” bullshit. Y’all were so much easier to ignore when I hated most of your shows but WHY DID YOU HAVE TO BRING LUKE CAGE AND MISTY KNIGHT INTO THIS?
AND ROGELIO DE LA VEGA. HOW DARE-
Bob Hearts Abishola
After having a heart attack, a middle-aged sock businessman from Detroit unexpectedly falls for his cardiac nurse, a Nigerian immigrant, and sets his sights on getting her to give him a chance.
Starring: Billy Gardell, Folake Olowofoyeku, Christine Ebersole, Matt Jones, Maribeth Monroe, Shola Adewusi, Barry Shabaka Henley, Travis Wolfe Jr.
Pros:
It’s a show about Nigerian immigrants on a network that has been the cradle for conservative white dudes for decades. I can’t really muster up that much disdain for something that is as well intentioned as this. Chuck Lorre showed up to the TCAs for this in an “Immigrants Make America Great” hat. On that same panel, Billy Gardell reminisced about his father teaching kindness and tolerance. Trying to reach a traditional CBS audience by wrapping those messages in a Mike and Molly wrapper is a genuinely interesting thing to do. I worried about what Chuck Lorre’s take on what Nigerian culture is but this show was co-created by Gina Yashere, who seems genuinely psyched to bring “Yoruba to mainstream tv”.
Cons:
She doesn’t really want to date you, Bob. Leave her alone, Bob. She’s just trying to do her damn job without you giving her socks, Bob. Stop showing up at her apartment, Bob. How do you know where her apartment is, Bob? Stop bribing her co-workers to tell you where her apartment is, Bob.
Premieres September 23rd. Airs Monday 8:30PM EST
Carol’s Second Act
After raising her two children and retiring from teaching, Carol Chambers embarks on a unique second act: she’s going to become a doctor.
Starring: Patricia Heaton, Kyle MacLachlan, Ito Aghayere, Jean-Luc Bilodeau, Sabrina Jalees, Ashley Tisdale
Pros:
Huh.
Well, I really loved Booksmart and this was created by two of the writers on that movie, Sarah Haskins and Emily Halpern. They also created Trophy Wife, a one season gem that was gone too soon. They wrote for a lot of stuff that I genuinely adore like Black-ish and Good Girls.
Umm…
I was really mad for a second that Lucas Neff was on this show because I thought it would take him away from American Princess but he’s apparently not a series regular.
Cons:
I think Grey’s Anatomy did this as a subplot and the intern was Edward Hermann. The character was a widower. It turned out that the ghost of his wife told him to become a surgical intern because she wanted him to be surrounded by doctors when he had a stroke (which he did. During surgery.) If I remember correctly, the whole thing was a bit of a downer and the character ended up transferring to the Psych department. What I’m trying to say is that I feel like this melancholy subplot brought me more joy than the trailer for Carol’s Second Act.
Premieres September 26th. Airs Thursday 9PM EST
The Unicorn
A widower is eager to move on from the most difficult year of his life, only to realize he’s utterly unprepared to raise his two daughters on his own and equally unprepared for the dating world — where, to his shock, he’s suddenly a hot commodity.
Starring: Walton Goggins, Rob Corddry, Michaela Watkins, Omar Benson Miller, Maya Lynne Robinson
Pros:
Given how good he is at playing utter bastards, I don’t think any of us anticipated Walton Goggins coming to network tv as a sweet, nerdy widower. Funnily enough, Goggins has said that this character is the closest to his actual self that he’s ever played. While the closeness to his personality and history was apparently daunting, he said that he agreed to do the show because he fell “deeply in love” with the character and his community. Having read about it and watched the trailer, I get it. I like his kids. I like his counter dog. I like that he got exactly 1/2 of his friends from the show Ballers (Do you think Elizabeth Warren will follow them or is she strictly there for The Rock?). I would like to see the writing that attracted Walt Goggins to such a different type than he usually plays, especially with the great cast they’ve assembled around him. This show seems nice and I’m into it.
Cons:
Walt Goggins is really good at playing utter bastards. I think my first reaction to the premise was “did he kill his wife?” I’m sure it’ll be fine but it might take some people a bit of time to get adjusted to seeing Goggins as someone so earnest and awkward.
Premieres September 26th. Airs Thursday 8:30PM EST
All Rise
Follows the dedicated, chaotic, hopeful, and sometimes absurd lives of judges, prosecutors, and public defenders as they work with bailiffs, clerks and cops to get justice for the people of Los Angeles amidst a flawed legal system.
Starring: Simone Missick, Wilson Bethel, Jessica Camacho, Marg Helgenberger, J. Alex Brinson, Lindsay Mendez, Ruthie Ann Miles
Pros:
Uh. Fuck yes I will watch a Shonda ripoff starring Misty Knight and Bullseye (who is really Wade from Hart of Dixie). I love me some overly competent female leads in a quirky workplace drama. Though if it turns out that Misty Knight and Bullseye are meant to be the OTP, that might just completely break Bim and Nichole from Thirst Aid Kit for good. It’s also worth mentioning that two of the regular cast, Lindsay Mendez and Ruthie Ann Miles, are both Tony winners for Carousel and The King & I respectively. I want only joy and good things for Ruthie Ann Miles so please be excellent, show.
Cons:
Ya know that thing where a writer wants to show that a female character is vulnerable so he makes her fall down? I guess during the TCAs there were references to pratfalls, plural? That…doesn’t fill me with confidence, Man Who Is Running All Rise.
Premieres September 23rd. Airs Monday 9PM EST
Evil
Psychological mystery examines science vs. religion and the origins of evil. It focuses on a skeptical female forensic psychologist who joins a priest-in-training and a carpenter to investigate and assess the Church’s backlog of supposed miracles, demonic possessions and unexplained phenomena.
Starring: Katja Herbers, Mike Colter, Aasif Mandvi, Michael Emerson, Brooklyn Shuck, Skylar Gray, Maddy Crocco, Dalya Knapp
Pros:
Robert and Michelle King have a pretty incredible track record. They are most famous for The Good Wife and The Good Fight but also created the delightfully weird BrainDead. That cast is stacked. I never knew that I needed to see Luke Cage punch Ben Linus in the stomach but here we are. I’m not usually a fan of creepy supernatural thrillers but this seems worth a look.
Cons:
Is it just me or was it goofy as hell when that demon popped up in the trailer? I’m down with the atmosphere of the rest of the trailer but I did laugh when that lil gremlin dude just appeared.
Premieres September 26th. Airs Thursday 10PM EST
What More Interesting Shows Did They Move To Midseason?
Broke
When an outrageously wealthy trust fund baby is cut off by his father, he and his wife move into her estranged sister’s Reseda home, forcing the two siblings to reconnect.
Starring: Jaime Camil, Pauley Perrette, Natasha Leggero, Izzy Diaz, Antonio Corbo
FBI: Most Wanted
The series is centered on the Fugitive Task Force of the FBI that tracks and captures the notorious criminals on the FBI’s Most Wanted list.
Starring: Julian McMahon, Alana de la Garza, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Kellan Lutz, Roxy Sternberg, Nathaniel Arcand
Tommy
When a former high-ranking NYPD officer becomes the first female Chief of Police for Los Angeles, she uses her unflinching honesty and hardball tactics to navigate the social, political, and national security issues that converge with enforcing the law.
Starring: Edie Falco, Michael Chernus, Adelaide Clemens, Russell G. Jones, Olivia Lucy Phillip, Joseph Lyle Taylor, Thomas Sadoski
What Show Do We Wish They Had Picked Up?
I love me some Sarah Drew and the pilot where her small town declares independence from the US sounds mighty tempting. But I would probably be a bad Asian if I didn’t choose the Kevin Kwan show, The Emperor of Malibu, which basically seems like Crazy Rich Asians if it took place in California and Rachel was the original Regina George from the Broadway Mean Girls.