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SEPT. 22, 2017 #1482/1483

SPECIAL ISSUE

All The Scoop On 145 Shows

Outlander Supernat

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Riveerddale

This Is Us

Star Trek:

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Will & Gra

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THE WEEK’S BEST

“Or maybe they’ll recognize my intellect and make me their leader!”

—Sheldon Cooper (Iain Armitage), when his mother suggests that high school students might be “intimidated” by his genius, on Young Sheldon

“I’m about to get my own coffee cup, right?”

—Valentina Barella (Lea Michele), trying to psych out rapper Courtney Rose (Brandon Micheal Hall) before his first c paign ign ddeb bate,, on campai cam debate on h Ma The Mayor yor

—Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson (Shemar Moore), having the define-the-relationship chat with his lover and boss, Jessica Cortez (Stephanie Sigman), on S.W.A.T.

“When the revolution happens, it’ll be your head they come for first.”

—Steven Carrington (James Mackay)

“Why would you tell me to do my Kegels? Wait!

What did you see up there?”

— Bridgette Bird (Frankie Shaw), chasing her gynecologist, on SMILF

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“Oh, I’ll be sure to get my hair done.”

—Fallon Carrington (Elizabeth Gillies), dismissing her brother’s green-energy initiatives, on Dynasty

ARMITAGE: ROBERT VOETS/CBS; MOORE: SMALL Z + R ASKIND/SONY; MICHELE: CR AIG SJODIN/ABC; MACK AY: MARK HILL / THE CW; SHAW: MARK SCHAFER /SHOW TIME; GILLIES: JORDON NUT TALL / THE CW

“You have nothing to lose tonight, except your street cred, your dignity, and your selfrespect. Small stuff. Good luck.”

The band’s one and only official channel.

Ch. 18

only on

siriusxm.com/thebeatles

© 2017 Sirius XM Radio Inc.

AN AT&T ORIGINAL

DIRECTV

CH. 239

PREMIERES OCTOBER 17

TUES 8PMET PT

MustLıst THE TOP 10 THINGS WE LOVE THIS WEEK E d i t e d B y | K E V I N P. S U L L I V A N @ K P S U L L

3 NS TIO S E QU FOR

LADY GAGA Will fans see a new side of you in the film?

I decided what they could and couldn’t film. It really and truly is my life, [made] by friends who simply wish to show the world who they know me to be.

What can we expect?

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GAGA: FIVE FOOT TWO

Are you recording new material on tour?

Director Chris Moukarbel’s vérité-style Netflix doc paints an intimate portrait of the pop icon’s struggles with celebrity, chronic pain, and her evolution as an artist while recording the most personal album of her career, 2016’s Joanne.

I’ve started writing.

I have a lot of ideas and a lot of things I want to create.

FA L L T V P R E V I E W 2 0 1 7

I L L U ST R AT I O N BY M I K E TO FA N E L L I

L ADY GAGA: STEVE GR ANITZ/WIREIMAGE

A woman who’s an artist, creates all day, and also has the experiences [of] both an artist and a celebrity. Those two things collide for me, and you’ll see how they’re conflicted.

Nobody [is] explaining what I am or putting a label on me as a female artist in this film. That’s what this documentary is about.

ANKE & GUANCHEN HAVE BEEN TOGETHER SINCE L AST SUMMER. HER DIAMONDS ARE MORE THAN TWO BILLION YEARS OLD.

SOURDOUGH

by Robin Sloan

The author of Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore turns his eye to food in this quirky novel about a lonely programmer named Lois who gets swept up in the local culinary culture—and a club of women all also named Lois— after friends give her some sourdough starter.

CONCRETE AN FOO FIGHTERS The alt-rockers may be one of the world’s most popular bands, but they’re still experimenting. Their ninth album, Concrete and Gold—under the stewardship of superproducer Greg Kurstin (Adele, Carly Rae Jepsen)—stands as one of their most ambitious statements yet.

FIRST SENT ENCE

“It would have been nutritive gel for dinner, same as always, if I had not discovered stuck to my apartment’s front door a paper menu advertising the newly expanded delivery service of a neighborhood restaurant.”

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BETTER THINGS Louie breakout Pamela Adlon returns for another season of adventures in single motherhood. Hilarious as always and more poignant than ever, the new episodes follow Adlon’s character, Sam Fox, as she explores a relationship with a new love interest (Henry Thomas). It’s very real and real funny. (FX, Thursdays, 10 p.m.)

FOO FIGHTERS: BR ANTLEY GUTIERRE Z; BET TER THINGS: BETH DUBBER /FX; “BROWN”: NICOLE WILDER-SHAT TUCK /FX ; “ FUTURE FEVER”: JESSICA BROOKS/FX; ZAYN: MIKE WINDLE/GET T Y IMAGES; CLINTON: BARB KINNEY/HFA

“DUSK TILL DAWN,” ZAYN

WHAT HAPPENED

D GOLD,

IAL ENT 1 ESS SON S SEA E D SO EPI “Brown”

Sam brings home a date who happens to be black (Lenny Kravitz), a shock for her overbearing mom.

by Hillary Rodham Clinton

The former One Direction heartthrob’s explosive new Sia duet is basically “Chandelier” part 2, and it comes with an epic music video directed by Marc Webb and starring Girls’ Jemima Kirke.

You’re going to need some new light fixtures.

In perhaps the most aptly titled political memoir out there, the 2016 presidential hopeful shares her unfiltered perspective on the election that rocked the country. So what should you expect? Writes Clinton in the introduction: “I’ve often felt I had to be careful in public.…

Now I’m letting my guard down.”

TOTAL ECLIPSE OFTHE CHART FALL TV

“Future Fever”

Some serious motherdaughter bonding goes down when Max frets about her life decisions.

Hours in a week Hours of television I want to watch

THE

by Tim Stack

STACK! 1.

E PENNYWIS 2. T W I S T Y

3. R O N A L D M C D O N A L D 4. C A R R O T T O P

SPOILER ALERT: THE HERO DIES

by Michael Ausiello

Over the course of 11 months, Kit Cowan, the husband of TVLine.com founder (and EW alum) Ausiello, was diagnosed with and died from a rare and brutal form of cancer. In this heartbreaking memoir, Ausiello recounts Kit’s experience—and how it brought them closer.

MICHAEL AUSIELLO Why did you want to write this book?

An editor had been reading my Facebook updates about Kit’s illness. A few months after Kit passed, he asked if I’d be interested in writing a book. I had doubts, but there was this feeling I had to do it.

How did you balance the book’s fun TV references with Kit’s illness?

Where it was organic, I included it. The reality is, television played

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a big part in my relationship with Kit, even when he was sick. I talk about how RuPaul’s Drag Race got us through some really tough months of chemotherapy.

Your relationship had problems, but you write about them honestly.

If I painted it as this fairy tale, it would have undercut the whole story. We had ups and downs, and we fought to be together. And thank God we did.

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METROID: SAMUS RETURNS

(Nintendo 3DS)

Nintendo’s bounty-hunting badass is back, exploring labyrinths while chasing down aliens in this remake of Metroid II. Though it’s based on a 1991 game, Samus Returns completely reimagines the original, with updated graphics and mechanics.

AUSIELLO: STEPHEN LOVEKIN/SHUT TERSTOCK ; METROID: SAMUS RETURNS: NINTENDO (2)

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LA LA LAND With all the Oscar hype, backlash, backlash to the backlash, and accountant errors in the rearview mirror, take some time to revisit this happy-sad musical, EW’s favorite movie of 2016.

(Sept. 16, HBO Go)

HOMOPHILIA

Golden-voiced writers Dave Holmes and Matt McConkey celebrate the joys of LGBTQ culture on this thoughtful, charming podcast, which features the best rising gay voices in comedy (like Cameron Esposito and Eliot Glazer) as guests who share the entertainment they love (baseball and The Golden Girls)—and recommend things that you should be loving too.

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Blue Velvet STARZ

The Commune

First They Killed My Father

HULU

Food Evolution HULU

NETFLIX

If you’re already feeling the sting of not having any more Twin Peaks to watch, let David Lynch’s original look behind the pleasant facade of the American dream keep you creepy company.

Bonus: more Kyle MacLachlan.

Danish director Thomas Vinterberg (Far From the Madding Crowd) found inspiration from his early life for this bittersweet portrait of communal living in 1970s Copenhagen.

The average family this is not.

Angelina Jolie’s latest directorial effort, the harrowing true story of Cambodian child soldier-turnedactivist Loung Ung, might not sound like a fun watch, but at least you can view it from the comfort of home.

Cool nerd Neil deGrasse Tyson narrates this documentary, which tackles commonly held misconceptions about the much-hyped dangers of GMOs. Clear and levelheaded, it’s one satisfying and compelling watch.

L A L A L AND: DALE ROBINET TE/LIONSGATE; BLUE VELET: THE KOBAL COLLECTION; JOLIE: PAUL BEST/GET T Y IMAGES

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Editor’s Note

FOLLOW ME: @HenryGoldblatt @HenryGoldblatt

( From top ) Bill Keith, Meeta Agrawal, and Amy Wilkinson; Teddy Goldblatt

M Y L OV E A F FA I R W I T H T V I S M Y L O N G E S T A N D M O S T

intense relationship. It started as a kid: While my mother toiled in the kitchen, I would watch Search for Tomorrow (Google it) and The Price Is Right. (Nothing—ever—was as glamorous as a Showcase Showdown with a trip to Puerto Vallarta and a Brand. New. Car.) So it’s a privilege for me to be able to bring you EW’s Fall TV Preview, a 27-year institution. But if you read this column with any regularity, you know that the real work is done by the terrific staff here. In this case, it’s deputy editor Meeta Agrawal, features editor Bill Keith, and senior editorr Amy Wilkinson—who collectively have 18 years of experience at EW. This is a four-month labor of love for this talented trio, who watch every new show and gather intel on all returning series to

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1 A QUICK PERSONAL NOTE:

The very handsome, hairy four-legged guy you see above is a Superstorm Sandy survivor I adopted in January 2013.

If you’re in the market for a new pet, I highly encourage you to consider a dog or cat left homeless after Harvey or Irma. Yes, they’ll be grateful, but I often say that Teddy is the one who rescued me.

HENRY GOLDBLATT

ON THE COVERS Bugheads prevailed in our second annual Fall TV Cover Battle. To buy the Riverdale cover, head to your nearest Barnes & Noble or order it from backissues.ew.com.

If you prefer the cover featuring many of the fall shows we’re excited to see, it’s being sold on all other newsstands.

KJ Apa, Camila Mendes, Cole Sprouse, and Lili Reinhart photographed exclusively for EW by Eric Ray Davidson on Aug. 27, 2017, in Vancouver STYLING: SEAN KNIGHT; HAIR: ROSA TERRACCIANO; MAKEUP: ERIN MACKENZIE; PRODUCER: ADELE THOMAS; APA’S SHIRT: OPENING CEREMONY; JEANS: CITIZENS OF HUMANITY; SHOES: CONVERSE; MENDES’ JACKET, JEANS: CITIZENS OF HUMANITY; BODYSUIT: AMERICAN APPAREL; SHOES: ALEXANDER MCQUEEN; SPROUSE’S JACKET: SCHOTT PERFECTO; TANK: HANES; JEANS: AGOLDE; BOOTS: PRADA; REINHART’S JACKET: GOLDEN BEAR; BODYSUIT: AMERICAN APPAREL; BRA: CALVIN KLEIN; SHORTS: CITIZENS OF HUMANITY; SHOES: MANOLO BLAHNIK; TROPHY BY MIKEY BURTON

GOLDBL AT T: PHOTOGR APH BY RICHARD PHIBBS; KEITH, AGR AWAL, AND WILKINSON: PHOTOGR APH BY MET TIE OSTROWSKI; TEDDY: TOMMY COOKE; (COVER) L ARRY DAVID: PAUL ARCHULETA/FILMMAGIC; OUTL ANDER: PHOTOGR APH BY RUVEN AFANADOR; THIS IS US: PHOTOGR APH BY ART STREIBER; SUPERNATUR AL, STAR TREK: DISCOVERY: PHOTOGR APHS BY MAT THIAS CL AMER; RIVERDALE: PHOTOGR APH BY ERIC R AY DAVIDSON; YOUNG SHELDON: SMALL Z + R ASKIND/WARNER BROS.; WILL & GR ACE: PHOTOGR APH BY ROBERT TR ACHTENBERG

FALLING FOR TV AGAIN (AND AGAIN)

bring you the most comprehensive guide out there.

Their work is amplified by photo editor Natalie Gialluca and senior art director Jennie Chang, who are responsible for the gorgeous photos and design in the issue. Over the next few weeks you’ll find plenty of bonus content on EW.com (for example: Our Walking Dead guru, Dalton Ross, has interviews with, like, a zillion cast members) and on EW Radio SiriusXM 105.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

SHOW

TUNE IN

STORY BY

PHOTOGRAPH BY

For a guy who just traveled 8,600-plus

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Heughan and Hannah James

shabby either: Balfe and Heughan get to rewear their sumptuous togs from the Versailles scenes in season 2. “We explain why,” reassures costume designer Terry Dresbach. “They think they are going to Paris, so they have these things packed. You will see a lot of that in Outlander coming up. We are trying to be as authentic as possible.”

But while the producers went out of their way to make sure certain scenes were true to the century—one of the ships that Claire and Jamie encounter, for instance, is packed with actual livestock because that’s how sailing parties used to feed themselves—authenticity has its limits. Sometimes it’s better to use, say, a poignant Bob Dylan song like “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” to help dramatize the action rather than an 18th-century ditty that no one recognizes. “We rarely use contemporary songs,” executive producer Matthew

D. Roberts says of the scene that shows the 200-year distance between Jamie and Claire.

“But that one really worked out.”

Meanwhile, lots of modern-day references like “zipper” and “Jell-O” will have an organic place in the dialogue this season, especially when the happy couple reunite in Edinburgh. “Jamie is well aware that Claire says things that he’s not going to understand,” explains Roberts. “It started in season 1 with ‘What’s a sadist?’ and ‘What does f--- mean?’ We play with that.”

It just makes Jamie’s journey from neardeath at Culloden to the waiting arms of Claire all the more incredible. “It’s a remarkable season for my character,” says Heughan.

“He goes from the realization that he’s still alive to finding a balance to stay alive. He’s different people in each episode.”

We’ll take the relaxed and cheerful one!

AIMEE SPINKS/STAR Z

miles to shoot his next batch of episodes for Outlander, Sam Heughan is looking surprisingly at peace. “It’s so strange,” he says from the production offices of the drama’s South African set. “This is the most relaxed I think I’ve ever been on the job.

It’s just so gorgeous here.”

World travel can definitely have its perks.

The third season spirits Heughan and his fellow actors to new, previously unseen corners of Scotland, like the emerald moors of Crieff and a neoclassical mansion in East Lothian, where Jamie (Heughan) encounters a hellion named Geneva (Hannah James).

And the second half of the year deserves its own travel special due to its exotic settings.

As depicted in Voyager, the third book in Diana Gabaldon’s best-selling Outlander series, Jamie and his time-traveling wife, Claire (Caitriona Balfe), reunite in 18thcentury Scotland before setting sail on a dangerous rescue mission that requires them to visit the tropical locale of Jamaica.

In South Africa, the jungle backlot of Cape Town Film Studios doubled as the Caribbean, while the gardens of the nearby Rustenberg Estate were the site for a lavish ball that Claire and Jamie attend later in the season. (And talk about a shindig: It’s at this reception that Claire meets a very important man from Jamie’s past.)

“It’s a nice change from freezing in Scotland!” quips Balfe. The costumes aren’t so

GENRE

NEW DRAMA

THE LOOK

Deuce

P R E M I E R E DAT E

TUNE IN

C L O C K W I S E F R O M B E L O W Chris Bauer, James Franco, and James Franco; Maggie Gyllenhaal

PAUL SCHIR ALDI/HBO (3)

w

When it comes to showing

a city going through its not-so-finest hour, the team behind HBO’s 1970s–set series knows how to get the grit and the grime just right.

Before creating The Deuce, David Simon and George Pelecanos worked together on The Wire and Treme, so the bar for realism was set high when it came to depicting the burgeoning pornography industry in New York City. “The intention was that when someone looked at our show that it would look like a film that was shot in 1971 and had been put in a vault somewhere and just got rediscovered,” Pelecanos says. Here’s how they went about achieving it.

—KEVIN P. SULLIVAN

THE CHARACTERS

THE LOCATIONS

THE CLOTHES

Vincent and Frankie Martino, brothers with criminal ties working in 1970s Times Square, are based on reallife men, and on the show, they’re played by the same actor: James Franco. On top of directing two episodes, Franco acted opposite a body double, before changing his hair and wardrobe and doing it all again. “It was a study in compartmentalization,” Franco explains.

“I had to say, ‘Here’s the way that we’re going to set up the scene.’ Then I’d put on the Vincent hat, and then boom, I go and change the hair for Frankie.”

When time or New York City itself got in the way of shooting in actual locations, production found alternatives. City officials didn’t approve the show to shoot at the Port Authority Bus Terminal after reading the script, so a marina on the Hudson stood in for the spot. “We could have been vindictive and put it right in the script,” Pelecanos says.

“Like, ‘Hey, where can you find a prostitute?’ ‘Right here at Port Authority.’ But we didn’t do it.” And a block of Washington Heights stood in for Times Square, through a combination of ground-level sets and computer-generated buildings for everything above.

To Pelecanos, the funky fashions in ’70s-set films and TV shows reflect what was pictured in magazines, not what people actually wore. When it came to dressing characters like hooker–turned–porn filmmaker Candy (Maggie Gyllenhaal), Pelecanos downplayed fads. “When you see a show and guys are wearing leisure suits in the ’70s, I always say, ‘That’s bulls---,’ ” Pelecanos offers. “Nobody I knew ever wore a leisure suit. It’s just what Madison Avenue was trying to sell us.”

GENRE

P R E M I E R E DAT E

TUNE IN

PAUL SARKIS/SHOW TIME

Frank Gallagher is sober. After a lifetime

of drinking and debauchery as the lawless, lewd patriarch of the Gallagher family, William H. Macy’s irresponsible protagonist on Showtime’s bootstrap comedy Shameless is on the straight and narrow for the first time in the show’s history. To play the character as employed, empathetic, and clearheaded has been “deceptively complex,” says Macy on the show’s Los Angeles set, “but truthfully, some people miss the old Frank. The inebriated, expansive, full-of-s--- Frank. Sometimes I do too.” Of course, it’s more a question of when and not if this freewheeler will fall off the wagon. It’s not that we’re rooting for an alcoholic to return to his worst ways…but this is Shameless, after all, where the best behavior happens when you’ve got a little buzz.

They say in comedy that success isn’t funny but failure’s a riot, and Shameless has spun eight seasons of story from the misadventures of a family clinging to the bottom rung of the economic ladder. It’s also provided audiences with moments that are just as heartbreaking and clutch-your-pearls scandalous as they are hysterical. Originally created for the BBC by Paul Abbott, the American adaptation traces back to around 2003, when Abbott shared his idea— about a low-income family and its scrappy, selfraised siblings—with John Wells (ER, The West Wing), who saw echoes of his own childhood in the story. Abbott’s version of the show debuted on the BBC in 2004 and would run for 11 seasons; Wells would have to spend seven years to get a Stateside version made.

“The problem with selling this show was that people said, ‘Oh, this world doesn’t really exist in

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Ethan Cutkosky, Isaiah, Monaghan, Rossum, and White

international scheme involving Muslims from President Trump’s proposed banned countries, and Ian takes on a local minister’s gay conversion program. “It’s definitely affected by current events,” says Rossum, whose character begins the season as the new owner of a South Side apartment building filled with— surprise—economically disenfranchised tenants. “The writers are getting the same CNN alerts every 10 minutes like we are.

We’re never going to be The West Wing and deal with things in an on-the-nose way, but we can tackle things that are challenging and thought-provoking and still very Shameless at the same time.” Politics aside, the season will also see significant personal growth for its most troubled characters: Teen mom Debbie nabs a job and enrolls in community college; Carl starts a program for neighborhood junkies; Lip, doggedly sober, finds himself playing counselor to both his AA sponsor and an old college professor.

A story of growth certainly applies to the show itself, too, which has drawn more attention as of late. Shameless has enjoyed consistent ratings and an overwhelming socialmedia presence since it premiered in 2011, but now that it’s available on Netflix and on Showtime’s streaming app (and thanks to the four consecutive Emmy nods Macy has received since 2014), the series is experienc-

ing a rebirth. “There’s something about the dirty little secret of it that makes people want to tell other people about it,” says Monaghan.

Hampton concurs: “They actually had to put up barricades this year when we were filming in Chicago because there were hundreds of fans who wanted a glimpse of the action. This was the first year we ever had to do that, and we’re in season 8. Eight! It feels like we’re the little engine that could.”

While it had long been rumored that season 7 might be the show’s last, Wells and Macy insist that the series, like its resourceful clan, has more surviving to do. “We’ve discovered we have a lot more to write about,” Wells explains. “These characters’ fictional lives will continue for another 60, 70 years, so we can write it forever because things are going to keep happening to them. I suspect [when we end] we’re much more likely to just walk away on a Tuesday and let the audience feel that they’re out there and doing okay.” Macy expects they’ll do “another season, perhaps two,” and he’s fairly hopeful that Frank, sober or not, will make it to that final farewell. “The line has been floated that Frank’s a cockroach,” says the actor. “He’ll survive a thermonuclear blast. He should have been dead a long, long time ago.” And yet Frank Gallagher—and Shameless—has never been more alive. —MARC SNETIKER

ERICA PARISE/SHOW TIME

the U.S.,’ and yet all I had to do was pick up a phone and talk to members of my own family,” says Wells. “Alcoholism is real. Drug abuse in this country is real. The difficulty of putting food on the table is very real. Our show and all its sexual escapades are bawdy and fun, but we’re trying to get you to care about people that you might normally dismiss. The Gallaghers and who they represent were not really seen on television before.”

Halfway through the show’s first season in 2011, Showtime’s adaptation diverged significantly from its British counterpart, due primarily to the Chicago setting and emerging idiosyncracies of the American cast: eldest sister and de facto mother figure Fiona (Emmy Rossum); brilliant but stymied eldest brother Lip (Jeremy Allen White); gay, bipolar middle child Ian (Cameron Monaghan); scheming tweens Debbie and Carl (Emma Kenney and Ethan Cutkosky); and stillinnocent toddler Liam (who was recast in season 8 for his first major arc). Alongside their sex-positive neighbors Kev and V (Steve Howey and Shanola Hampton), the Gallaghers have survived eviction notices, child services, jilted lovers, and jail time, all while plotting cash grabs involving anything from seducing terminal cancer patients and Social Security fraud to digging up dead bodies. (“There’s something this season that might wash all that away,” Rossum teases, which may or may not have to do with that open grave the Gallaghers are looming over.)

Episodes regularly touch on homelessness, mental illness, and substance addiction—a combustible mix and delicate balance that have caused a rotating roster of guest directors to privately confide in Macy that it’s a scary show to do. But for cast members who have grown up Shameless, like now 18-yearolds Cutkosky and Kenney, the content of the show has only served as a cautionary tale.

White, barely 20 when the series started, puts it best: “I almost feel like John Wells has been sending me life lessons through the script.

You get to grow with the character and be taught by the character as well.”

And yet eight seasons in, the latest installment of Shameless is primed to be its most headline-ripping to date: Frank hatches an

S E AS O N 8 7:30PM (FOX)

How do you keep quality Burgers from going stale? For its eighth season, the series is staying fresh with a special premiere that features animation drawn by the winners of a fan contest.

“Basically every scene is in a new style drawn by a fan,” creator Loren Bouchard says of the episode, which is appetizingly titled “Brunchsquatch.” “It’s definitely exciting to see the characters in a new way, though it remains to be seen whether it’s a fun way to watch an episode.” But if you hate change, the season promises plenty of Bob’s hallmarks: goofy musical numbers, holiday high jinks, and, of course, kids getting up to no good. “Tina tries to be a young entrepreneur by expanding her babysitting business outside of the family,” teases Dan Mintz, who voices the eldest Belcher

daughter. “But she gets some intense competition from her nemesis Tammy.” The title of that one? “Sit Me Baby One More Time.” O C T . 1

S E AS O N 2 9 8PM (FOX)

Season 29 (not a typo) begins with your wildest fantasies—or at least a fantasy-themed episode called “The Serfsons,” which sees Game of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau pop up in “a very Jaime Lannister-type relationship with one of the Simpsons,” says executive producer Matt Selman. “It is an acceptable level of disgusting.”

In other episodes, the Simpsons head to New Orleans, Moe’s family history is unspooled, and a musical installment features an appealing musician named Brendan (Ed Sheeran) in a love triangle with Lisa and Nelson, forcing Lisa to choo-choo-

T H E S I M P S O N S Homer Simpson and Mr. Burns

choose. Says EP Al Jean: “At one point he goes, ‘Why is this even a choice?!’ ” O C T . 1

S E AS O N 1 5 9PM (FOX)

The animated comedy has its sights on the Emmys, but not in terms of winning them. The premiere pokes fun at assorted awards-show darlings, with help from Modern Family stars and Louis C.K. “We go through shows that some might say are

better than ours and offer our versions of Modern Family, Making a Murderer, Breaking Bad, and Transparent,” says executive producer Rich Appel. Elsewhere, Peter gets fired from the brewery (three times, actually), Stewie meets with a psychologist (played by Sir Ian McKellen), and a shark bites off Quagmire’s manhood (gross). “That unsettles Quagmire’s life in a variety of ways,” says Appel. We can only imagine. O C T . 1

Richard T. Jones, Blake Lee, Jeremy Piven, and Jake Matthews

N E W D R A M A 8PM (CBS)

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THE SIMPSONS: FOX; WISDOM OF THE CROWD: CBS

A grieving tech billionaire creates a crowdsourcing website to solve his daughter’s murder. “The premise of the show scares the hell out of me,” says exec producer Ted Humphrey about his intriguing new series starring Jeremy Piven as Silicon Valley mogul Jeffrey Tanner. “The ultimate question is: Once you’ve let this genie out of the box, is there a way to control it?” With that question weighing on his mind, Jeffrey enlists Det. Tommy Cavanaugh (Richard T. Jones) to help him use the app responsibly and, in the process, realizes it can be used to solve other crimes. “He’s a reluctant hero,” says Piven. “One of the many things that make the character interesting to me is that he’s not perfect, and some could see him as being selfish in terms of [having] this singular focus.” Will this platform be a tool for good or for vigilante behavior? We’ll have to wait and see. OCT. 1 ( Premiere airs at 8:30 p.m.)

A comedy director who

claims to never use the word black. A big-time producer who assumes that a person of color outside the restaurant must be the valet. Jamie Foxx in a short skirt, sans underwear.

These are just some of the dangers that up-and-coming comedian Floyd Mooney (played by Saturday Night Live alum Jay Pharoah) encounters on White Famous. Executiveproduced by Tom Kapinos (Californication) and Tim Story (Ride Along), and loosely based on the life of Jamie Foxx (who also EPs and costars), the show-business

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satire follows Floyd as he tries to reach the level of fame where even white people know his name—while still maintaining his integrity.

In other words, it’s a situation Pharoah can relate to. “It spoke to me because I’ve had that road as well,” the 29-year-old says. “He’s hitting the chitlin circuit—which is the black circuit—but wants to cross over and be seen by the industry.”

The fact that Pharoah instinctively weaves in black comedy explainers while talking to reporters is White Famous in a nutshell: the art of exporting yourself to a new audience without erasing your identity. “For me it was like, I know this story,” he continues. “I could connect to it because I’m living it.”

Foxx, of course, had lived it too...and realized it would make pretty good fodder for a TV show. Given the actor’s stature, the idea was pounced on quickly. “My friends at Showtime called me and said, ‘Hey,

F R O M L E F T Jay Pharoah;

MICHAEL DESMOND/SHOW TIME (3)

Stephen Tobolowsky and Pharoah

we’ve got this project with Jamie Foxx,’ ” recalls Kapinos, who was coming off an unsatisfying experience working with broadcast networks. Once the pair were in the same room together, it didn’t take long for them to recognize that Foxx’s origin story was a gold mine. Kapinos was hooked: “Jamie told me about his early days in the business. He was hilarious, and his stories were great. I didn’t even outline it.

I wrote the script within a week, it was that quick.”

Once they had the scripts, they didn’t need to look too far to find the right star. “I had worked with Jay on the first Ride Along,” says Story, “and I just knew his talent and where he was in his career, coming off of SNL and looking toward the next chapter. It’s almost scary how perfect it was.”

“It’s that Jamie Foxx road,” Pharoah says of his—and his character’s—journey through the industry. “That Kevin Hart, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock road.”

While Pharoah seems to be on track, the same can’t be said for Mooney, who is struggling to find the right opportunities and on the verge of firing his agent when he meets producer Stu Beggs (Stephen Tobolowsky), who casts him in a big-budget comedy—not because he’s impressed by Mooney’s talent, but because Beggs unleashed a racist rant captured in a viral video and needs to repair his reputation.

Along the way, Floyd befriends Foxx (played by himself), and a mentee-mentor relationship is born. (And not just on the show: “It’s kind of become a big brother–little brother scenario,” says Story.)

As the season goes on, White Famous welcomes a number of familiar faces first seen on Californication. Not only is Tobolowsky’s Beggs a character from the old Showtime series, but Meagan Good will reprise her role as pop singer Kali, who becomes a potential love interest for Mooney. Lest he be accused of navel-gazing, though, Kapinos swears that he didn’t plan on reviving his

Jamie Foxx and Pharoah

greatest hits. “It was this serendipitous thing,” he says. “We needed this manager-producer type, but we couldn’t find the right person, so we brought Tobolowosky in just for the table read. And he was hilarious! So we thought, ‘What if it’s the same character?’ ” “If you’re a fan of Californication, you’ll see it and get a kick out of it,” he adds. “But if you have no idea, it’s not going to throw you.”

But what about that other premium-cable show about a celebrity on the rise in Los Angeles and the people he surrounds himself with? “We’re not that worried about Entourage comparisons,” says Story.

“We’re more worried about building on this world, because we think it can be outrageous and funny.”

Of course, the series’ central question still remains: Will Floyd Mooney actually become “white famous”? That’s tricky, Kapinos says. “He’s a couple steps forward, but also a few steps back at the end of the season. You get the sense that the journey towards ‘white fame’ continues, but now it’ll be on his own terms.” —RAY RAHMAN

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To fill the gaping hole left by Miguel Ferrer, who died in January, the series is turning to Nia Long, who will play the team’s new executive assistant director.

“Nia comes in as someone who is different from what our guys have had to deal with in the past,” says exec producer R. Scott Gemmill. “She fits perfectly as a strong woman with a distinctive point of view. We play her as a Washington insider, a member of the Secret Service who thinks our team, as good as they are, can do better.” But first, where in the heck is Hetty Lange? Linda Hunt’s character is supposed to be off and enjoying retirement, but the audience learns otherwise. “No one seems to know where she is,” teases Gemmill.

“But the audience will see the ordeal she’s going through.”

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S E AS O N 3 9PM (PBS)

The third season of the sizzling 18th-century drama finds Ross (Aidan Turner) leaving his Cornish home and heading across the channel to France at the height of the bloody French Revolution. “It’s all been very

Cornwall-centric up to this point, so that is definitely a departure,” writer Debbie Horsfield says. Still, there’s plenty of juicy drama back in Cornwall, too, as the fiery Demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson) must deal with her troublemaker brothers coming to town, Elizabeth (Heida Reed) gives birth, and Ross and Demelza try to rebuild their marriage after his infidelity last season. “Fundamentally, Ross and Demelza’s relationship is one of a deep, abiding love,” Horsfield says.

“But in order to earn those moments of deep, intense connection, sometimes there are painful moments.” Sounds like we should expect lots of shots of Ross brooding over the Cornish cliffs—a Poldark specialty. O C T . 1

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Season 7 of The Walking Dead was a tough one for the characters, the actors, and the audience watching at home. That’s because our survivors were barely surviving. But now the combined forces of Alexandria, the Hilltop, and the Kingdom are finally fighting back against Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan in season 8, and the results Steven Soderbergh’s

high-end-escort drama The Girlfriend Experience doesn’t scream “cinematic universe.”

But when directors Amy Seimetz and Lodge Kerrigan teamed up for a TV adaptation, the result was one of 2016’s boldest series. In the first season, Riley Keough played a young law student edging into the vaguely dystopian world of modernday sex work. This season, Seimetz and Kerrigan are radically reshaping the format. “Both of us wanted to keep pushing TV in a new direction,” says Seimetz.

Or rather, directions. Leaving Keough’s story line behind, Seimetz and Kerrigan each conceived their own

THE WALKING DE AD: GENE PAGE/AMC; THE GIRLFRIEND E XPERIENCE: JOHN GOLDEN BRIT T/STAR Z

T H E W A L K I N G D E A D Norman Reedus

seven-episode narrative. So season 2 is arguably two seasons, starring two different casts, shot in two different places. Starz will air one episode of each per week and release all 14 on its app Nov. 5. Though they wrote their episodes separately, they discussed their general ideas ahead of time, and Kerrigan hopes the release strategy will illuminate certain shared themes. “You can watch Amy’s episode or mine—or both—and see how certain scenes are mirrored in each other,” he teases.

Kerrigan’s story begins in the lead-up to the 2018 congressional elections. Anna Friel (Pushing Daisies) plays political operator Erica Myles, the finance director of a Republican Super PAC, who hires GFE provider Anna Garner (Louisa Krause) for reasons more complicated than sex. “Erica enlists Anna’s help to blackmail a person who

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promise to be explosive. “The whole thing is a war and the fallout from that,” says Tom Payne, who plays Jesus. “We kept getting scripts and being like, ‘Well, you know, the next episode can’t be any bigger.’ But they’re all bigger in different ways. I mean, it’s pretty crazy.” Just the way we like it. O C T . 2 2

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THE GIRLFRIEND E XPERIENCE: KEN WORONER /STAR Z; MADAM SECRETARY: JEFF NEUMANN/CBS

Tunde Adebimpe and Carmen Ejogo; Anna Friel and Louisa Krause

controls a network of darkmoney donors,” Kerrigan explains. “Their relationship crosses over into a personal and sexual relationship.” It’s a kind of romance, if such a thing can exist in the show’s world. “Anna falls in love for the first time,” Krause explains. “To experience this new emotional territory, finding herself vulnerable… it’s a feast for an actor!”

While the Erica-Anna story line is set in D.C. and shot in Toronto, Seimetz went in a different direction.

“I wanted to get far away from the corporate world of transactional relationships and set it in a landscape that felt like a foreign planet,” the director explains. That meant a month of scouting in New Mexico, a key filming location for Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth, which Seimetz describes as a major influence.

Meet former escort Bria

Jones (Carmen Ejogo), a glamorous mystery woman on the run from an ex. “Bria Jones” is the name given to her by the witness protection program, which also sends her to the emptied-out New Mexico industrial-scape Placitas. Ejogo compares Bria to “wives of politicians, wives of certain characters that are in our lives every day, this trophy-girlfriend scenario.” Suffice it to say, Placitas ain’t quite Mar-aLago. “She has to work for a living, just a daily grind,” Ejogo says. “She’s operating in a patriarchal environment, [learning] how to navigate that. Not be exploited but, perhaps, be the exploiter.”

So, a political romance and a dark fairy tale. What connects such disparate sagas? Power, identity, control, a frank exploration of modern femininity. And sex, of course. “It was incredibly exposing,” Friel says of the explicit sequences. “One of the toughest, most demanding roles I’ve ever had. But it was never salacious or gratuitous. We all have sex in our lives, and it’s a very fascinating way to uncover it.” Consider it this fall’s best, boldest, artiest bargain: two Experiences for the price of one. —DARREN FRANICH

What do you get when a con artist, a hitman, and a precocious youngster try to pass themselves off as the family next door? The sophomore season of TNT’s crime dramedy. Picking up mere days after season 1’s tense finale, the morally ambiguous Letty (Michelle Dockery) and Javier (Juan Diego Botto) are joined by Letty’s son, Jacob (Nyles Steele)—a setup that co-creator Chad Hodge admits “is a very f---ed-up family dynamic now. And [they’re] trying to make it not f---ed up.

And that’s Letty’s thing, she’s always trying.” Although Letty now has custody of Jacob, and a clean slate to boot, domesticity is hardly in her wheelhouse. “They can’t exist in a kind of natural and normal way,” says Dockery.

“It’s not possible for them, because their lives are so extraordinary through their

choices. There’s this sense of foreboding from the start.

Because at some point, they’re going to get caught.” O C T . 1 5

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Madam Secretary may have initially been inspired by Hillary Clinton, but season 4 seems to be taking its cues from the current administration. When Téa Leoni returns this fall as Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord, her department will tackle “fake news” in a most informative way.

“It’s become such a confusing issue, so I decided, let’s just break it all down and do a story that directly affects Elizabeth,” explains executive producer Barbara Hall. “We show how it happens, where it comes from, and how it is used as a political weapon.” With an arc involving McCord’s husband (Tim Daly) and his relationship with a former asset while serving as a National Security operative, the show will turn the focus on the inner workings of the State Department. “We are doing a story on a government shutdown because of a budget impasse,” teases Hall. “We will show what it looks like and how much the State Department is affected all over the world when it’s not funded.” O C T . 8

M A D A M S E C R E T A R Y Téa Leoni and Morgan Freeman

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and he’ll return to L.A. to entangle himself in a fresh set of neurotic, self-consumed, privileged circumstances whilst alienating swaths of friends and strangers.

David has occupied himself in the intervening years by starring in the HBO movie Clear History (which he co-wrote) and Broadway’s Fish in the Dark (which he wrote), and returning to stand-up. So what made him suddenly enthusiastic about another season of Curb, one that brings back Larry’s ethically dubious manager, Jeff (Jeff

Garlin); Jeff’s agitated wife, Susie (Susie Essman); Larry’s put-upon ex-wife, Cheryl (Cheryl Hines); and his filterless partner-in-crime Leon (JB Smoove)? “I didn’t really find the stand-up satisfying enough,” says David with a shrug. “There’s nothing to do during the day. Yeah, you can work on the stand-up, but it’s not as interesting as writing stories. So…ta-da!”

There was another factor: all the fans on the street (doing that dreaded stop-and-chat)

JOHN P. JOHNSON/HBO (3)

David for long. That much we knew. What we didn’t know was how long our antagonizing protagonist—who puts the quelle horreur! in every imaginable interaction—would hold out on us.

It has been six years since we saw Larry David’s Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm, as he relocated to France to avoid Michael J. Fox’s children’shospital event. Now the Seinfeld co-creator is reviving his revered HBO comedy for a ninth season,

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David and guest star Ted Danson

pestering him about the show’s return. “It was relentless.

I thought, ‘Maybe…’ ” says David, 70. “I started to miss it. Nothing gives me more pleasure than doing this. You’d think I would never have stopped doing it.”

He never stopped jotting down the comedic things that happened to him in his notepads, which he carries everywhere and which seed Curb stories. “A lot can happen to Larry David in six years,” notes exec producer Jeff Schaffer.

“He’d been sitting on a mountain of uncomfortable situations like Smaug the dragon, hoarding these little bits of uncomfortable comedy gold. It was a Fort Knox of awkward situations.”

Good luck trying to enter Fort Knox, because when it comes to season 9, David’s lips are sealed, like Jason Alexander’s when Larry tries to coordinate a waiter’s tip. What has Larry the character been up to these past few years? “I’ve been busy.” Any unusual production challenges this time? “Yes. I’m

not at liberty to discuss. I’m sorry.” Does this season continue the show’s tradition of envelope pushing? “Yeah. Can’t be specific.” Asked for a cryptic clue about the season, he offers one word: “Disguise.”

Schaffer—who calls season 9 “one of the most ambitious productions we’ve done”—opens the vault a crack. The season premiere “explains where we’ve all been for the past five years, and things happen that send us in a wild direction,” he says. “But even in that wild direction, you’d never expect where we end up.”

We start with Larry immersed in…some project. He and Cheryl are dating other people. “Larry, for the most part, is cool with that,” says Schaffer, “until he’s really not.” Leon is “unhelpfully helpful” to Larry. As for Jeff and Susie, “he’s got a roving eye and she’s got a watchful one.”

Keep an eye out for plenty of familiar characters (Ted Danson, Richard Lewis, Bob Einstein’s Marty Funkhouser) and new (famous) faces, such as Lauren

Graham playing an unexpected love interest for Larry. “Larry’s always had a complicated relationship with NBC censors,” says Schaffer. “Now he’s dating one.”

Elizabeth Banks, as herself, makes a different kind of impression on Larry. “We do a scene where, in the first time in the history of the series, I sat on a couch and didn’t talk,” marvels David.

“She just took it over.” Elsewhere,

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Jimmy Kimmel recommends an assistant (Carrie Brownstein) to Larry, and Bryan Cranston pops up as his therapist. Is this shrink in over his head? “I’d say he’s a bit frustrated,” deadpans David.

Also, Nick Offerman plays a coworker for whom Larry does a good deed, “and because this is Curb,” says Schaffer, “Larry is punished for it, and then Nick is punished for it.”

As always, their punishment is your reward, and the Curb crew sounds prettay, prettay happy with this season’s bounty.

“I don’t think people will be disappointed,” says David (who’s open to making more seasons).

“No one’s ever done something like this,” says Garlin, “at least comedically.”

To that end, David has overextended himself: Season 9 will be supersized, especially in later installments. “We stuffed 10 pounds of sausage in a fivepound bag and it blew up,” says Schaffer. “Like, there’s just meat all over.” Prepare to dig into a long-awaited meal, after you proceed to the back of the buffet line. No chat-and-cuts—or sharing—allowed. —DAN SNIERSON

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SPOTLIGHT

A D A M S C OTT A N D B O I R N S G ON I CRA put two magnets together and they repel each other? That would not be us.

SCOTT How about: Bush-Quayle?

Adam S cott and Craig

Robinson are teaming up to save the world from…aliens?

Ghosts? A far-reaching government conspiracy? All of the above? What we do know is that Parks and Rec vet Scott and The Office alum Robinson— who worked together on Hot Tub Time Machine 2—star on the sci-fi comedy Ghosted as an astrophysics professor– turned–bookstore employee and LAPD detective–turned– mall cop recruited by a secret government agency named the Bureau Underground to investigate paranormal activity.

Let’s see what we can scare up by interrogating these two.

—DAN SNIERSON

Complete this sentence: “When Adam Scott and Craig Robinson join forces, get ready to ___ , but don’t expect to ___.”

ROBINSON Laugh your d--- off.

SCOTT But don’t expect to get your d--- back.

And which analogy worst describes it?

SCOTT Thunder and lightning.

ROBINSON You know how you

What’s the closest that you’ve come in your own life to witnessing paranormal activity or an alien abduction?

ROBINSON Nothing to see here on that. That’s not something I

Adeel Akhtar, Craig Robinson, and Adam Scott

What is one thing you promise we’ll never see on this show?

SCOTT I swear I will never say, “According to my calculations.”

ROBINSON Good one. I was going to say ghost sex, but…that could happen.

SCOTT Season 5, who knows?

Ghost boners? I don’t want to rule that out, either, actually.

ROBINSON I cannot make that vow.

SCOTT Can we make the promise that we’ll never say, “We’ve got company!”?

ROBINSON No! SCOTT No. We’ve got to say that.

Do you worry that some dudes will feel threatened by the all-female reboot of Ghosted in 2027?

ROBINSON No, we will have evolved so much by then.

SCOTT Yeah, by then Craig and I will be female, so we’ll still be in it.

ROBINSON Ooh…that’s a season 8 spoiler.

GHOSTED: FOX; TEN DAYS IN THE VALLEY: PAUL SARKIS/ABC

Which analogy best describes your chemistry?

ROBINSON Rice-Montana, baby.

Back and forth. If Rice could throw, too, and Montana could catch. We just keep switching back and forth.

SCOTT Thunder and lightning?

Sorry.

Amidst all the aliens and scares is a buddy comedy.

What is the holy grail of buddy comedies, in your opinion?

SCOTT Midnight Run. It’s incredibly funny, but you care about those two guys and you care about them caring about each other…. The tone that Midnight Run hits is very grounded, but at the same time it has these heightened elements to it. In an ideal world, what we would hope to someday get to is: If Midnight Run and Stranger Things had a baby, it would be Ghosted.

ROBINSON 48 HRS. You see them go from hating each other automatically to having each other’s back to figuring out different things about each other to being concerned for one another, to the point where they became friends. And it’s super damn funny.

SCOTT What if I said my favorite was Another 48 HRS.?

care to recount publicly.

SCOTT I felt like I was about to be abducted, but then as it happens, it was just a guy walking past me. It felt like a close call at the time. And it felt like it might be an alien. Turns out it was just a dude, so I’m going to count it as: I almost got abducted by an alien.

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Seven years ago, Mr. Robot’s Frankie Shaw wrote a script about being a single mom partly based on her own life as a twentysomething with a 2-year-old son. It then became a Sundance award-winning short that she’s now adapted into a series. “I knew the single moms I was seeing on TV didn’t feel as real as my experience was,” says Shaw, whose own experience includes once toting her boy to a Breaking Bad audition. Shaw’s character on SMILF, a tutor who makes ends meet with other odd jobs, may not have any auditions as chaotic as that one, but she does struggle to find romance— dating isn’t easy when you have a toddler on your hip—and butts heads with her eccentric mother, played by Rosie O’Donnell.

“There’s a theme of how to be a better parent than how you were parented,” Shaw says, then adds with a laugh, “and there’s lighter stuff, too.” N O V . 5

Ten Days in the Valley was born from a nightmare. After creatorEP Tassie Cameron (Rookie Blue) kept dreaming about her young daughter disappearing in the middle of the night, she decided to confront that fear by sitting down and writing about it. “I think this nightmare was absolutely [me] addressing my guilt about being a stressed-out working mother,” she says. The result is a twisty thriller starring Kyra Sedgwick as Jane Sadler, a busy TV producer whose daughter is kidnapped. Her 10-day search for her missing child unspools over 10 episodes, as everyone from her personal and professional life becomes a suspect. (Cameron promises that the mystery will be resolved by season’s end, although Jane’s quest will reveal some powerful enemies who could spell trouble in a potential season 2.) Cameron’s nightmares may have stopped, but Jane’s story is just getting started. O C T . 1

T E N D AY S I N T H E V A L L E Y Kick Gurry, Abigail Pniowsky, and Kyra Sedgwick

S U N D AY W R I T T E N A N D R E P O R T E D B Y Chancellor Agard, Ariana Bacle,

Devan Coggan, Clark Collis, Jami Ganz, Ray Rahman, Lynette Rice, Dalton Ross, Dan Snierson, and Tim Stack

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Few people know that better than Flash fanboy and geek T-shirt obsessive Sheldon Cooper, the nerd demigod played by fourtime Emmy winner Jim Parsons, 44, on The Big Bang Theory. Season 10 ended on a cliffhanger, with Sheldon proposing to girlfriend Amy (Mayim Bialik). When CBS’ hit sitcom returns on Sept. 25, Sheldon’s future will be revealed…and so will his past! On the new prequel series Young Sheldon, 9-year-old Iain Armitage (Big Little Lies) plays the brainiac when he was the youngest kid in his East Texas high school. Co-created by CBS sitcom kingpin Chuck Lorre and longtime Big Bang producer Steve Molaro, the new show is a single-camera comedy narrated by Parsons, a radical shift from the traditional multicam sitcommery of the original series.

And although Parsons narrates and produces the show, the two Sheldons won’t share any screen time, barring a rupture in the spacetime continuum. But at the Warner Bros. lot where both shows film, we staged a meeting of the minds. We begin with our story already in progress, with the conversation focused on the two Sheldons’ ant farms…

It’s relaxing, like an aquarium.

And so fun to watch.

PA RSO N S What is the backstory? Your mother got you one?

ARMITAGE Yes, we got the ant farm a while ago.

PARSONS Iain bought me one for my wedding. A great present. I was more excited than Todd [Spiewak, Parsons’ husband].

ARMITAGE [Laughs] He doesn’t deserve the ant farm.

PARSONS He’ll be walking into the kitchen now and go, “It’s an infestation!”

ARMITAGE My ants have gone all over.

They’ve come here to Warner Bros. They’ve gone to our house. [Armitage sips a bottle of Perrier.]

PARSONS What do you call that?

ARMITAGE Club soda? Perrier?

PARSONS The first time we had a table read, you called it Pierre water, which I loved.

I will never forget that. “Could I have one of those Pierre waters?”

ARMITAGE My grandma, she has a clubsoda-making machine. I always do [makes pumping motion with arm] extra-extraextra, so then when I take [the cap] off, it really steams up. [Theatrical voice] Magical.

PARSONS Is that the same grandmother’s house that you taped the original audition in? In Georgia?

ARMITAGE Yep, it was over Christmas. We went in her study.

PARSONS And then we met in Chuck’s office. I was oddly nervous about getting in Iain’s way. I had never been on that side of JIM PARSONS

MICHAEL YARISH/WARNER BROS.

IAIN ARMITAGE

a casting process, where I wasn’t auditioning. I was kind of quiet for a long time because I thought I didn’t want to get in his head. Which sounds kind of silly now! You barely knew who I was, because you didn’t watch the show.

ARMITAGE I knew who you were, to the point where I skipped shaking another person’s hand and walked straight to you.

PARSONS You did. You rudely left them aside and shook with me, which I appreciated. I liked you immediately.

ARMITAGE I don’t watch that much TV. And your show’s aimed at a different audience. It’s not aimed at the 9-year-old sitting on a couch holding a Transformer in one hand and cheddar bunnies in the other hand.

PARSONS You don’t need to see much of the original series because this is tonally so different. You’re gonna make this character your own. A young person is such a different person than the older version of themselves.

ARMITAGE I think it’s pretty interesting to sort of quote-unquote go back in time.

Being on set, it’s so weird seeing everything from the past. The clothes are different.

The places are different. It’s sort of funny.

I’m basically in a DeLorean! [Parsons laughs.] Thank you very much, I was hoping you would get that.

PARSONS I do think it’s interesting that we both like theater so much. What’d we go

and see this summer together?

ARMITAGE We saw Come From Away.

PARSONS Come From Away.

ARMITAGE A Doll’s House, Part 2.

PARSONS A Doll’s House, Part 2.

ARMITAGE You’re literally repeating everything I say!

PARSONS Yeah, I am! You love musicals.

More than I do, to be honest. Do you play the piano?’

ARMITAGE I do, and I play guitar.

PARSONS How long have you been playing the guitar?

ARMITAGE A year and a half now. In an old thing called Big Little Lies that I did, I had to learn to play the guitar. Our director was so awesome, he let me keep the guitar! We also did a scene where I went to the candy store and got bunches of candy. After we filmed, he gave us these bags of some candy. Heaven!

PARSONS You’re not eating sugar at all anymore.

ARMITAGE No, I’m not.

PARSONS How did that happen?

ARMITAGE I’m doing a sugar challenge.

PARSONS Are you ever gonna eat it again?

ARMITAGE Now my body recognizes it as poison. It would be basically the same thing as giving me arsenic. I’ve been doing it about a year.

PARSONS That’s, like, a tenth of your life!

(After a special debut on Sept. 25, Young Sheldon will air Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. beginning Nov. 2.)

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Armitage and Parsons on the set of Young Sheldon L E F T Mayim Bialik, Parsons, Johnny Galecki, and Simon Helberg on The Big Bang Theory

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Look who’s about to celebrate a milestone birthday! In honor of the show’s 25th season, the dance competition will bring back some of its most popular theme nights (like Disney) as well as pay tribute to iconic performances (like Alfonso Ribeiro’s famous Carlton dance with Witney Carson). But don’t expect an all-star edition: While pro faves like Maksim and Val Chmerkovskiy, Mark Ballas, and Sharna Burgess are returning to the ballroom, the latest lineup of stars—including Debbie Gibson, Nick and Vanessa Lachey, Frankie Muniz, and Terrell Owens—is all new, baby. “We want to continue to keep moving forward by giving fans what they love: a regular Dancing With the Stars season,” says executive producer Joe Sungkur. In other words, same ol’ song and dance. S E P T . 1 8

After mysteriously getting his wings back, Lucifer (Tom Ellis) will suffer an identity crisis this year, making him even more dangerous. “It’s really Lucifer exploring what it means to be the devil, and in doing so, embracing his devilish side more than ever,” executive producer Joe Henderson says, vowing that Lucifer will keep his promise to reveal the truth to Chloe (Lauren German) in the premiere. “It just might not go as smoothly now that he has his wings,” exec producer Ildy Modrovich adds. Further complicating matters: a potential new love interest for Chloe in Marcus Pierce (Tom Welling), an enigmatic police lieutenant. “He maybe has a different global objective than Lucifer has,” the Smallville alum teases. “I’d be lying if I said I’m not enjoying playing something very different [than Clark Kent].” O C T . 2

Dylan Grazer are once, twice, three times the character: Me, Myself & I has them each playing the same person, inventor Alex Riley, at different points in his life. Throughout the season, every era-traveling episode will help fill in the blanks a little bit to offer a more complete picture of who Alex is—based on who he used to be. We grilled the stars plus exec producer Dan Kopelman on the show’s past, present, and future. —RAY RAHMAN

ALEX RILEY

Who he is

Grazer plays Alex’s youngest incarnation—middle-school age—in a story line set 26 years ago. “He’s going through the trauma of having to move to a new town and blend in,” Kopelman says. “My character’s kind of the most positive out of the three versions,” Grazer adds.

JACK DYLAN GRAZER

Set in the present day, this chapter contains the “current” 40-year-old Alex—for better or for worse. “I’m not doing so hot,” Moynihan says of his character. “I just got divorced. I’m living in a garage. I’m a single dad with my daughter.”

T H E V O I C E Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Jennifer Hudson, and Miley Cyrus

BOBBY MOYNIHAN

JOHN LARROQUETTE

Welcome to the future: Larroquette depicts Alex 25 years from now. Essentially he’s the same as ever: “A person doesn’t really change remarkably,” Larroquette says. Still, 65-year-old Alex has improved his fortunes.

“He’s achieved what he was trying to do when he was in the garage,” Kopelman says. “He’s a titan of industry.”

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In the wake of being forced to effectively banish her boyfriend from Earth, Kara Danvers (Melissa Benoist) has pushed aside her humanity and dedicated herself to being Supergirl. “She’s really questioning whether she’s a human or an alien,” Benoist says. The theme of what it means to be human will resonate with everyone, particularly with J’onn (David Harewood) after the appearance of his father, M’yrnn (Carl Lumbly), proves he’s not the last green Martian, and with new villain Reign (Odette Annable), who’s initially clueless about her bioengineered origins on Krypton. “We’ve never really seen the big bad become the big bad,” exec producer Andrew Kreisberg says. “The journey that Reign takes this season is watching her realize her heritage and seeing how it manifests.” Considering she’s a world killer, she probably won’t take it well! O C T . 9

Bobby Moynihan and Jaleel White

Where he’s going next

The answer is simple: a girl. The pilot finds Alex taking his crush Nori to the school dance, which turns into a total disaster. “The thread that ties through all the Alexes is their optimism,” Kopelman notes. “That’s why we chose for him to be an inventor.

Inventors look at the world and see possibilities.”

“One massive disaster at a dance isn’t going to discourage him from pursuing the girl of his dreams,” Kopelman says. “He’s also a romantic—all three Alexes are. And he’s a big believer in fate.” Plus, of course, he’ll still be tinkering with his gadgets.

Midlife Alex just wants to find that big career-changing idea.

“How do I get to the point where I am rich and successful?”

Moynihan asks. Adds Kopelman, “He’s wondering if the idea of changing the world with an invention is a childish notion when you’re 40.”

Me, Myself, and Tinder? On top of the challenges of being a single dad, Moynihan’s Alex “goes into the dating world for the first time in a long time,” Kopelman says. “And he crumbles under that pressure.”

Already successful, elder Alex seeks purpose. “He’s had a heart attack,” Kopelman explains.

“He’s been so stressed out about getting out of that proverbial garage that he’s ignored other parts of his life. So he’s got to figure out what his last act in life will be.”

After all these years, romance still eludes Alex—even when he runs into his childhood crush again. “Just because you’re older and you’re presumably better at relationships doesn’t mean they’re not still complicated,” says Kopelman.

“With age doesn’t necessarily come wisdom when it comes to dating.”

S E AS O N 1 3 8PM (NBC)

THE VOICE: TR AE PAT TON/NBC; MOYNIHAN AND WHITE: NEIL JACOBS/CBS; ME, MYSELF & I, 9JKL: ROBERT VOETS/CBS (4)

What he wants

The singing competition welcomes a brand-new coach who knows exactly what’s on the line.

“I get carried away with it because I know how life-changing this can be,” says American Idol alum Jennifer Hudson, who is no swiveling-chair rookie after starring in the most recent season of The Voice U.K. “Unlike the rest of these coaches, I tell them, ‘I know

how you feel!’ ” She’s bringing along Kelly Rowland as her adviser, and while fellow coaches Blake Shelton, Miley Cyrus, and Adam Levine each hope their own team goes the distance, Hudson insists this isn’t a game. “People’s careers are involved,” she says before teasing what’s to come: “It’s a level of singing that The Voice has never heard before.” S E P T . 2 5

N E W C O M E DY 8:30PM (CBS)

Ever think your day-to-day warrants its own sitcom? When Mark Feuerstein (Royal Pains) told a producer how he survived career dry spells living sandwiched between the apartments of his parents and his brother, that was exactly what happened. “Every morning my father would barge into my apartment in his tightywhities,” says Feuerstein, who writes and stars. “Then I would come home to my mother waiting by her door, listening for the elevator, so she could invite me in for a salad.” After briefing his family on the project, Feuerstein cast Elliott Gould and Linda Lavin as his parents. How did the extended Feuerstein clan feel about their impending skewering? He likened their reaction to The Giving Tree: “Life could be worse than having your children having a TV show in which you sort of honor them, but it feels a little bit like ‘Thank you for letting me cut your trunk down and use it to support myself.’ ” O C T . 2

9 J K L Mark Feuerstein and Linda Lavin

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them everything I could.”

Spoiler alert: It worked.

“PowerPoint doesn’t begin to describe what was going on,” recalls Marvel Television head Jeph Loeb, one of the dozens of execs in the room. “I mean, I think we applauded.”

After all, the producers— a group including both Marvel and 20th Century Fox—had been looking for an X-Men pitch with mass appeal for a while. Lauren Shuler Donner, who has produced all of the X-Men films, says her team began thinking of TV while prepping Deadpool in 2014. That year Noah Hawley’s idea for the surreal drama Legion moved forward at FX, but a separate, more mainstreamfriendly project about the Hellfire Club—a global highsociety gang of mutants— stalled at Fox. “It was too many characters and not enough depth of character,” Shuler Donner explains.

RYAN GREEN/FOX

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X-Men drama, comic-book fan Matt Nix (Burn Notice) figured he needed some superpowers of his own. Or just a superpowered presentation. Using tricked-out slide-show software, he doctored photos of actors to make them look like mutants, inserted nifty transitions between slides, and even created graphics explaining how his idea would fit into the larger X-Men universe, from the myriad films to the hundreds of comic books published since the ’60s. “It was a big razzle-dazzle,” Nix says. “I was like, ‘If I don’t get this, my 10-year-old self will invent a time machine, come forward in time, and stab me to death!’ I had to throw at

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Percy Hynes White, Amy Acker, Sean Teale, Natalie Alyn Lind, and Stephen Moyer BELOW

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Jamie Chung

Enter Nix, who arrived on the scene in early 2016 with a different approach. He focused on just one family, the Struckers. After a disastrous school dance, parents Reed (Stephen Moyer) and Caitlin (Amy Acker) discover their teens Lauren (Natalie Alyn Lind) and Andy (Percy Hynes White) can manipulate matter, so they go on the run from Sentinel Services, the government agency incarcerating mutants. The adult Struckers are shocked to learn of their children’s gifts, especially since Reed had been working with Sentinel Services. “He’s hugely conflicted,” Moyer says.

“He’s been doing what he thinks is right.”

The Struckers turn to an Underground Railroad-type operation led by metalmanipulating mutant Polaris (Emma Dumont), lightbending Eclipse (Sean Teale), superstrong Thunderbird (Blair Redford), and

portal-creating Blink (Jamie Chung). (The X-Men have gone MIA—a mystery Nix promises the series will explore.) Even with their powers, they’re a family fighting for survival, just like the Struckers. “They don’t like harming people,” Teale says.

“They’re just trying to defend

themselves from an aggressive government.”

But if the government looks like the show’s overarching villain, Nix says it’s not that simple. The series aims to delve into conflicting points of view, especially ones reflecting today’s debate over immigration.

“Right now we are dealing with a lot of questions that are central to what have been historically central to the X-Men mythology,” Nix says. “I think we have an obligation to explore these questions in an evenhanded way.”

Of course, The Gifted won’t be a political screed; it’s still a comic-book show about superhumans—a fact Teale has already been reminded of the hard way. To play a mutant who can shoot photons out of his hands, he has battery packs strapped to his palms and occasionally even a welding machine attached to his arms. “I am physically shooting molten metal out of my hands without a helmet or gloves,” he says. “It’s bonkers! My shoes caught on fire a few days ago.” Now that’s razzle-dazzle. —SHIRLEY LI

EMMA DUMONT

Thanks to Marvel’s penchant for secrecy, Emma Dumont had no clue who she would be playing even after she had been cast on Fox’s The Gifted.

“I was like, ‘Am I playing a mutant?’ ” she recalls. “ ‘Is anyone going to tell me anything?’ ” The 22-year-old needn’t have worried: She won the part of Polaris, the often hotheaded but compassionate metal-bending mutant. It’s a starring role Dumont embodies perfectly. For one thing, the Seattle native grew up studying classical ballet—training that helped her land her first small-screen part, on ABC Family’s short-lived Bunheads—which meant she had no trouble with the intricate, graceful choreography required to show off her ability. For another, Dumont knows a thing or two about the technical side of Polaris’ power. In high school she participated in the NASA-sponsored FIRST Robotics competition, and she continues to mentor teens in the program today.

“I love using that side of my brain,” she says. “I know exactly what everyone’s talking about with a power that involves magnetism. Like, should she stop those bullets? Is it ferrous metal?”

Dumont even enrolled at Georgia State University to study mechanical engineering while filming the series.

“Yeah, it’s kind of crazy,” Dumont admits, laughing. “I’m really a nerd, don’t tell anyone.” Oops, too late.

—SHIRLEY LI

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angle, PTSD, and pill popping, but the main theme is loyalty.” More than Ochoa’s ability to wrestle multiple narratives, Jarrow explains he “needed someone who felt credibly military but also captures that space between toughness and vulnerability.” Or as Ochoa describes her role: “She’s no military Barbie.” O C T . 9

in e Kv

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V A L O R Matt Barr and Christina Ochoa

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Kevin James and Leah Remini

No one was talking

about remaking the CBS comedy The King of Queens when Leah Remini got the call to guest-star as Vanessa Cellucci in the last two episodes of Kevin Can Wait’s freshman season. “It was an amazing experience that I thought would end there,” says Remini, who played Kevin James’ Queens wife for nine seasons.

But once the producers experienced their chemistry, they immediately considered a reset. To do that, however, they had to kill off Kevin’s wife, Donna (Erinn Hayes), and cast Remini as a former colleague-cum-adversary for James, who plays a retired cop with three kids. “It’s hard because we love Erinn so much, but when you are in a competitive [ratings] environment, you’re looking for the most arresting kind of show,” exec producer Rob Long says. “This seemed to be it.”

Season 2 will pick up a year after Donna’s death (the cause of which will be revealed later). To make ends meet, Kevin

launches a private security firm with Vanessa.

“We’re very competitive with each other,” Remini says. “There is a lot of history there with them being partners. She’s very cutting to him and he is to her, but underneath there is always love.”

But that affection is strictly platonic—for now.

“I’m flattered people loved The King of Queens, but this is not it,” James says.

“If we were to jump back into a relationship, we’d be going back to what we’ve done. I get all the elements of being able to work with Leah again, but to take these characters in different ways and tread on different ground—I’ve never played a single father— that’s exciting to me.”

For Remini, it’s just exciting to be back on a set with James, to whom she’s remained close since Queens wrapped in 2007. “I write Kevin love notes via text that say, ‘I can’t tell you how much I love being here,’ ” Remini says. “It’s like we never left.” All hail the sitcom king and queen.

—LYNETTE RICE

SUPERIOR DONUTS: MICHAEL YARISH/CBS; KEVIN CAN WAIT: JEFFREY NEIR A/CBS; VALOR: QUANTRELL COLBERT/ THE CW

The military genre is a new direction for The CW, but executive producer Kyle Jarrow thinks the network’s core audience will find a lot to love in the adventures of a female special-ops pilot (Christina Ochoa) in a male-dominated world. “These are young [characters] living adrenaline-packed lives,” Jarrow says. “They’re screwing around, having relationships and plenty of personal drama.” Ochoa agrees it’s actionpacked in more ways than one: “Kyle piles on conspiracy, feminism, moral conflict, a love tri-

When they weren’t perfecting the art of the sriracha doughnut, oldschool baker Arthur (Judd Hirsch) and his young assistant Franco (Jermaine Fowler) often discussed real-world issues like gentrification and health care.

Those conversations will continue in season 2. “A lot of things aren’t swept under the rug anymore,” Fowler says. “People want to talk about women’s issues, about the mistreatment of trans people, about police brutality and racism.” Still, showrunner Bob Daily stresses that Superior isn’t aiming to lecture. “These are all things people living in this struggling neighborhood in Chicago are going through in their lives,” he says. “So we’re trying to find the funny in these topics, and maybe say something about where we’re at in our country today.” O C T . 3 0

© 2016 Kraft Foods

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SPOTLIGHT

R O E M H I E H I G The Good Doctor

OF

Playing a doctor has

been somewhat of a relief for Freddie Highmore, who spent five seasons murdering people as Norman Bates on A&E’s Bates Motel. “At the end of the day I go home and feel all right,” he says. “It’s the payoff

of having spent so many years killing people— now I get to save them.”

If his new co-workers allow him to, that is.

Let’s rewind: The Good Doctor, executiveproduced by David Shore (House) and Daniel Dae Kim (Hawaii Five-0), follows Dr. Shaun Murphy (Highmore), a brilliant young surgeon with autism and savant syndrome who moves to San Jose, Calif., for a residency at prestigious St. Bonaventure. Unfortunately, some of the hospital’s finest fail to see past his condition, and they’re reluctant to give him a chance—save Dr. Glassman (The West Wing’s Richard Schiff), the hospital’s president and Shaun’s biggest advocate. “The thing that I find really compelling about this show is how he has real limitations, but those limitations won’t stop him,” Shore says. “There might have to be accommodations made, but he is capable of doing great things.”

Highmore didn’t expect to find another television project so soon after Bates Motel— and by soon, we mean he read the script three days after his character Norman was killed off.

“Having been fortunate enough to be on a TV show that lasted five seasons, you realize you need to choose the right thing,” says the 25-yearold. What immediately

drew him to this project was Shore’s sincere yet never saccharine writing, as well as the character. Although Shaun struggles to communicate with others, he isn’t devoid of emotions, which is how people with autism are often depicted on TV. “What’s great about Shaun is that he has those moments of excitement and moments of joy and moments of happiness mixed in with the way in which he struggles,” says Highmore, who won over Shore with the depth of humanity he displayed on Bates.

“What he was doing inspired me to think he could play a rather unusual character, but in a sympathetic way,” Shore says. As Shaun contends with the arrogant head of surgery, Dr. Neil Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez), and struggles to effectively convey his diagnoses, he’ll also learn how to deal with having a landlord, navigating office politics, and, of course, women. For example,

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Love has never come easy to these computer geniuses. New couple Walter (Elyes Gabel) and Paige (Katharine McPhee) clash this season when nemesis Mark Collins (Joshua Leonard) returns to, hopefully, help them stop an extinction-level event. “We have a conflict as to why [Collins is] there and how much he should be a part of the team,” Gabel says. In nonromance news, Sylvester (Ari Stidham) is apparently killing it as local alderman. “He’s saving the town millions of dollars a year, he’s cutting traffic by 16 percent, the air quality is getting better,” executive producer Nick Santora says. “He’s doing all of this stuff with simple fixes that I think standard politicians don’t even think about, but because he’s a genius they come easily to him.” Hmm, maybe he can focus on the New York City subway system next? S E P T . 2 5

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—CHANCELLOR AGARD

Chuku Modu, Antonia Thomas, Nicholas Gonzalez, and Freddie Highmore

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THE GOOD DOCTOR: LIANE HENTSCHER /ABC; SCORPION: SONJA FLEMMING/CBS; THE BR AVE: URSUL A COYOTE/NBC

he’ll make a connection with fellow resident Dr. Claire Browne (Antonia Thomas), who is “one of the first…to try and understand Shaun on a deeper level, as opposed to the superficial medical level,” Highmore says.

With the help of books, documentaries, and autism expert Melissa Reiner, who’s consulting on the show, Highmore hopes to bring some authenticity to his performance.

However, he emphasizes this is just a story about one person: “It’s an impossible task and somewhat ignorant to try and claim that we’re going to be representing, through one singular individual, all people who are on the spectrum and tell everyone’s stories.” Still, the prognosis seems positive.

Former Daily Show correspondent Jordan Klepper is bringing his blowhard persona to 11:30, the former home of Stephen Colbert, with a show that will satirize hyperbolic and antagonistic media extremes—from Breitbart to Keith Olbermann. “Wherever we see sort of bulls---, we will go after it, whether it be on the left, right, middle, or wherever,” says executive producer Stuart Miller.

Klepper doesn’t want the show to be just about the news; he wants it to feel like an outsider movement. “The characters and people around me aren’t just telling you about how they see the world; they’re asking you to join them,” he says. The show already has its slogan: “You’re either with us.”

Period. Adds Klepper, “There’s no need to fill in the rest. We’ve given you all you need.” S E P T . 2 5

S C O R P I O N Ari Stidham, Robert Patrick, Katharine McPhee, Elyes Gabel, Jadyn Wong, and Eddie Kaye Thomas

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Yes, it’s another military series, but creator Dean Georgaris argues that “[we’re] first and foremost a workplace drama and an undercover-mission show.” The Brave follows a covert-ops unit, headed by Capt. Adam Dalton (Mike Vogel), as they tackle highly sensitive tasks while working with the Defense Intelligence Agency, led by Patricia Campbell (Anne Heche). While the pilot finds Dalton’s squad tracking a terrorist in the Middle East, it doesn’t stay there. The unit will rake in frequent-flier miles as they handle a hostage crisis in Nigeria, rescue a burned CIA agent in Ukraine, and surveil Mexican drug dealers. Says Vogel, who has trained with Special Forces himself, “The [global] reach of this show is what excited me.” Tune in, and have your passport ready. S E P T . 2 5 Anne Heche

M O N D AY W R I T T E N A N D R E P O R T E D B Y Natalie Abrams, Chancellor Agard, Christian Holub, Ruth Kinane,

Lynette Rice, and Madison Vain

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This Is Us TUNE IN

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Mandy Moore and Milo Ventimiglia

Inside the Pearsons’ Pittsburgh house

on an L.A. soundstage, Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore are busy filming a scene for the eagerly awaited second season of NBC’s This Is Us, and, well, we’re not going to sugarcoat this: Things aren’t looking so good for Jack.

Ventimigila’s beloved patriarch wakes up disoriented, his body encrusted with red vesicles and radiating pain. His three kids lie in bed with him, while his concerned wife, Rebecca (Moore), hovers nearby, telling him, “You’ve been passed out with a fever for hours.” After all of the theories about car crashes, plane crashes, heart attacks, and cirrhosis, could this be what dooms Jack?

“Funny enough, we were walking across the lot from the set to our trailers and there were a lot of tours,” Ventimiglia says during a break from filming that scene. Moore then chimes in, “We saw the cameras and phones start to come out, and we ran the other way!” He continues: “Mandy and I both said, ‘Oh, we can see the theories now!!!’ ” Moore:

“I was like, ‘He has some flesh-eating disease from a trip to the Amazon!’ ” Fine—enough misdirect and torture. Jack doesn’t have an exotic illness; he has chicken pox. (Plus a problem with Rebecca’s mother, played by Elizabeth Perkins, whose unannounced visit is vexing the family.) All of which means the great How did he die? mystery will remain unsolved for now. But answers are coming, and not just to that question—to questions about Jack and Rebecca’s marriage, to others you haven’t thought to ask yet—because, as this time-tripping dramedy has demonstrated, its appeal transcends literal morbid curiosity. Yanking on both heartstrings and tissues from the box, This Is Us is an ever-surprising nonlinear family saga about a husband and wife who lose a triplet during childbirth and adopt a third baby at the hospital, as well as the journey of said Big Three—Randall (Sterling K. Brown), Kate (Chrissy Metz), and Kevin (Justin Hartley)— as children, teenagers, and thirtysomethings.

P H OTO G R A P H BY A R T S T R E I B E R

RON BATZDORFF/NBC (2)

Last we saw, that family was fracturing at its core: An ugly fight between Jack and Rebecca exposed a breakdown in communication and years of corrosive sacrifice, leading the couple to decide to (temporarily?) separate.

So what now? The first order of business for This Is Us, which averaged 15.4 million viewers and nabbed 10 Emmy nominations, is to prove that it isn’t merely a single-season sensation. “Everyone thinks, ‘Oh, this is just a one-off, and they can’t really continue with such deep story lines and intense, real raw emotions,’” says Metz. “But when we read the first script [of season 2], I was like, ‘Oh my God!’ I hate to say ‘expectations’ because I don’t like to have them, but it’s going to exceed everybody’s expectations.” Seconds Hartley: “I guarantee that what you thought was heartbreaking in season 1, we’re doubling down on in season 2. The laughs will be a little louder, and the cries will be a little deeper.”

Indeed, things darken a bit as TIU sheds light on a tragic time in the family’s history.

“We do have quite a bit of sad in this season, simply because of the nature of where the stories are,” says creator Dan Fogelman. “The show is not about Jack’s death, and if that’s all you care about, you’re missing the point.

That being said, it is a hinge upon which this family swings, and this season explores that time period. It naturally gets a little heavier.”

And to fans frustrated by the lack of resolution in the season finale—“We can’t be mad at the audience for something we helped to create, right?” quips Brown—Fogelman promises that the season premiere contains a “huge piece of the puzzle.” (It was potent enough to be redacted from the script.)

When the rest of the pieces snap into place later in the season, you are advised to steel yourself. “I think the best thing I can say,” offers Ventimiglia, “or the worst thing I can say—is: It’s going to be f---ing painful.”

More immediate pain arrives in the form of this marriage in crisis, which now courts another mystery: What exactly was the state of Jack and Rebecca’s relationship when he died? Fogelman has some other ones for you to obsess over, too: “At what point did Miguel (Jon Huertas) and Rebecca get together? Did something weird happen? Did something great happen? Did it happen right after he died? How did Kate feel affected by her father’s death? What happened to this family after the father’s death in the immediate aftermath? There are so many questions left to be explored in this season and the next.”

This season also follows the now-37-yearold siblings pursuing the dreams they each revealed in the finale. Kate has her confidence tested as she attempts a singing career like her mother did and steadies her relationship with fiancé/new roommate Toby (Chris Sullivan). “So much of her life has been great moments and then right on down to the pit of despair,” says Metz. “It’s really about courage and consistency this year.” Randall and wife Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) find themselves on different pages about adopting a third child, although, as Brown notes, “he’s not trying to replicate what Jack and Rebecca had.” Then there’s Kevin, leaving his ex-wife/ now girlfriend Sophie (Alexandra Breckenridge) in New York again to shoot Ron Howard’s WWII-era movie in L.A. Moreover, he spirals down a path of self-questioning, with Jack’s death still shadowing him. “He deals with his father’s passing in a different way than Kate does and Randall does,” says Hartley. “And in a strange and sort of unpredictable way, Sylvester Stallone has a big part in that.” (Yes, Jack’s favorite actor plays a surrogate father figure to Kevin’s character in the war film—that shouldn’t be loaded at all.)

Meanwhile, the show will dig into the thorny present-day relationship between

F R O M T O P Hannah Zeile, Logan Shroyer, Moore, and Niles Fitch; Susan Kelechi Watson and Brown

Rebecca and Kate. “They’re both oblivious to the pain they’re causing one another and where it emanates from,” says Moore, “but they can’t really help themselves.” We’ll also crack Jack open and examine his flaws— “He’s Superman, but now we’re going into the Clark Kent side underneath,” says Fogelman—while seeing if he can address his alcoholism. “There’s got to be a reason why Jack is the way that Jack is, why he loves his wife and his kids so much, why he fights for his family,” hints Ventimiglia. “The unpacking of Jack is understanding his past, understanding the thing that crossed his path in life that created the man that we know.” (Speaking of dead dads, the gentle spirit of Ron Cephas Jones’ William will live on via flashbacks.)

If you’re already beginning to tear up, Moore has an eco-friendly suggestion: “Let’s upgrade to something we can wash and use again. Do a washcloth. If there’s a runny nose, if you’ve got makeup streaming down your face, it’s perfect.” Hartley urges you to think even bigger. “Bath towels, buddy,” he warns. “Season 2 will be bath towels.”

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(AT&T AUDIENCE NETWORK)

to balance their self-interest with what’s best for the family band.

(Hint: not incest.) O C T . 1 7

Jason Alexander’s first leading TV role in 12 years began in unique fashion: with a debate over the relationship between David Cassidy’s and Susan Dey’s Partridge Family characters.

“They probably would’ve hooked up, even if they were brother and sister, because they were both so damn attractive,” jokes the Seinfeld alum, who co-created Hit the Road and plays patriarch Ken Swallow. “That made us go, ‘That’s how dysfunctional life on a tour bus would be.’ ” The result is the musical Swallow clan, a “loving but messed-up” family that travels the country in unglamorous fashion with hopes of finding fame while struggling

It’s time for Riggs (Clayne Crawford) to face his inner demons. “The source for Riggs’ emotional dysfunction is not just the death of his wife,” explains EP Matt Miller. “It started way back in his childhood.” Rex Linn will guest-star as Riggs’ father as “elements of his childhood come into play in present day.”

Murtaugh (Damon Wayans) will tackle a challenge of his own: An old gal pal played by Michelle Hurd (Blindspot) comes in as the new precinct boss. And Thomas Lennon returns as squirmy Leo Getz, the iconic

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L E T H A L W E A P O N Clayne Crawford and Damon Wayans

role played by Joe Pesci in the movie franchise. “The first three episodes are probably the funniest we have done so far,” promises Miller. S E P T . 2 6

S E A S O N 9 8PM (ABC)

Don’t look for The Middle to deviate from its winning formula just because the long-running comedy is ending. “It’s the Hecks, so expect very exciting story lines, like their doorknob

T H E M I D D L E Neil Flynn, Patricia Heaton, Eden Sher, Atticus Shaffer, and Charlie McDermott

doesn’t work,” says co-creator DeAnn Heline with a laugh.

Other than home maintenance, the final season includes a more cultured Axl returning from Europe with a taste for fancy coffee and man buns. “I’ve been growing my hair out all summer to ensure it isn’t fake,” says actor Charlie McDermott. Also not phony is Heline’s guarantee that rather than featuring any “Game of Thrones horrible deaths,” the finale will be “funny, satisfying, and the right ending for the show.” O C T . 3

SEASON 15

8PM (CBS)

LETHAL WE APON: DARREN MICHAELS/FOX; THE MIDDLE: MICHAEL ANSELL /ABC

When NCIS returns, Special Agents Gibbs (Mark Harmon) and McGee (Sean Murray) will be tied up in Paraguay, where rebels captured them at gunpoint in the finale last May. “The last thing you saw was them being surrounded,” says co-showrunner Frank Cardea. “For two months they can’t find them.” When they do finally return (as if there was a chance they wouldn’t?), they’ll meet a new addition to the team—a forensic psychiatrist played by Maria Bello. “She is one of the first characters who doesn’t report to Harmon,” teases Cardea. “She’s on an upper floor and reports directly to the director. Finally, here’s someone who can call Gibbs on his stuff. It will be a really fun relationship.” S E P T . 2 6

GENRE

NEW DRAMA

J A S O N R I TT E R O F

RIT TER: R AMONA ROSALES/AUGUST; KEVIN (PROBABLY) SAVES THE WORLD: RYAN GREEN/ABC

that comes with (probably) saving the world, just as there’s a lot of pressure that comes with playing the titular character on a new show. “We knew we were going to live or die by Kevin,” showrunner Michele Fazekas says of casting the lead on Kevin (Probably) Saves the World. “It was somebody who had to be both a very good dramatic actor and a very good comedic actor, and that’s not always easy to find.” They ultimately found that perfect mix in Jason Ritter, 37, whose past work on shows like Parenthood and Drunk History proved his range. Well, that and his audition. “As soon as he did a screen test, we were like, ‘There he is. We don’t have to look at a single other person,’ ” Fazekas says.

When fans first meet Kevin in the pilot, he’s gone to stay with his widowed sister and her daughter after his recent suicide attempt. “There was something that I liked about the fact that [the show] was light and funny but not ignoring that painful things exist,” Ritter says. “I love characters that feel like there are complications in their life. Someone who’s

TIME

going through something is always more fun to play.”

And Kevin will be going through many things when he meets Yvette (Kimberly Hébert Gregory), a celestial guide, who informs him that he’s the last of 36 righteous humans who protect the world, and if he doesn’t power up his soul through acts of kindness, he won’t be able to anoint a new generation of the righteous. “I just loved everything about it,” Ritter says of the pilot.

“I liked the humor, but there were moments where I was really moved by the script.” And after a career of memorable supporting turns, this is Ritter’s opportunity to be the leading man in a role that Fazekas and coshowrunner Tara Butters say is part Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, part Paul Rudd, and part the Dude from The Big Lebowski. “I don’t know who would be in that role if it weren’t for Jason,” Fazekas says. “He brings a new dimension to the character.”

Kevin’s journey to (probably) save the world won’t be a simple one, and that’s an understatement.

“However he got chosen for this job, they may have wanted to vet him first,” Ritter says, chuckling. “But I guess it’s too late.” Ladies and gentlemen, your savior.

—SAMANTHA HIGHFILL

There’s a lot of pressure

P R E M I E R E DAT E

With Kimberly Hébert Gregory

Law & Order True Crime:

GENRE

dez n Me en

NEW DRAMA P R E M I E R E DAT E

TIME

Where the key players in the case are today

LYLE MENENDEZ Played by Miles Gaston Villanueva Lyle was a 21-year-old Princeton student, suspended for a year after being accused of cheating on a paper. An inmate at Mule Creek State Prison, he’s been married twice since his conviction.

ERIK MENENDEZ Played by Gus Halper The younger Menendez, only 18 at the time of the murders, was the first to confess to their psychologist, Dr. Jerome Oziel. He’s married too and still plays chess with his brother via mail.

Michael B. Silver, Miles Gaston Villanueva, Gus Halper, and Edie Falco

On Aug. 20, 1989, Lyle

and Erik Menendez killed their parents with a shotgun.

It was an American tragedy, dappled with the kind of tabloid glamour that any murder gets in a Beverly Hills zip code. It was a case ready-made for the trial-crazy ’90s—and for Jay Leno, who was making Menendez-brothers jokes through the new millennium. “They were portrayed in the press as just coldblooded spoiled brats,” says René Balcer, showrunner

for the new eight-episode series The Menendez Murders. “The reality is that they weren’t. They were damaged, abused kids.”

When it came to condensing several years, two trials, sundry controversies, and two invocations of the Fifth Amendment, the producers opted to focus on the perspective of the Menendez’s firebrand defense attorney Leslie Abramson.

“She was pretty fierce and really cared about this case,” says Edie Falco, the four-time Emmy winner, who plays Abramson on screen.

“Even to this day, any woman who takes her job seriously and is less concerned about how she comes across is in the line of fire at times.”

It’s familiar territory for Balcer, and not just because the Menendez trial was a running media narrative throughout the early ’90s.

“The first Law & Order I ever did back in 1990 was a take on the Menendez case,” he recalls. In the 27 years since, Dick Wolf’s Law & Order phenomenon has expanded through spin-offs and reruns. The True Crime anthology joins the stillvibrant SVU on NBC’s schedule and promises to put a new nonfiction spin on the brand’s cops-and-attorneys format. “This is not, strictly speaking, a procedural,” says Balcer. “We go home with people. It’s really more about the why than the what.” —DARREN FRANICH

LESLIE ABRAMSON Played by Edie Falco One of L.A.’s top defense lawyers, Abramson courted controversy (and an aborted bar investigation) with the Menendez case and later worked for Phil Spector in his murder trial.

JUDGE STANLEY WEISBERG Played by Anthony Edwards A looming figure in L.A. legal history, Weisberg presided over the Rodney King police-brutality trial.

He retired in 2008.

DR. JEROME OZIEL Played by Josh Charles The Beverly Hills psychologist whose taped recordings of the brothers’ confessions led to their arrest. A witness in the Menendez’s first trial, he relinquished his California medical license in 1997.

—DARREN FRANICH

8:30PM (ABC)

The Huangs’ worst nightmare came true last season: They were homeless. And to add insult to injury, Michael Bolton—yes, that one—was elbowing Louis (Randall Park) out of the way at Cattleman’s Ranch. How will the hardworking immigrant family respond to these injustices?

Awkwardly! “They stay at Honey and Marvin’s [Chelsey Crisp and Ray Wise] place and make themselves way too comfortable,” says showrunner Nahnatchka Khan. “That’s further complicated by the fact that Jessica [Constance Wu] finds out that she and Honey have been selected to go on Best Friends Week on Wheel of Fortune.”

Meanwhile, Louis will tussle with Bolton over the restaurant’s fate, and Eddie (Hudson Yang) will navigate his first year of high school. As for Jessica? “She’s

going to start really exploring her novel-writing hobby,” Wu says. “She’s always been a fan of Stephen King, so we’re going to see her expand on that passion.”

Sounds like a shining start to the show’s fourth season. O C T . 3

SEASON 4

9PM (ABC)

Last season’s finale found Bow (Tracee Ellis Ross) giving birth to son DeVante, and naturally that new life will shake up the household. Teases Ross: “It’s not just going to play into the dynamics with Dre [Anthony Anderson] and I but with the kids. What happens with the twins, who are used to being the babies in the family?”

But the baby that creator Kenya Barris is most excited about is the season 4 premiere: a musical episode about June 19, 1865, considered to be the last day of slavery in the U.S. “For me, I think it’s the most ambitious episode we’ve

L AW & ORDER TRUE CRIME: THE MENENDE Z MURDERS: JUSTIN LUBIN/NBC; LYLE MENENDE Z, ABR AMSON, OZIEL: NICK UT/AP PHOTO (3); ERIK MENENDE Z: TED SOQUI/SYGMA/GET T Y IMAGES; WEISBERG: STEVE GR AYSON/AP PHOTO; FRESH OFF THE BOAT: ERIC MCCANDLESS/ABC

SEASON 4

F R E S H O F F T H E B O A T (Center) Chelsey Crisp and Constance Wu

ever done,” says Barris. “The episode takes place with Dre at a Columbus Day pageant with his kids and he’s like, ‘This is bulls---,’ and he starts spiraling. And with the help of the Roots and Aloe

The perfect couple is the perfect illusion. ¸*OPSSPUN ZH[PZM`PUN Z\ZWLUZL¯ P[ ^PSS JVZ[ `V\ ZSLLW HZ `V\ YHJL [OYV\NO P[Z WHNLZ ¹ ·.VVK /V\ZLRLLWPUN

Available September 19

Blacc, he tries to create an advertising campaign to bring back June 19. We do a Broadway-level musical with the cast in the parts.” LinManuel Miranda, sounds like you have some competition. O C T . 3

The Mayor BRANDON MICHEAL HALL

HALL: SMALL Z & R ASKIND/GET T Y IMAGES; THE MAYOR: TONY RIVET TI/ABC

You might recognize Brandon

Micheal Hall from his role on TBS’ mystery-comedy Search Party, where he plays Alia Shawkat’s sleuthing journalist ex. Or you might recognize him if you happened to be walking down 14th Street in Manhattan one special day last January. “I had just finished my job on Munchery, as a bike courier,” recalls the 24-year-old actor, who received a phone call from his agent telling him he’d been cast in the title role on a buzzy sitcom pilot. “I ran from 8th Avenue all the way down to Union Square and back. I was just exuberant. Everybody in New York was like, ‘Who is this crazy little black kid running down the street?’ ” Next time, those people will be more likely to take out their phones and start snapping. On The Mayor, Hall plays Courtney Rose, an ambitious rapper who seeks publicity for his new mixtape by running for office. Things take a strange turn—or a totally normal turn, nowadays!— when he wins the election. It’s a tricky role, requiring comedic

instincts and heartfelt sincerity—not to mention rapping ability, with original music written by EP (and Hamilton Tony winner) Daveed Diggs. The Juilliard-educated Hall was uniquely suited for the challenge. “Growing up in South Carolina, I was a part of a rap group with my cousins called the Yard Boys. That’s how I know I’ve been walking the path I need to be walking. I can use that now!”

And use it he does. “Courtney has to learn on his feet, in the same way I’m learning on my feet,” Hall says. “Every little move that he makes, he’s being watched.” Hard not to watch a star being born.

—DARREN FRANICH

With Lea Michele

Grant Gustin

SEASON 2

9PM (CBS)

Jill Flint (The Night Shift) returns for the premiere to reprise her role as Diana Lindsay, an adversarial attorney and occasional love interest for the irascible but ohso-charming trial consultant Jason Bull (Michael Weatherly). “She comes back in a big way,” explains new showrunner Glenn Gordon Caron. “She gets involved in a case with Minka Kelly, who plays a young woman who is married to a man twice her age who is a big media titan. He attacks and stabs her. She shoots and kills him.

And Bull is called to represent one side, and Diana represents the other.” Brad Garrett also gueststars as a mentor who counsels Bull after a Hollywood actress sues him for bad advice over an adoption case. “He’s a lawyer Bull admired since college,” says Caron of Garrett’s role. “He is an idiosyncratic kind of guy.” S E P T . 2 6 After sacrificing

too, that it was a decision that he made on his own.”

Of course, Barry won’t be gone long—for the audience, at least—which lends for some comedy over who’s really in charge upon his return. In fact, the two enlist a therapist to work through their control issues—a move toward Flash leaning back into a lighter tone this year. Even so, Team Flash will face one of its toughest foes yet in the Thinker (Neil Sandilands), whose ultimate objective will initially be shrouded in mystery. “There’s a chess match going on, and in the beginning our guys don’t even realize that they’re playing against him,” Kreisberg says of the fastest mind alive.

“You watch as they’re realizing that somebody is manipulating events and pulling the strings as it’s all building to a big confrontation.” Good thing the fastest man alive is back! —NATALIE ABRAMS

SEASON 3

9PM (THE CW)

After breaking time in the season 2 finale, the Legends of Tomorrow reteam to fix the many anachronisms—people, places, and things displaced in history— left in their wake. But they’re no longer the only game in town as Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill) establishes his own much more strict team. “The Time Bureau is

SEASON 6

9PM (TNT)

New year, new boss, new set.

After the Major Crimes office got blown up in the season 5 finale, the murder room has been rebuilt, with Leo Mason (Leonard Roberts) stepping in as the team’s new assistant chief. But the season will also find Commander Sharon Raydor (Mary McDonnell) facing off against a familiar enemy: notorious serial rapist and murderer Phillip Stroh (Billy Burke), who’s been terrorizing the Major Crimes Division ever since The Closer. “The big mystery is, why would Stroh come back having made a clean getaway?” showrunner James Duff teases.

“That’s what everybody’s trying to figure out.” O C T . 3 1

D C ’ S L E G E N D S O F T O M O R R O W Victor Garber, Caity Lotz, Nick Zano, Brandon Routh, Franz Drameh, and Dominic Purcell

THE FL ASH: K ATIE YU/ THE CW; DC’S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW: ROBERT FALCONER / THE CW

himself to save Central City, the Flash (Grant Gustin), quite literally, will be going through a rebirth in season 4. “The experience of being in the Speed Force was a bit of a baptism for him,” EP Andrew Kreisberg says.

“His experience in there has really washed away a lot of his sins, cleansed him of his doubts, fears, and guilts, and he really loves being the Flash again.” But will the team feel the same? In Barry’s absence, Iris (Candice Patton) has become the new leader of Team Flash as they’ve struggled to stay afloat over the past six months. “There’s a lack of confidence for sure in the team, but they’re doing the best they possibly can,” Patton says, explaining that Iris has set aside her heartbreak for the good of the group. “She’s devastated that Barry’s gone. She feels a little bit betrayed,

the scalpel, whereas the Legends are the chain saw,” says EP Marc Guggenheim. “They do it without all the consequential damage to property and time, but probably also with a lot less fun.” Blaming herself for the decisions that landed them here, Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) will feel betrayed

by Rip and find herself bumping heads with his No. 2, Special Agent Ava Sharpe (Jes Macallan).

“They do not like each other,” Lotz says, coy to reveal whether this is Sara’s new love interest.

“Right now we really, genuinely hate each other.” At least until the midseason cliff-hanger. OCT. 10

SEASON 2

9PM (FOX)

The first season of this family comedy, created by It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia alums Dave and John Chernin, saw messy Mickey (Kaitlin Olson) playing babysitter to her wealthy sister’s three kids—but now that their mom is in prison, there’s even more pressure on Mickey. “She’s trying to figure out how to balance taking care of them and having a life of her own,” Olson says. Dave promises that even though Mickey’s grown up a bit, she’s still Mickey. “All I can say is there’s a lot of blood in the first two episodes,” he hints. S E P T . 2 6

SEASON 4

10PM (CBS)

For the new season of the Scott Bakula-starring series, showrunner Brad Kern promises a “wider breadth of storytelling, from ghost stories to dirty bombs and everywhere in between.” We know what you’re thinking: He had you at “ghost.” “You can’t be in New Orleans and not do a ghost story,” he says. NOLA’s real 300th anniversary will serve as a backdrop on the series, which plans to inject more musical guests (previous appearances have included Sheryl Crow and Gary Clark Jr.).

“This will be a huge party year for us,” says Kern. S E P T . 2 6

T U E S D AY W R I T T E N A N D R E P O R T E D B Y Natalie Abrams, Ariana Bacle,

Devan Coggan, Derek Lawrence, Ray Rahman, Lynette Rice, and Tim Stack

B U L L Michael Weatherly and Freddy Rodriguez

RETURNING C O M E DY

outwits. When two teams vie to steal a crown, it’s a royal treat of tricks.

Die Hardobsessed Jake is in fantastic fanboy mode as he and Boyle aim to save the day in a Christmas Eve hostage situation. Imagine Jake’s disappointment when he finds out the bad guys are Canadian instead of German.

BULL: DAVID M. RUSSELL /CBS; BROOKLYN NINE-NINE: FOX

“YIPPIE KAYAK” (SEASON 3)

This cop comedy s er ve s up justice

with jokes both goofy and smart while thriving on the colliding energies of the buttoned-up Captain Holt (Andre Braugher) and the daffy-but-capable Det. Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg). B99 boasts a winning ensemble, down to the acid-tongued administrator, Gina (Chelsea Peretti), who once introduced herself with “Hi, Gina Linetti, the human form of the 100 emoji.” Here’s how to get acquainted with the precinct.

Tim Meadows and Andy Samberg

Eclectic ensemble energy is on display at Boyle’s (Joe Lo Truglio) beach house, where Gina tries to turn type A Amy into six-drink Amy (Melissa Fumero), and Jake runs a secret party because Holt is a buzzkill.

“BEACH HOUSE” (SEASON 2)

This fun’n’-twisty annual installment features Holt and Jake engaging in a battle of

“HALLOWEEN III” (SEASON 3)

There are no cop-outs for Jake and Rosa (Stephanie Beatriz) when season 5 picks up. Framed for a robbery, the detectives will serve time. Prison makes strange cellmates, as Jake’s is Caleb (Tim Meadows), a cannibal who “would rather be defined by his passion, which is woodworking,” says co-creator Dan Goor. Jake also matches wits with a criminal mastermind (Lou Diamond Phillips), while trying to communicate with Amy on the outside. “He’s got to break some rules,” hints Samberg. In the women’s prison, Rosa “quite enjoys solitary,” notes Goor. Meanwhile, the squad considers an unethical shortcut to exonerate Jake and Rosa. Whatever it takes to get them home for Halloween. —DAN SNIERSON

SHOW

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PHOTOGRAPHS BY

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We’r e 9 8 p e r c e n t s u r e t h a t A r c h i e

Andrews was never offered a bump of cocaine in the original comic. But then again, Riverdale is not your granny’s Archie. It’s a cloudy and humid day on the Vancouver set of The CW’s edgy reboot of the classic franchise and America’s favorite redheaded quarterback, true to his apple pie roots, is just saying no. Archie (KJ Apa) and girlfriend Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes) have just arrived back at the Lodge home with her old flame Nick St. Clair (The Good Wife’s Graham Phillips). Nick’s a bad boy from New York (is there any other kind?), and he’s in the mood for a little “dessert.” Veronica also rejects the powder. Quips Nick, “Veronica Lodge, turning down a bump?

What a brave new world it is.”

Sex. Drugs. Murder. Wig rooms. All of these elements have helped transform the sleepy town of Riverdale into a whole new world for fans of the wholesome comics. In this Twin Peaks–meets–Gossip Girl soap, Archie, Veronica, Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart), Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse), and their friends deal with typical teen drama, like torturing slut-shaming football players, finding out their parents have secret children (we’re lookin’ at you, Alice Cooper), and solving the murder of a classmate. Conceived

by Archie Comics chief creative officer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who previously

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wrote for Glee, the series is a subversive, sexy take on the iconic characters that still maintains certain hallmarks (red hair! milkshakes! pep rallies! Jughead’s crown!). It’s that reverence for the original combined with a willingness to push the envelope that is the unique pleasure of Riverdale. “For every really sweet thing, Roberto has something really spicy,” explains EP Greg Berlanti. “For every nostalgic thing, he’s got something so contemporary and adult and scary.” Adds AguirreSacasa, “I think it’s kind of caught between the dark and the light of Archie.”

The second season is definitely embracing the dark side. While Riverdale’s first episodes focused on the mystery surrounding the murder of high schooler Jason Blossom, season 2 is a completely new thriller in the vein of Scream. Showrunner Aguirre-Sacasa says the inspiration for this season comes from the classics. “One of my favorite movies is an Alfred Hitchcock movie, Shadow of a Doubt, which has often been described as Our Town with a killer on the loose,” he says. “This season is a little bit of an homage to that.” The hope is that the scares (and high body count) will not only please Riverdale’s already fervent fan base but be addictive enough to grow the series from solid success to bona fide hit. (Ratings for season 1 were respectable, averaging 1.7 million viewers per ep.)

“The first three episodes of this are the strongest of a second season I’ve been a part of,” says Berlanti, a veteran producer of classics like Dawson’s Creek and Brothers & Sisters.

“It’s got an incredible new mystery and a new hook, and I think it’s got more of everything that people love about the show.”

America was thiiis close to having

Louis C.K. as Archie Andrews. In 2013 Aguirre-Sacasa had been in talks to develop a big-screen take on the comic book for Warner Bros. when things started going a little off track. “It just got crazy,” remembers Riverdale EP Sarah Schechter, who originally worked on the movie version. “There were, like, time portals. At one point one of my bosses said, ‘What about Louis C.K. for Archie?’ I called Roberto and said, ‘Don’t close the deal. Run away.’ Soon after I left [to run Berlanti Pro-

F R O M T O P Madelaine Petsch;

(PHOTO SHOOT) ST YLIST: SE AN KNIGHT; HAIR: ROSA TERR ACCIANO; MAKEUP: ERIN MACKENZIE; PRODUCER: ADELE THOMAS; PETSCH’S COAT: ADAM SELMAN; BODYSUIT: WOLFORD; COT T’S CARDIGAN: PAL ACE COSTUME; SHIRT: TOPMAN; JE ANS: AGOLDE; MURR AY’S COAT: TOPSHOP; BODYSUIT: DOLCE&GABBANA

Casey Cott; Ashleigh Murray

ductions], one of the first calls was to Roberto to say, ‘Why don’t we do this as a TV show?’ ” But Archie and his goody-two-shoes gang still came across as a slightly dated franchise for modern audiences. Says Berlanti, “It’s Archie, so people needed to know, ‘Why is it still for today?’ ” The answer was an oldfashioned killing. “When we added the murder-mystery element to season 1, the show unlocked creatively for me,” remembers Aguirre-Sacasa. He admits that his playing with a beloved franchise initially freaked out some fans. “As people watch more and more episodes, they’re much more accepting and excited by it,” he says. “There will always be a hardcore contingency that doesn’t like anything that we change.” But then there are those changes that become social-media gold, like the romantic pairing of Jughead and Betty. The odd couple became a fan favorite, garnering their own shipper fan group called, naturally, Bugheads. “I had a suspicion that people would spark to Betty and Jughead getting together but I did not know that it would electrify fans and take on an elemental life of its own,” says Aguirre-Sacasa. Adds Sprouse: “We were working against 75 years of comic purism in which the two characters had very little romantic interaction. We were also working against Jughead’s asexuality.”

The Bughead bond is so strong that it sparked rumors of a real-life pairing between Reinhart and Sprouse. Reinhart won’t comment, but Sprouse says, “Since the show began, people have wanted Lili and I to be together. People have wanted Lili and Camila to be together. People have wanted KJ and I to be together. People have wanted every actor on this show to be in a union that they could make real. So that kind of discussion, especially because it’s based so much on rumor and hearsay, needs to be taken with a grain of salt. But, truthfully, it’s very pleasing that people talk about Lili and I in that way because it means that we’re resonating so strongly that people really want that to be true.” Adds Aguirre-Sacasa, “Listen, I think showmances happen. You’re up there in Vancouver filming

all these scenes together. As far as I know, they’re all work and all business.”

Regardless, Bugheads will find themselves a tad heartbroken this year as the premiere finds Jughead attending rival Southside High and being pursued by his father’s gang, the Southside Serpents. The different schools and Jughead’s descent into the gritty world of the Serpents drive a wedge between the lovebirds. “They’re Sandy and Danny. They’re Romeo and Juliet,” says Aguirre-Sacasa. Reinhart puts a finer point on it: “There’s definitely a divide between the north side and the south side. Betty’s on one side and Jughead’s on the other. But there has to be trouble in paradise. This is Riverdale, and people die.”

Speaking of Riverdale’s increasingly high crime rate, season 2’s premiere will pick up immediately after Archie’s dad, Fred (Luke Perry), was shot at Pop’s. “We will reveal his fate at the end of episode 1,” Aguirre-Sacasa promises. “Episode 1 is a little bit like the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode ‘The Body.’

It’s structurally different.” Archie becomes hell-bent on revenge, à la Bruce Wayne, in a story line that’s given Apa the most challenging work of the New Zealand native’s career.

“I read that first episode of the second season, and I was thinking, ‘I don’t know if I’m good enough to do this,’ ” says the 20-year-old. “I’m a new actor. I’m new to this kind of material, and I was cushioning myself. I really have learned a lot this season, and I think I’ve shot some of the best stuff I’ve ever done.”

Archie and Veronica will still be a couple as the season progresses, as does their, well, friskiness. “I think we’re even more sexual now,” says Mendes. “Death brings out certain passions or thirsts for life.” But the pair also has to deal with the arrival of Veronica’s previously incarcerated father, Hiram (Pitch’s Mark Consuelos), who may or may not be attempting to manipulate Archie to do his bad deeds.

“Hiram is someone who’s concerned with his own financial wealth, his own image, potentially at the cost of a lot of people,” says Schechter. “I don’t know why anyone in America would be able to relate to that!” Adds Consuelos, “He loves loves loves his family, and he’s fiercely protective over all of that.”

Hiram’s return also makes life a little more

C L O C K W I S E F R O M L E F T Reinhart; Apa; Sprouse; Mendes

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finally got a good friend: Pussycats lead singer Josie (Ashleigh Murray), who will become more of a core member of the gang this year. “There is talk of Josie exploring the option of going a solo route,” teases Murray of Josie’s musical career. Casey Cott’s Kevin Keller will also become more prominent now that he is a full-time regular on the series.

“Betty kinda left Kevin hanging a little last season,” says Cott. “I think he’s lonely, and it’s time maybe he says something.”

The real threat to Riverdale this season, though, is something so top secret the cast is lip-zipped. “We haven’t been able to talk about it all,” says Reinhart. “What I can say is that Betty’s speech in the finale at the Jubilee about how the town needs to do better has repercussions. Betty becomes very much in the middle of the mystery.” And if you liked Dark Betty in season 1, you’re going to love Even Darker Betty in season 2. AguirreSacasa says, “We’re putting her through the fires like never before. Betty is at the heart of

the darkest story we’re telling this season.”

One story fans keep wondering about is whether Aguirre-Sacasa will ever take the series in a supernatural route. The writer crafted a zombie version of the comic called Afterlife With Archie in 2013. But it’s still unclear if zombies (or even nearby resident Sabrina the Teenage Witch) will show up this year. “I will tell you that they’re definitely not happening in the first nine episodes,” says Aguirre-Sacasa. “I don’t know about the second half of the season. Anything is possible for a special episode.”

But before they can even think about going the Walking Dead route, Berlanti is more concerned with wrapping up these twist-filled episodes. Says the exec producer, “I actually don’t know what Roberto would do for the third season yet because [season 2] is so edge-of-your-seat. His biggest problem is going to be topping it. But that’s a problem for another day.” Riverdale loves a good mystery, after all.

REINHART’S SHIRT: MOTHER; SHORTS: AGOLDE

complicated for wife Hermione (Marisol Nichols). Says Nichols, “She’s terrified of him, and she needs to protect Veronica. But she also admires the hell outta him and respects his mind. She’s slightly schizophrenic because she’s got to play both of these worlds.” And while it seemed like Betty and her mom, Alice Cooper (Mädchen Amick), had bonded in the finale over Alice’s reveal of getting pregnant in high school and giving the baby boy away, the pair will be back in fighting form. Says Amick, “Like good dysfunctional relationships, you think you resolve some things but then you just go right back to old behavior.”

After finding her father dead in the barn and setting fire to the family home, Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch) is determined to return to her former glory. “I think a lot of people read her trying to burn the house down as her breaking, but it was her pulling herself together and telling her mom she’s not going to take any more crap. She’s in charge now,” says Petsch. But she’s also

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Sean Giambrone, Wendi McLendonCovey, and Troy Gentile

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Now that The Blacklist has revealed what we’ve all suspected from the beginning—Red (James Spader) is Liz’s (Megan Boone) father!— the show will return to its season 1 roots in tone. “Liz and the show are lighter without that mystery hanging over everything,” Boone explains. The same can be said of Red, who’s relishing his unemployment, knowing full well that the task force will have no choice but to help him rebuild his empire. In the meantime, there’s a void in the criminal underworld that won’t be empty long. “There’s a rogues’ gallery of desperate, dark people who see an opportunity in Reddington being wounded,” executive producer Jon Bokenkamp says, cautioning that the mysterious suitcase now in Tom’s (Ryan Eggold) possession will swiftly lead to chaos.

“Red feels that it represents a real danger, not only to him but perhaps to Liz,” Bokenkamp says.

“He is still withholding his real agenda from her.” In other words, there are more twists ahead.

Talk about daddy issues! S E P T . 2 7

The Bevolution is upon us!

With Beverly’s eldest child off to college, season 5 will show the Goldberg matriarch searching for new purpose. “I hope she finds life outside of pestering her kids,” shares star Wendi McLendonCovey. “Although I’m not sure that will ever happen; she was put on Earth to smother those children.” The ’80s-set sitcom will also continue to pay tribute to the era’s pop culture—this season will finally feature an homage to Weird Science—but creator Adam F. Goldberg’s holy grail, a full-on “Thriller” episode, remains out of reach. “It’s absolutely impossible,” he says.

“We wrote a complete script that no one will ever see.” S E P T . 2 7

dating, and stars real-life married funny people Emily Axford and Brian K. Murphy (a.k.a. Murph) as heightened versions of themselves. “We try to come up with some kind of relatable nugget from relationship life and play that out with Murph and Emily,” says Axford. Along the way, this

duo will also play several supporting characters whose love lives receive some attention, from a teenage couple to new parents. “It’s been crazy to shoot,” says Murphy, who is thrilled with the expanded budget. “There’s been a ton of wardrobe and wig changes.” N O V . 8

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Hot Date is the latest web series to successfully make the leap to television. Executive-produced by Will Arnett, the show—based on the CollegeHumor series of the same name—explores the idiosyncrasies of relationships and

T H E B L A C K L I S T Megan Boone and James Spader

After chewing through

three showrunners in one year, Designated Survivor has decided it’s done with all the explosive conspiracy theories. “Anytime you start off a story as fantastical as we did, with an internal conspiracy wiping out the entire government, you have a lot of explaining to do,” admits Kiefer Sutherland, who plays President Tom Kirkman. “How do you drive that story forward?”

Once the show wraps up last season’s cliff-hanger involving Patrick Lloyd (Terry Serpico), an extremist whose True Believers organization tried to overthrow the government, the series will turn its focus to the inner machinations of Kirkman’s

administration. “It’s a much more cerebral show this year,” promises new showrunner Keith Eisner (The Good Wife). “And it’s a much funnier show. There’s a lot of comedy now, [though] a third of the show will have that thriller-y aspect to it.”

Congresswoman Kimble Hookstraten (Virginia Madsen) has been sidelined for now to make way for new characters, like White House counsel Kendra Daynes (Zoe McLellan), quirky political director Lyor Boone (Paulo Costanzo), and MI6 agent Damian Rennett (Ben Lawson), who becomes a love interest for Hannah Wells (Maggie Q). “We fastforward a year into the presidency and things have

THE BL ACKLIST: WILL HART/NBC; THE GOLDBERGS: RON TOM/ABC; SPEECHLESS: RICHARD CART WRIGHT/ABC; DESIGNATED SURVIVOR: BEN MARK HOL ZBERG/ABC

a hero, a healer, or a hustler.

“I love our theme,” says Probst, “because when you tell somebody they’re something—whether they think it’s true or not—they take it in. Those are three very different types. And when you put them in this game of Survivor where they have to work together but vote each other out, it was really interesting to watch how those psychological differences play out.” S E P T . 2 7

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Survivor’s 35th season features three different types of people whose designation begins with the letter h. But what interests host Jeff Probst is how the players react once they are labeled

Now that we know the DiMeos, creator Scott Silveri says Speechless can “open up their world” a bit. He teases that we’ll learn more about Maya’s (Minnie Driver) extended family as well as what Kenneth (Cedric Yarbrough) does outside of work.

But, of course, the heart of the

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show is still JJ (Micah Fowler), who has learned how to be independent at summer camp. Driver says this throws the rest of the family into a bit of an identity crisis. “They’re constantly stumbling through life,” Driver says.

“And it’s often JJ who brings them back on course.” S E P T . 2 7

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Kiefer Sutherland and Alicia Coppola

normalized,” explains Eisner.

“It’s much more a story about the president growing accustomed to his role and finding himself as an outsider becoming an insider.”

Though Sutherland adds:

“There is always a moral conflict because real government is always going to be compromised on some level. It’s just a question of how far you’ll compromise.”

—LYNETTE RICE

As if she hasn’t been through enough over the past 18 seasons, things will quickly get dark for Benson (Mariska Hargitay) this year. “I told Mariska when we started the season that she’s a broken woman and I’m going to break her more,” new SVU showrunner Michael Chernuchin says.

“We’re squeezing her between work and family to see if she can survive. Both professionally and personally, she’s going to have a hard time.” Expect the series to continue its tradition of ripping stories from the headlines that will challenge the audience, including takes on Charlottesville and the current administration.

“What I want is, at the end of a show, for half the people to stand up and cheer and the other half to throw their shoes at the

TV,” Chernuchin says. “I want controversy.” S E P T . 2 7

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Not even a relaxing vacation can go smoothly for the DunphyPritchett-Tucker clan, who set out to watch the total eclipse at Lake Tahoe in the season premiere. But before they even arrive, their insecurities have overshadowed the natural phenomenon. Jay (Ed O’Neill) frets about his legacy after learning that a former business competitor has passed away, while Phil (Ty Burrell) and Claire (Julie Bowen) try to prove they’re just as adventurous as they were before their children all graduated high school and left the nest (well, sort of—hurry up, Luke!).

Phil dons an ill-advised water jet pack for the first time, which meant Burrell had to hover 20 feet over the lake while attempting to deliver his lines without ruining the stunt. “We had written all this choreography for me to do, but it turns out it was funny enough just watching me try to not kill myself,” he recalls.

“It was absolutely ridiculous.”

We wouldn’t have it any other way with this family. S E P T . 2 7

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and back, never breaking from the group’s perspective. Says executive producer Benjamin Cavell, “It’s about finding ways to get at their inner lives.” S E P T . 2 7

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Jason Hayes (David Boreanaz) has given his life to his Tier One Navy SEALs team—his marriage is in tatters, so is his relationship with his child—but his tough-asnails mentality is starting to show cracks. “We wanted to explore the effect that this work has had on soldiers more than the work itself,” executive producer Ed Redlich says. “None of us ever wanted to do a mission-of-theweek show just about catching bad guys.” Instead, they’ll follow Hayes’ squad—rounded out by Ray (Neil Brown Jr.), Sonny (AJ Buckley), and, eventually, Clay Spenser (Max Thieriot)—from the Middle East to the Philippines

The gritty musical from Lee Daniels (Empire) about an Atlanta girl group had a somewhat rocky first season with mixed critical reception and some behind-thescenes drama. “We were finding ourselves, and you can tell from the showrunners—we went through more showrunners than we had seasons,” quips Daniels, who says he’s “so happy” with the show’s latest, Karin Gist.

“With Empire, I knew what it was.

With Star, I was finding myself.”

Season 2 will see the group not only get a new moniker (Daniels plans to have the audience rename Big Trouble) but also a new manager in Carlotta (Queen Latifah). Teases Latifah, “It’s going to create a lot of pressure for Carlotta. But she is going to find some love in there!”

Hmm, could that be in the form of Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard)? Star and Empire will cross over in the season premiere, and while Daniels is cagey about details, there is definitely some history between the two characters. “Carlotta knew Lucious— that’s the connective tissue to the crossover,” says Daniels. We predict Cookie will have some very strong opinions on this. S E P T . 2 7

The Trumps. The Clintons.

The Murdochs. The Kardashians. It’s been more than 30 years since Dynasty first hit the air, but the theme of families obsessed with power and legacy is more relevant than ever, which is precisely why it’s being rebooted on The CW. “We live in an age of dynasties,” executive producer Josh Schwartz says.

“It felt like a particularly relevant time to bring the show back.”

The original series, created by Esther and Richard Shapiro, ran on ABC from 1981 to ’89

and told the story of the Carringtons and the Colbys, two warring clans in a battle of old money versus new. There were catfights. There were mansions. There was Joan Collins. (The reboot will have at least two of those things.) “It was the RollsRoyce of prime-time soaps,” showrunner Sallie Patrick (Revenge) says.

“Before there was the Red Wedding on Game of Thrones, there was the Moldavian Massacre on Dynasty. To have a chance to find out what 2017’s version of that show could be was very exciting.”

The 2017 version will certainly look different, from the setting—the show swaps Denver for Atlanta—to the characters. “The original show was driven through Blake’s point of view,” Schwartz says. “But we

SE AL TE AM: PAT TI PERRET/CBS; STAR: WILFORD HAREWOOD/FOX; DYNAST Y: MARK HILL / THE CW (2); MR. ROBOT: PETER KR AMER /USA NET WORK

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liked having the point of entry to the show being two women battling for the Carrington name: Cristal and Fallon.”

As the patriarch of the Carrington family—and more important, head of a global energy empire at Carrington Atlantic— Blake (Grant Show) is the man with the power.

Cristal (Nathalie Kelley), his fiancée and subordinate in the office, and Fallon (Elizabeth Gillies), his highly driven daughter, quickly clash in the pilot as they fight for Blake’s love—and the COO position at the company.

But the women aren’t the only ones who will struggle to see eye to eye.

Blake and his son, Steven (James Mackay), will also lock heads, though unlike the original series, it won’t be about Steven’s homosexuality. This Steven is

“out and proud,” says Patrick, who notes that it’s his son’s liberal ideals that Blake takes issue with most. And don’t forget Cristal’s mysterious nephew Sammy Jo (Rafael de la Fuente). The character formerly portrayed by Heather Locklear is now a gay man—though Patrick previews he has “every bit of the pot-stirring troublemaker vibe that Heather Locklear had on the original.”

The list of changes goes on—the Colbys are African-American, for instance—but there’s one element of the original show they’ll never tweak.

Speaking of his first sitdown with the Shapiros, Schwartz remembers: “What Esther said was: Blake Carrington was a guy who could run this amazing company, but the one place that he really struggles is in running his own family. However much these people may turn on each other and plot against each other, they still did love each other in that way that only a family bond can sustain.” Apparently they just have a more dramatic way of showing it.

with a bullet in the belly of Elliot Alderson (Rami Malek), Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail insisted that the finale’s conclusion wasn’t a cliff-hanger. The question is: How much of Elliot will come back? “He’s had a brush with death,” Esmail says. “That’s something that will come into play over his arc this season. It sets him off on his next iteration.”

What that iteration will be is still a closely held secret. With a show as surprising and surreal as Mr. Robot, keeping things as spoiler-free as possible is paramount. “It’s f---ing frustrating to have to promote this show and try to not say anything about it,” says Christian Slater, who plays Mr. Robot.

What the people behind the series have been able to share centers around a single word: disintegration.

Just as the pillars of our capitalist society crumbled after the Five/Nine hack by Elliot’s fsociety collective,

the barrier between Elliot and Mr. Robot is falling apart—and this time it just might be on purpose.

“If you can’t annihilate the thing that’s broken inside of you, how can you heal that wound?” Esmail asks about Elliot’s plight.

But where Mr. Robot is when season 3 begins is another mystery. We last saw him flickering out of reality as a gut-shot Elliot lost consciousness. The premiere picks up in the immediate aftermath, when other characters are also facing disintegration— Darlene (Carly Chaikin) with the FBI and Angela (Portia Doubleday) with the Dark Army—and Mr. Robot is unaccounted for. “It does take a little while to discover and realize what has become of Mr. Robot,” Slater says. “There were times when I certainly had mixed feelings about it, when I was happy about it and also a little bit heartbroken at the same time.”

—KEVIN P. SULLIVAN

Portia Doubleday and Rami Malek

—SAMANTHA HIGHFILL

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of her doing her job to help bring him back, it becomes a little bit of: Which version of Lucious is she more attached to bringing back? She sees the real innocent, untainted part of him—the real soul of who he is. So I’m rehabilitating him from the point of view of his most pure self. And his most pure self isn’t necessarily who the rest of them have come to know and love.

And she creates a very different kind of triangle on the show between herself, Lucious, and Cookie [Taraji P. Henson].

Exactly. I think in a way this is Empire’s thriller moment.

It’s much more psychological, and it’s a little more complex.

So in that way, it makes it more dangerous because I’m not like a villain who operates out of greed or power.

She went toe-to-toe

Tell me about this character, Claudia. She seems a little loony.

She’s evolving and unfolding as we speak. [Laughs] The initial idea was she had a little unorthodox approach [to rehabilitation]. In the course

—TIM STACK

Moore, Taraji P. Henson, Gabourey Sidibe, Terrell Carter, Howard, Ta’Rhonda Jones, Trai Byers, and Rumer Willis

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with Navy SEALs in 1997’s G.I. Jane and battled Charlie’s Angels in 2003’s Full Throttle.

But now Demi Moore is facing her most daunting opposition yet: Empire’s Lyon clan.

Moore plays Claudia, a nurse working with Lucious (Terrence Howard) to regain his memory after the explosive events of last season’s finale. But can Claudia be trusted? EW talked to Moore, who will appear in a multiepisode arc, about whether she’s a villain and if we’ll see her get musical on the Fox hit.

What made you want to be part of this show?

Were you an Empire fan?

I was a dedicated watcher of the first season and then had gotten a little behind.

They had come to me early on [to do the series]. For a variety of reasons it wasn’t the right time personally, schedule-wise. Then of course when my daughter [Rumer Willis, who plays Amy Winehouse-inspired singer Tory Ash] came on the show, they reached out to me, and I made sure it was something she was okay with. I just had this overwhelming intuitive feeling that I needed to say yes!

I really loved the idea of being able to share something with Rumer.

Obviously, Empire is a musical. Is there any way that Claudia will sing or dance?

At this point, no. I think we will be leaving the singing and dancing to others. It’s not like Nurse Claudia has a hidden dream of singing Dreamgirls.

(COMEDY CENTRAL)

and Ilana (played by creators Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer) must face the chilly prospect of growing up. “In winter, you tend to get a little bit more sad and a little bit more of a ‘What am I doing with my life?’ ” Jacobson says. “These characters are getting older, and when you’re in your mid- to late-20s, you’re like, ‘What do I do?’” In other words, adds Glazer, “you can see how reality has set in.” That reality includes today’s political climate— the pair have been bleeping any mentions of POTUS’ name—but Jacobson says the season isn’t all about mocking the White House.

“We’re not making a grand statement,” she says. “Just, a lot of times the most humor can be found in the s---tiest things.”

In their winter-set season, Abbi

PREMIERED SEPT. 13

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A lot of Katie Otto’s (Katy Mixon) story as “the second-fattest housewife in Westport” was drawn from creator Sarah Dunn’s own life, and season 2 will be as well. “We just moved out to the West Coast, my kids just started a new school, and I have already been roped into volunteering,” Dunn says. “Katie’s been looking down on moms who are very involved, and already in our first episode she is getting roped into being a very involved mom.” There will be some new faces in Westport, such as George Hamilton, who plays a rich neighbor newly returned from prison.

His wealth catches the eye of Oliver (Daniel DiMaggio), while Anna-Kat (Julia Butters) and Taylor (Meg Donnelly) pursue their own new ambitions. “They’re all growing up, so we’ll be delving into everybody’s own lives,” Mixon says of the Otto kids. S E P T . 2 7

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The Intelligence Unit is in a state of change when we return, and not just because of the recent staffing changes, including the departure of Erin Lindsay (Sophia Bush). “The word they’re using this season is reform,” says Jon Seda, whose Antonio Dawson is back after a season on the ill-fated Chicago Justice. “The way the

Intelligence Unit ran for four years under Voight [Jason Beghe]—it can’t run the same. In the nation right now, it’s tough to be a police officer. In Chicago, even tougher.

That’s going to be shown.”

This will cause Antonio and his rule-bending boss to “butt heads a lot,” Seda says. Meanwhile, Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) will be “trying to make sense of what’s happened [with Lindsay],” according to showrunner Rick Eid. “He and Voight in particular will feel her absence.” S E P T . 2 7

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Good defeated evil in the first season of the fantasy based on Terry Brooks’ novels, but don’t expect to see the heroes taking a victory lap.

A year after Amberle’s (Poppy Drayton) sacrifice to save the Ellcrys, a group of disillusioned war vets called the Crimson has begun hunting down anyone using magic, which they believe caused the conflict. “They’re rallying the people, especially the elves who have lost their homes,” co-creator Al Gough teases. The Crimson’s campaign isn’t the only consequence of war. Wil (Austin Butler) and Eretria (Ivana Baquero) still have to come to terms with losing Amberle. “She meant so much to Wil because he was in love with her,” Baquero explains, “but for Eretria, Amberle was her only

friend.” And friends are hard to find in the Four Lands. O C T . 1 1

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In the season 12 finale, six members of the BAU team were driving in a pair of SUVs when somebody (Mr. Scratch, perhaps?) sabotaged their tires to blow up right in the path of an 18-wheeler—and it’s unclear who, if anyone, survived the accident. So the action picks up with Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) calling Supervisory Special Agent Matt Simmons (Daniel Henney, formerly of Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, who will join the series this season) for some much-needed help. And boy, does a big surprise await them when they arrive at the scene of the crime.“They realize, ‘Oh my God, Emily Prentiss [Paget Brewster] is missing,’ ” says executive producer Erica Messer. You can relax, though, fans: No one’s saying anything about any high-level departures in season 13—at least for now. S E P T . 2 7 Kirsten Vangsness and Daniel Henney

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Debra Me s sing just c an’t spit it out .

Sean!” as he stands alone on the set, the crowd erupts in cheers.

“It makes you feel like they are on your side,” say Hayes after the taping. “It gives you the freedom to fail and try things because the love is there.”

Who said anything about failing? After only two days of filming in early August, the cast and NBC came to the conclusion that this limited revival should be anything but and agreed to a second season of the show.

NBC also extended the current one to a total of 16 episodes. “The actors were really suspicious about whether it would work,” admits NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt. “But we just said, ‘Let’s do it.’ ” It certainly helped that so many viewers were downright giddy about a return of the Emmy-winning sitcom after creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan floated the possibility with the #VoteHoney video they created last year to get out the vote for Hillary Clinton. “It’s just insane how positive and uncynical the reception has been,” says

CHRIS HASTON/NBC (2)

While taping an episode of Will & Grace recently on the Universal Studios lot, Messing, as the neurotic Grace Adler, is supposed to emit a great salivary burst when Will Truman (played by Eric McCormack) surprises her with some business news. But her reaction comes up dry, so director James Burrows shouts for “a little more spit.”

That makes McCormack smile. “Ever wonder what a director does?” he quips to no one in particular. The studio audience explodes with laughter.

Yeah, we know: It wasn’t that funny. But there is nothing—absolutely nothing—that McCormack, Messing, Sean Hayes (Jack McFarland), and Megan Mullally (Karen Walker) can do on Stage 22 without receiving an enthusiastic response. When Messing pats Hayes on the bum after taking their first bow, the audience responds with glee. When Mullally draws a blank and yells, “Line!” to the crew, folks chortle in delight.

And when a woman shouts, “I love you,

F A R L E F T Messing and

Harry Connick Jr. L E F T Mullally, Hayes, Messing, and McCormack

McCormack. His costar Mullally never thought it should have gone away in the first place. “If it were up to me, we would still be doing the show and going on our 19th season,” she says.

Judging by the recent taping, it certainly seems like they never stopped. Just as they always did when the comedy was running on NBC from 1998 to 2006, Kohan and Mutchnick arrive on tape night in suits and ties and still huddle after each scene in an audacious attempt to make their comedy better. “On the one hand, it feels like very little time has elapsed,” admits Kohan. “It feels like everything is compressed. On the other hand, my beard is gray now.” And yet

the ol’ gray mare is still what she used to be: In the course of a particular episode that addresses the whereabouts of Karen’s putupon maid Rosario, the ensemble makes timely jokes about Brexit and the price of almond butter while serving up a heaping number of bawdy cracks addressing religion, pole dancing, and syphilis. Even Minnie Driver—who was there to reprise her role as Karen’s trashy stepdaughter Lorraine—couldn’t keep a straight face.

(Other former cast members who are returning include Harry Connick Jr. as Grace’s ex-husband, Leo, and Charles C. Stevenson Jr. as Smitty the bartender.)

“The writers are so clever and creative

and have figured out a way to craft jokes that really push the boundaries of network TV even now,” says Hayes. Though now portraying a single gay man in his 40s, Hayes delivers his dialogue in the same flirty and playful way that made him such a standout when Will & Grace first debuted. Depictions of gay men have changed a lot since Jack and Will used to break out in show tunes, but Mutchnick and Kohan believe their characters resonate more than ever today.

“This has been the most interesting part about redoing this show,” says Mutchnick.

“It holds up and has this very different life.

It’s not about introducing anybody to the life and times of a gay man. These are four friends who are experiencing life in America in a similar way to a lot of the country.

We’re able to tell stories through these voices that feel very familiar, comfortable, and natural. We experienced this year in the same way a lot of people did. How lucky are we that we have Will and Grace and Jack and Karen to tell some of these stories?

We get to talk about things and put it through those mouths and brains in a lighter way.” But no stories about child raising: Unlike what you saw in the 2006 finale, Will and Grace are unmarried and childless.

“I actually think a lot of our fans will be relieved,” says Messing.

And as much as viewers think (hope?) that Mutchnick and Kohan will serve up more Trump takedowns, the goal isn’t to politicize their sitcom. “We don’t have to hit anything with a hammer on this show,” Mutchnick says. “If we did that the first time around, we probably wouldn’t be sitting here. I’m going to handle this exactly like I did with my family. I’m going to come out through this show in the same way I came out at home, with a certain amount of gentility, elegance, and humor. That’s the way we are going to do it again.”

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Picking up a few months after the spread of the Tetch Virus, Gotham is on the mend—at least in some ways. “The virus has been quelled,” showrunner John Stephens says. “But there are whole new problems.” As far as Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) is concerned, the biggest issue is the fact that the Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) is the most powerful man in the city, and to defeat him, Jim will have to befriend Carmine Falcone’s daughter, Sofia (Crystal Reed). “An unlikely alliance is formed to take down Penguin,” McKenzie says. “But once you’re in bed with a gangster, you’re in bed with a gangster.” S E P T . 2 1

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Who survived Arrow’s very Walking Dead-like cliff-hanger? In the wake of the island explosion that appeared to kill, well, everyone, Oliver (Stephen Amell) will be forced to step up as a father to William (Jack Moore)...so it’s not

S U P E R S T O R E Ben Feldman and America Ferrera

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A few months after a tornado ripped the roof off Cloud 9, our favorite big-box employees are returning to work. For Amy (America Ferrera) and Jonah (Ben Feldman), that means facing the kiss they shared in

the finale. “They feel awkward with each other right away,” creator Justin Spitzer says. Romance certainly won’t be on Amy’s mind as she moves forward with her divorce. “Since Amy was basically a kid she was someone’s mom and someone’s wife, and now that’s all changing,” Ferrera says.

“Most of the time, Amy is very secure in who she is, and this season that’s all upended.” Mateo (Nico Santos) may also be hitting a dead end in his relationship with Jeff (Michael Bunin). “Jeff has not talked to Mateo, and he can’t figure out if that’s because Jeff doesn’t love him back,” Spitzer says, “or if Jeff just couldn’t hear him when he said he loved him in the finale.” S E P T . 2 8

At this point, it’s

almost impossible to shock Sam and Dean Winchester. They learned the truth about monsters before they could drive, and from that moment on, they’ve met imaginary friends, fought talking teddy bears, and visited fairy realms. (Well, at least one.) And yet, Supernatural’s season 12 finale managed to throw something new their way: When Lucifer’s son was born, he opened a rift to a world where Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) never existed and heaven and hell are locked in an

eternal war. And that won’t be Sam and Dean’s only shock when they learn that Archangel Michael is alive in this alternate world.

“The Michael of apocalypse world is the victor,” showrunner Andrew Dabb says of the new version of the character, who will be played by Christian Keyes. “He’s a very different character than the one we met even in season 5.

He’s Genghis Khan. He’s been through the wars.

He’s conquered the world.”

All the brothers can hope now is that he won’t conquer theirs, seeing as how Dabb says the worlds will collide...eventually.

In the meantime, Sam and Dean remain in the real world, where things are only slightly less bleak. Sure, they don’t know about Michael yet, but they do know that

GENRE

P R E M I E R E DAT E

TUNE IN

L E F T Alexander

Calvert, Jensen Ackles, and Jared Padalecki B E L O W Christian Keyes (far left)

—SAMANTHA HIGHFILL

they’ve lost Crowley, their mother (Samantha Smith), and Castiel (Misha Collins), the latter of whom Dabb says will reappear— though maybe not how fans are expecting. “The support structure they spent years building up got ripped apart,” Dabb says. “We want to give them time to react to that.” As they always do, Sam and Dean will react differently. When it comes to Lucifer’s son, Jack (Alexander Calvert), Dean wants nothing to do with

him, while Sam thinks he’s worth trying to save.

(Sam also refuses to give up on their mother, despite Dean having lost hope that she’s still alive.)

“Dean doesn’t believe in anything at the moment,” Ackles says. Needless to say, he’s not in the best mindset to parent a halfangel, half-human teenager, who, by the way, is moving in with the Winchesters. “I think my line the other day was ‘Adventures in Babysitting the Antichrist,’ ” Ackles says.

“Dean is not the most loving surrogate father in the world and would like nothing better than to suffocate this thing that is now basically sitting in the backseat of the car.”

Yet Jack’s not even close to the biggest threat the Winchesters will face. With the apocalypse world hanging over the brothers, the biggest question is who and what could step through the rift and into their world. But surely nothing could be worse than Lucifer…right?

hard to do the math as to who perished. But the Emerald Archer will need to rely on what’s left of his team more than ever in the aftermath. “The theme of the season is family, but it’s all the different interpretations of the word,” says EP Marc Guggenheim, hinting that this applies not just to Team Arrow but also to the trio of villains—Michael Emerson’s mystery man, David Nykl’s Anatoly, and Kirk Acevedo’s Richard Dragon—targeting them.

Meanwhile, Earth-2 Laurel Lance doppelgänger Black Siren (Katie Cassidy) may actually be on the path to redemption, if she doesn’t kill the team first.

“She’s at a crossroads,” Cassidy hints. “The thing that will really [get through to] her is family.”

Paging Sara Lance, stat! O C T . 1 2

SEASON 5

9PM (CBS)

Big changes are afoot for all of the moms on Mom. Bonnie (Allison Janney) is finally ready to take her relationship with Adam (William Fichtner) to the next level, while his newly divorced brother (Wings’ Steven Weber) will prove to be a welcome distraction for Christy (Anna Faris), who’s still trying to get into law school.

“It becomes problematic for all involved,” admits coexec producer Gemma Baker of all the interfamilial love affairs. Missi Pyle returns as newly sober Natasha,

M O M Anna Faris and Allison Janney

who’s trying to regain custody of her child, while Jaime Pressly’s character Jill returns with a developing food addiction...which will come in handy for covering up the actress’ real-life pregnancy with twins. (So many moms!) N O V . 2

N E W C O M E DY

9PM (FOX)

Seth MacFarlane—the man behind Family Guy and Ted—is a bit of a nostalgist. To wit: His hour-long sci-fi series seems like it was beamed down from a previous generation. “I look at the ’90s as the golden age of sci-fi drama,” he says. Starring MacFarlane as a spaceship captain and Adrianne Palicki as his ex-girlfriend and co-pilot, the Star Trek-esque series mixes adventure and comedy as it warps viewers to new planets and ethical quandaries each week.

The special-effects-laden premiere (directed by Iron Man’s Jon Favreau) featured the discovery of a time-altering weapon, while later episodes tackle topics like the morality of an alien sexchange operation. “Good science fiction doesn’t ignore current events and sociopolitics,” MacFarlane says. “The Orville doesn’t go about it as directly as a comedy like Family Guy—it goes about it in a more allegorical way.

I always feel that that’s the duty of science fiction.” D E B U T E D S E P T . 1 0 (moves to Thursdays Sept. 21)

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RETURNING C O M E DY

P R E M I E R E DAT E

TUNE IN

The G ood Place ended

its first season by administering a shock so big, dark, and unsettling, fans could only sputter, “What. The. Hell.

Just. Happened?”

Hell happened, that’s what.

And it was a slice of comedy heaven. The jaunty afterlife series from Parks and Recreation overlord Michael Schur deftly bamboozled its audience and changed the game, revealing that our departed souls— selfish ass Eleanor (Kristen Bell), who believed she’d slipped into heaven by case of mistaken identity; Jacksonville EDM DJ Jason (Manny Jacinto), ditto;

neurotically paralyzed ethics professor Chidi (William Jackson Harper); and pompous socialite Tahani (Jameela Jamil)—were not in paradise but due south of there, under the domain of the once-bumbling, now-cackling architect Michael (Ted Danson).

“I was very nervous about it, because in a weird way, the entire season’s success or failure was going to be based on whether we kept that a secret,” says Schur. “It’s sort of like a long-form version of The Usual Suspects.”

To paraphrase that twisttopped movie, the greatest trick this devil’s minion ever pulled was convincing Eleanor & Co. that he was an angel—and he’ll have to do it all over again in season 2. After Eleanor learned that Michael’s plan was to have the four torture one another in eternal damnation, he wiped

L E F T Manny Jacinto,

COLLEEN HAYES/NBC (3)

Ted Danson, D’Arcy Carden, Jameela Jamil, William Jackson Harper, and Kristen Bell B E L O W Danson

their minds clean to reset the thousand-year game, but not before she snuck a note reading “Eleanor—Find Chidi” into the mouth of humanlike database Janet (D’Arcy Carden). Danson’s scheming architect has made a few tweaks to his pseudoutopia, upping the creepy-clown quotient in Eleanor’s house and replacing the neighborhood frozen-yogurt shops with Hawaiian pizza joints. (“It’s a true and unyielding belief of mine that Hawaiian pizza is the worst pizza,” says Schur, “and there are many, many, many jokes about it.”) The biggest change?

He’s splitting up the quartet and assigning them new, seemingly appealing soul mates who are designed for maximum torment. (Eleanor’s is a liftingobsessed mailman bro.) “The writing staff did a very good job in figuring out exactly the kind

of people to make them absolutely miserable,” says Schur.

But the season premiere also revolves around old soul mates, as Eleanor follows her own clue and searches for a Chidi, whatever that is. “When Eleanor is in full—for lack of a better example—Veronica Mars mode, she’s really got her foot on the gas to figure out what the hell is going

on, because something stinks,” says Bell, adding, “It’s a little bit of cat and mouse because there’s a reset, and Michael is not sure how suspicious Eleanor is at any given moment, because he already knows that she’s figured it out once.”

With the threat of a painful molecule-dispersing “retirement” hanging over him, Michael finds his confidence soon eroding, thanks to complications caused by the note that he doesn’t know about. “It’s fun to see him go up against Eleanor, who is basically smarter than he is,” says Danson, “and watch the wheels come off.” He’s also trying to placate a team of coworkers-turned-thespians who

Harper, Bell, and Carden

were dragged into his grand charade. “Before this, none of them were actors—they were people who poked people with hot sticks and dropped spiders into people’s mouths,” reminds Schur. “So he has the energy of an indie-film director who’s trying to make his masterpiece on an extreme budget, and there’s a lot of people on the crew who are less enthusiastic about the project than he is.”

The rest of season 2’s plot is being kept under wraps, save for some cryptic clues. (Bell: “Transportation is the new main character.” Carden: “One pierced ear.” Danson: “When I’m not near the one I love, I love the one I’m near.”) And while no reveal could top the finale’s rug-pulling reversal, twists do abound— even if you think you know more than the stranded souls. “Don’t get cocky,” says Schur. “You won’t be ahead of the characters for too long.” Sums up Bell: “Anything is possible—but winter is coming.” Indeed, The Good Place will stop subverting expectations right around when hell freezes over. —DAN SNIERSON (The hour-long premiere airs Sept. 20 at 10 p.m. before moving to Thursdays at 8:30 p.m.)

GENRE

RETURNING DRAMA

P R E M I E R E DAT E

SEASON 7

9PM (ABC)

SEASON 2

9:30PM (NBC)

In the newsroom-set sitcom’s second season, a new network president comes to town, played by none other than guest star (and executive producer) Tina Fey. According to creator Tracey Wigfield, the fully leaned-in, fancifully named Diana St. Tropez is the anti–Liz Lemon: “She has this superpowerful career and a bunch of babies that surrogates gave birth to on transatlantic flights for

SEASON 3

TUNE IN

9:30PM (CBS)

In last season’s finale, Colleen (Angelique Cabral) and Matt (Thomas Sadoski) finally got married. Then the bride fell off a balcony…to her death? “I can safely say she is not dead,” says EP Justin Adler. “These two have faced obstacles every step of the way, and this season is no different—it’s hard to start a marriage that you can’t even consummate because one of you is in a wheelchair.” While the newlyweds grapple with that hurdle, empty nesters Joan (Dianne Wiest) and John (James Brolin) contend with a full house when Tim (Dan Bakkedahl), Heather (Betsy Brandt) & Co. move in. Meanwhile, Greg (Colin Hanks) and Jen (Zoe Lister-Jones) cope with troublesome toddlers and their even more troublesome parents.

Elsewhere, look out for a breakup, an animated story, and an episode consisting of 12 segments rather than the usual four. N O V . 2

G R E A T N E W S Tina Fey, Andrea Martin, and Briga Heelan

GRE AT NEWS: T YLER GOLDEN/NBC; GREY’S ANATOMY: RICHARD CART WRIGHT/ABC; CHART: ABC (17); SPAMPINATO: SUSIE DEL ANEY/ABC; SPENCER: JB L ACROIX/WIREIMAGE

Bellamy Young still remembers Scandal’s first-ever table read when EP Shonda Rhimes told her that she’d play Mellie Grant for only three episodes. “I’ve never asked her point-blank and she’s never gone on record one way or the other, but I don’t know that Mellie getting to be president was always in the cards,” says Young. When the final season launches, Mellie is 100 days into her time as Commander-inChief, though someone—here’s looking at you, Olivia—has her own plans for the new administration. “Power is rarely navigated by one person alone,” says Kerry Washington, who plays Ms. Pope.

“Together, Olivia and Mellie have been able to make history, so it’s their time. Whether or not they’ll be able to hold space for each other will be the question.” O C T . 5

tax reasons, so, you know, she has worked it all out.” Associate producer Katie (Briga Heelan) idolizes Diana, but mom-tern Carol (Andrea Martin) is more than a little apprehensive about seeing another woman in her daughter’s life. Martin, on the other hand, couldn’t wait to work with Fey. “We were like kids in a candy store,” she says. S E P T . 2 8

How do you keep a long-running

medical drama fresh after 13 seasons?

By literally blowing up the hospital at its center. Grey’s Anatomy did just that in the finale, paving the way for rebuilding—both at Grey Sloan Memorial and also within its ranks. That means everything from a new coat of paint to a fresh set of tech-dependent interns, and even the addition of a doc with a rather, ahem, interesting specialty. The updates lend themselves to a lot of comedy, bringing the show back to its rom-com roots. “The world has become such a dark place, and people really need a chance to laugh and have some relief,” EP Krista Vernoff says. Where Grey’s is not so light is the show’s most complicated love triangle yet. Just as Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) was opening up to a postDerek dalliance with Nathan Riggs (Martin Henderson), his presumed-dead fiancée, Megan Hunt (recast as Abigail Spencer), who’s also Owen’s (Kevin McKidd) sister, was found alive after spending a decade held captive in Iraq by militants. “Reading between the lines, Megan presumes that Nathan is completely in love with Meredith,” Henderson says. “A few days prior, he did want to pursue it, so he’s trying to understand what Megan’s presence in his life means.” Have a hard time keeping all of that straight? Luckily, we’ve updated our chart of the ever-evolving relationships at Seattle Grace, er, Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. —NATALIE ABRAMS

CURRENTLY SLEEPING TOGETHER

APRIL KEPNER

IT’S COMPLICATED

CATHERINE AVERY

Sarah Drew

PAST ROMANTIC INTEREST

A COMPLICATED LOVE TRIANGLE

MIRANDA BAILEY

POTENTIAL ROMANTIC INTEREST

Debbie Allen

RELATED

Chandra Wilson

MOTHER & SON

After taking notice of Jackson and Maggie’s chemistry, April will be quick to confront her former husband. “Now seeing there’s real potential for him to move on, it’s going to cause her to actually force the conversation,” Sarah Drew says.

JACKSON AVERY

RICHARD WEBBER

BEN WARREN

Jesse Williams

James Pickens Jr.

Jason George

FATHER & DAUGHTER

HALF SISTERS

SISTERSIN-LAW

AMELIA SHEPHERD

MEREDITH GREY

MAGGIE PIERCE

Caterina Scorsone

Ellen Pompeo

Kelly McCreary

A POTENTIAL FLING FOR ARIZONA Following Minnick’s exit, Arizona is on the prowl. “She’s ready to have copious amounts of fun,” Jessica Capshaw says. Could that fun involve the only new female doc, Carina, who just so happens to be the sister of Arizona’s roommate, DeLuca?

SIBLINGS

ROMANCE ON THE ROCKS Though Amelia was there to support Owen upon discovering his presumeddead sister, Megan, is still alive, “Amelia is in quite a surprising place when Megan returns, and it causes a lot of issues for Owen and Amelia—and Owen’s family,” Kevin McKidd says.

NATHAN RIGGS

ANDREW D E LUCA

CARINA D E LUCA

Martin Henderson

Giacomo Gianniotti

Stefania Spampinato

SIBLINGS

OWEN HUNT

MEGAN HUNT

Kevin McKidd

Abigail Spencer

JO WILSON Camilla Luddington

ROMANCE REKINDLED?

TEDDY ALTMAN Kim Raver

Following a tumultuous season, Jo and Alex may be on the road to recovery—unless she learns that Alex tracked down her estranged and abusive husband, Paul. “She would worry about Alex endangering both of them,” Camilla Luddington says.

ALEX KAREV

PAUL STADLER

Justin Chambers

Matthew Morrison

ARIZONA ROBBINS Jessica Capshaw

Shemar Moore

Shemar Moore like s to tell a

and “pro-community” look at the elite squad and how it fights crime in Los Angeles. “People in S.W.A.T. tend to be really impressive, as is Hondo. At the same time, he is a guy who grew up in a poor neighborhood of Los Angeles that hasn’t always been treated well by the police,” explains executive producer Shawn Ryan. “So he is a guy who has a belief system that police and the community can do better by each other.

He wants to prove that every day.”

And while Moore feels a great responsibility to represent the men and women of S.W.A.T. with honor and respect, he also recognizes that many of his fans will occasionally want to see him out of uniform.

Fortunately, they won’t have to wait long: His shirt is off in the pilot episode. “I’m not going lie,” says the ripped Moore. “I like to look good for my baby girls.” —LYNETTE RICE

SONJA FLEMMING/CBS

story about how his mother gave him a greeting card that said “Leap and the net will appear.” So when he leaped off his 11-year stint on Criminal Minds, he had no idea what the future would bring until he got a surprise call about reprising the role of Sgt. Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson in an update of the ’70s police drama that was later adapted for the big screen.

“The net appeared,” says Moore, who was thrilled about the starring role but still wanted assurances that it wasn’t a straight-up remake.

“It’s completely unique in itself,” insists Moore. “The only thing that’s similar is the name, the font of the letters, and the theme song.”

The new iteration, which also stars Kenny Johnson (The Shield) and Jay Harrington (Better Off Ted) as fellow men in blue, will offer a “pro-cop”

HE CANNOT

SEASON 2

10PM (FX)

Can Pamela Adlon’s semiautobiographical comedy feel any more intimate?

Apparently so: Adlon directed all 10 episodes of the second season, which delves even deeper into the life of her alter ego, Sam Fox. “Sometimes when I’m in the editing room and there’s a new person there, I’m like, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t be in here, this is too personal!’ ” Expect to learn more about Sam’s daughters Max (Mikey Madison), Frankie (Hannah Alligood), and Duke (Olivia Edward), and Sam’s mother, Phil (Celia Imrie).

“There’s a whole episode called ‘Phil’ where you find out…well, let’s just say questions about Sam’s mom come up,” Adlon says. “That’s what’s so great— stories have been able to be more fleshed out this season with characters that you wouldn’t necessarily have thought that we’d be exploring.” P R E M I E R E D S E P T . 1 4

SEASON 6

10PM (NBC)

After last season’s cliff-hanger left the lives of several members of Firehouse 51 hanging in the balance, season 6 will pick up one second later and reveal what happened—and then immediately jump two months ahead. Regardless of who lives or dies, co-creator Derek Haas promises “it’s not going to be a full episode of dourness.” Some of that levity

may come from Severide (Taylor Kinney lives!) taking a shine to a hometown friend of Brett’s (Kara Killmer) while continuing his flirtation with Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo). Haas also promises to introduce family members of the characters you’ve come to love: “We’ve always said you’ve got your firehouse family and your family outside, but this year, we’re really going to delve into how your off-the-clock family affects your job once you clock in and the bells go off.” SEPT. 28

SEASON 4

PROTECT THEM ALL. BUT HE WILL

STOP THEIR KILLER.

10PM (ABC)

Following Wes’ death, Annalise Keating (Viola Davis) and her acolytes will be reevaluating their lives. “Annalise is definitely on a redemption tour to pick herself up,” EP Pete Nowalk says, before divulging that the disgraced professor will make a huge decision in the premiere that will affect everyone. The same goes for Laurel (Karla Souza), who is mulling whether to keep her unborn child with Wes. (It won’t be long before she suspects that her own father is to blame for his death.)

“Guilt will definitely be the first emotion, but she’s also such a doer that she would want to get revenge,” Nowalk hints. Her end goal will be one of the season’s bigger mysteries. “What she says to one person isn’t necessarily what she’s doing, or what her plan is,” Souza cautions. In other words, don’t trust anyone. S E P T . 2 8

B E T T E R T H I N G S Olivia Edward and Pamela Adlon

“UNSTOPPABLE ” .

SUSPENSE

—GREGG OLSEN, #1 New York Times bestselling author

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E W. C O M

I

In April 2016, the hashtag #StarringJohnCho

E W.C O M /

tion. It’s one reason he joined the second season of The Exorcist. “I had not seen Asian faces in American horror, and it kind of tickled me to want to change that visual vocabulary a bit,” he says. “I thought it would be, I don’t know, intrusive to have my face in it.”

The writers thought so too. Having connected the drama to the original 1973 film by (spoiler alert!) revealing Geena Davis’ character to be the adult version of Linda Blair’s Regan MacNeil, they were free to challenge Fathers Marcus (Ben Daniels) and Tomas (Alfonso Herrera) with a freshly freaky phenomenon untethered to the films.

And so they came up with…John Cho. Creator-EP Jeremy Slater says the writers’ room thought of adding Cho to the cast before they even had a name for his character, Andy Kim, a widowed ex–child psychologist who runs a (probably haunted) foster home off the coast of Seattle. “We were writing the name ‘John Cho’ on the whiteboard and going, ‘Okay, in scene 6, John is going to do this,’ ” Slater recalls, laughing. “At some point we realized if John actually said no, we would be in a lot of trouble.”

Luckily for them, Cho had been looking for a part unlike his previous work—he’d never played a father figure before, though he’s raising two children with his wife—and had been gravitating toward roles that included his race without depending on it.

It’s a balancing act he’s been struggling

with since he began his career in the late ’90s after graduating from Berkeley. Back then, he declined parts built on Asian stereotypes.

“For a while, I was taking over parts that were written for a white person, and there was a time when I wore that as a badge of honor,” Cho explains. “And then I became disenchanted with that victory. I felt like, ‘Oh, well, that just revealed another issue, which is that no one’s writing parts that are Asian at all!’ ” Now, he says, he has it mostly figured out.

“What I’ve been thinking about lately is how to tell stories that are specifically AsianAmerican but aren’t necessarily about being Asian-American as much,” he explains. “I’m looking at the totality of things.” That led him to the indie Columbus, in which he plays a Korean-born man raised in America who feels trapped when he heads to the titular Indiana town, where his estranged father has fallen into a coma. Released in August, the film drew rave reviews that praised Cho’s warm, introspective performance—a response that, he concedes, opened his eyes to how he could maybe, just maybe, become the leading man his fans think he could be.

“I’ve been rethinking everything after Columbus and I’m not trying to come up with any quick answers,” Cho says. “I don’t know what’s next. I’ve come to realize that I’ve done a lot of self-editing of my ambitions, and I’m trying to think bigger.” Turns out there’s a hashtag for that.

SERGUEI BASCHLKOV/FOX

spawned a viral online campaign. Reacting to the trend of whitewashing Asian roles by casting Caucasian actors, fans Photoshopped Cho onto posters for hits like The Martian to pitch him as the leading man Hollywood should cast in its blockbusters instead.

But Cho isn’t so sure why he’s the face of their movement. Really. He has no idea.

You could tell him that people chose him to represent Asian-Americans on screen because he’s a talented Korean-American actor who’s been in blockbuster franchises (Star Trek) and acclaimed indies (Columbus) alike. You could also point out that fans dream of casting him in their favorite films because he’s capable of juggling both dramas (Better Luck Tomorrow) and comedies (Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle). You could even say that he’s paved the way for future Asian leads with every project in his career, a 20-year journey that began with him chanting “MILF” at a glamour shot of Jennifer Coolidge in American Pie. But still, as much as he tries to think of one, Cho just doesn’t have an easy explanation for why he’s an entire community’s idea of the Asian-American movie star.

“I don’t know,” he admits, repeating it over and over. “I don’t know.” He pauses. “I don’t know.” Another pause. “I really don’t know!” And then he chuckles: “I guess my name is easy to say?”

Sure, John. But his self-deprecating impulses aside, the 45-year-old knows one thing for certain: He’ll do whatever he can to help the push for Asian-American representa-

Cho on The Exorcist

Sullivan Stapleton, Audrey Esparza, Rob Brown, Jaimie Alexander, and Ashley Johnson

SEASON 3

8PM (NBC)

The mystery thriller has jumped two years since last season’s finale, kicking off what EP Martin Gero calls a “soft reset” of the show. An isolated Jane Doe (Jaimie Alexander)—once the subject of a massive FBI investigation when she turned up in Times Square with no memories—finds her past catching up with her.

In the first seasons, Jane’s intricate body tattoos offered hints

about her true identity (and provided clues that helped her group in the FBI solve crimes). “This year, we’ll slowly realize the tattoos are also pointing at the entire team and what they’ve been up to in the past two years,” Gero says.

Production has been filming in Italy, Australia, and Barcelona so far. “We’re going to show [those locations] off in a way that’s pretty extraordinary,” Gero adds.

As long as one tattoo points the way to a mai tai, we’re in. O C T . 2 7

RETURNING C O M E DY

DIVE INTO

Jane find their way back to each other, a crucial moment in the show’s central love story.

Following a devastating twist in Chapter 54, this episode introduces Jane’s very different life three years later.

BLINDSPOT: PETER KR AMER /NBC; JANE THE VIRGIN: MICHAEL DESMOND/ THE CW

“CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE”

Gina Rodriguez

For three seasons this show—which

parodies telenovelas—has delivered the perfect balance of comedy and drama as young mother Jane Villanueva (Gina Rodriguez) navigates love, loss, and the occasional life-or-death situation. With season 4 launching a new chapter in Jane’s life—will she find love again?— now’s the time to dive in, even if you’ve never watched before. Telenovelas are notoriously convoluted, though, so if

you’re new to the series, take in these three essential episodes first.

It all starts with the day Jane, at the doctor for a checkup, gets artificially inseminated with the sperm of her former crush, Rafael Solano (Justin Baldoni).

“CHAPTER ONE”

After 216 days apart, Michael (Brett Dier) and

“CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE”

With all that’s happened, it’s easy to forget that Jane is only 28. That’s where her new love interest, Adam (Tyler Posey), comes in. “He brings a much more youthful energy to Jane,” showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman says. “Our characters are refinding their joy [this season], and a lot of that starts with this relationship.”

Rodriguez adds, “It’s so fun for Jane to feel again, and feel deeply. I’ve been wanting it for her.” At the end of season 3, she was eyeing former flame Rafael in a romantic way, something Urman promises will be handled in the first episode— just in time for Raf to move into the house that Jane shares with her mother, grandmother, and son. I know: Straight out of a telenovela, right? —SAMANTHA HIGHFILL

E W.C O M /

Once Upon a Time’s dieGENRE

P R E M I E R E DAT E

PHOTOGRAPH BY

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hard fans should prepare themselves. After six seasons—and the exit of six cast members—OUAT is turning the page, shifting focus to an adult Henry Mills (now played by Andrew J. West) for an ambitious reboot that has the chance to truly revive the longrunning fairy-tale drama...if viewers can get on board with the big changes ahead.

Here’s what’s in store: Ever the hero, Henry leaves

A quintet of new fairy-tale faces will be popping up on OUAT this season, so we turned to EP Edward Kitsis to get the scoop

ONCE UPON A TIME: ABC (6)

L E F T Lana Parrilla A B O V E Dania Ramirez, Andrew J. West, and Lana Parrilla

Storybrooke in search of his own tale, finding an epic romance with a different iteration of Cinderella (Dania Ramirez), with whom he has a precocious daughter, Lucy (Alison Fernandez). But the family is torn apart when a new, yet familiar, curse traps them and a trio of returning characters—former Evil Queen Regina (Lana Parrilla), one-handed pirate Hook (Colin O’Donoghue), and the Dark One Rumplestiltskin

(Robert Carlyle)—as well as a quintet of new characters (see sidebar) in the Seattle neighborhood of Hyperion Heights.

If that sounds like a brand-new show, that’s the point. “In a world where superheroes can reboot, we thought, ‘Why not fairy tales?’ ” executive producer Edward Kitsis says, calling season 7 a “requel”—half reboot, half sequel. In a bid to attract old viewers and new, the show will be taking elements from the stellar first season and putting a twist on them. The format will be split between Enchanted Forest flashbacks and present-day realworld Hyperion Heights.

There’s a classic romance à la Snow and Charming between Cinderella and Henry, and yet another curse, which leaves them all once again without magic.

However, the returning trio have been radically reimagined thanks to that curse. Regina is now a denim-clad bar owner named Roni, while Hook is a despondent cop named Rogers. Rumple, as ever, remains a mystery. “Lana, Bobby, and I essentially are creating new characters, and that’s always exciting and terrifying at the same time,” says O’Donoghue.

Henry Mills still centers the show, though he’s no longer a wide-eyed believer but a cynical author– turned–Uber driver. Yes, seriously. “I don’t want to mimic what Jared [Gilmore] did, because Henry’s a

different person, he’s older now,” West says of the actor who played the role for the first six seasons.

“But it was important to understand the essence of those relationships to be able to do the job.” Those relationships, however, have definitely changed since Henry left Storybrooke, much in the same way that all the new faces have altered the dynamic on set. “It’s new energy,” Parrilla says. “I loved working with the old cast, but I think change is really healthy; it challenges us, it makes us uncomfortable, but it actually forces us to step out of the norm and remain open-minded.”

That’s exactly what the cast hopes the audience will do heading into this rebooted season.

“Genuinely, the writing this season is some of the best I’ve read,” O’Donoghue says. “It’s really important to reiterate and reassure the fans that Eddy and Adam [Horowitz, also an EP on the show] are super excited, even more so because there’s so much enthusiasm about creating this new world.” And those aforementioned changes also allow for new viewers to join in, a rare feat for a series going into its seventh season. “Part of the fun with this was being able to start over,” Kitsis says.

“If you’ve never seen Once Upon a Time, you can absolutely watch episode 1 and not miss a beat.”

CINDERELLA Dania Ramirez We’ll meet this new version of the glassslippered princess— who is Henry’s wife and Lucy’s mom—in the midst of the iconic fairy-tale story, but there’s a twist. “We’ll find out she’s not necessarily looking for her prince,” Kitsis says.

LADY TREMAINE Gabrielle Anwar Cinderella’s evil stepmother “wants to get to the top and will use any means necessary,” says Kitsis, revealing that she takes the form of a developer trying to gentrify Hyperion Heights and push out the fairy-tale characters.

DRIZELLA Adelaide Kane Cinderella’s stepsister is “deliciously evil,” says Kitsis. Maybe even more so than Lady Tremaine?

“She takes a lot of abuse from her mom,” Kitsis adds, “but I wonder how long that will last.”

ALICE Rose Reynolds Alice of Wonderland fame “is a character in the vein of Rumplestiltskin in that you don’t really quite know what she’s up to, where she’s going, or where she’s been,” Kitsis says—a fact Rumple, in particular, will find curious.

TIANA Mekia Cox The origin story of the Princess and the Frog heroine will get the spotlight in episode 5, and her cursed Hyperion Heights counterpart Sabine will play a vital role. “Her relationship with Cinderella is like Snow and Red’s,” Kitsis says. “They’re roommates, they’re good friends.”

—NATALIE ABRAMS

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F R O M L E F T Donna Lynne Champlin, Rachel Bloom, Vella Lovell, and Gabrielle Ruiz

In Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s

pilot, power lawyer Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom) left behind a successful career in New York City and moved to West Covina, Calif., with one goal: to win the heart of her camp crush, Josh Chan.

And in season 2, she did just that, with the pair nearly tying the knot. Key word, nearly. When the finale saw Rebecca left at the altar, she found a new goal: Destroy Josh Chan. Here are five things fans can expect when the show returns for its third, vengeance(and song-) filled, season.

—SAMANTHA HIGHFILL

A MAN-HATING ’80S NUMBER

A DIAGNOSIS

MORE NATHANIEL

MEETING PAULA’S FAMILY

Rebecca is going to take her vow to destroy Josh seriously in a season the writers have been calling “funny Fatal Attraction.” Aline Brosh McKenna—co-creator, EP, and showrunner— says, “She’s not really cut out to be a vengeful vixen, but she’s going to do her best.” Bloom, also a co-creator and EP, chimes in, calling this year “the evil twin of season 1.” Adds Bloom: “She moved there for this guy. What happens when it all goes to s---?”

Every revenge plot needs a theme song, and the show will deliver just that with an ’80s-themed song featuring Rebecca and her friends Paula (Donna Lynne Champlin), Heather (Vella Lovell), and Valencia (Gabrielle Ruiz). “It is a bunch of women talking about how men suck in a Pointer Sisters-esque number,” Bloom says.

“I’m very much in love with that song.”

Fans have seen Rebecca go to therapy in the past, but this year the show’s taking things a step further.

“We’re expanding her mental-health efforts,” McKenna says. “We’re giving her a diagnosis.”

Although, McKenna is quick to point out that a diagnosis is not the end of that story.

With Scott Michael Foster now a series regular, the show will continue to explore the connection between Rebecca and her new boss. Seeing as how he’s gone from being the show’s most conniving character to maybe a not-so-bad guy and Rebecca’s on the opposite trajectory, Bloom says “that clash with him becoming more like her, her becoming more like him, is really fun for us.”

Crazy Ex will dig into Paula’s backstory with a trip to meet her family in upstate New York.

Although Champlin doesn’t know exactly what the story will reveal, she has a few guesses. “I do suspect that what they know of my personal life will probably make an appearance,” Champlin says. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I’m from Rochester and Paula’s from Buffalo.”

T YLER GOLDEN/THE CW

FULL-ON REVENGE

SEASON 17

8PM (FOX)

Seventeen seasons in, Gordon Ramsay’s kitchen show is finally trying out a reality TV show staple: the all-star competition.

This year’s contestants are veterans of the show from as far back as season 2. “They’re coming back as legitimate chefs. Some have run their own businesses,” Ramsay says. “They played mind games with each other from day one. They were super feisty, super competitive, and they wouldn’t let their guard down.”

To match these uniquely qualified contestants, the stakes have been ramped up: Whichever all-star emerges victorious will become head chef at the first-ever Hell’s Kitchen restaurant at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Let the games begin. S E P T . 2 9

SEASON 2

8PM (CBS)

MacGyver is always a man on a mission, but when season 2 picks up, his mission is a bit more personal than usual: He wants to find his father. “The search for his dad is going to play over the course of the whole season,” says EP Peter Lenkov. Fans will eventually meet Mac’s father, though Lenkov cautions that “it’s not who you think it is.” Although Lenkov is still campaigning to get Richard Dean Anderson—the

original MacGyver—to appear on the series, he says making him Mac’s dad would be “too obvious.” As he puts it, “I’d like Richard to come back in a more surprising role.” S E P T . 2 9

SEASON 8

B L U E B L O O D S Will Estes and Vanessa Ray

BLUE BLOODS: JOHN PAUL FILO/CBS; MARVEL’S INHUMANS: ABC/MARVEL

9PM (CBS)

Following the highly publicized exits of Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park, Five-0 is going through a bit of a change. With Chin Ho Kelly and Kono Kalakaua gone, the team has enlisted new members: police-academy flunky Tani (Meaghan Rath), former Navy SEAL Junior (Beulah Koale), and Kono’s hubby, Adam (Ian Anthony Dale). The team will still feel the void left by Chin and Kono, though. “There is a feeling of a loss, but I don’t think it’s that profound because there’s always opportunity for those characters to either return, or at least return in their mind, in the stories that we tell,” EP Peter Lenkov says. Hawaii Five-0 task-force leader McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin) will reassess his future after suffering radiation poisoning last season.

“Clearly it shows that he’s mortal, and it’s going to affect his legacy of what he wants to do post–being a cop,” Lenkov says, teasing that McGarrett may open a restaurant with Danny (Scott Caan). He’ll also get a

N E W D R A M A 8PM (ABC)

Marvel’s world of Inhumans is expanding beyond the quirky-powered S.H.I.E.L.D. allies to the actual royal family who lord over the moon-based colony of Attilan that the race of hybrid alien-humans call home. But King Black Bolt (Anson Mount) with his city-leveling whisper and Queen Medusa (Serinda Swan) with her prehensile hair are forced to flee to Earth when the king’s brother Maximus (Iwan Rheon) usurps the throne. Before you feel too sorry for them, though, the royals have long demeaned the powerless—including Maximus. “Right from the beginning you wonder, ‘Who’s the bad guy here?’ ” says EP Scott Buck. “Maximus thinks he’s the right man to lead [the Inhumans],” Rheon says. “He’s not an evil person, he doesn’t want to hurt them, but he has to do this.” Sure, that’s what they all say. S E P T . 2 9 Anson Mount and Iwan Rheon

new partner: a police dog. Who needs girlfriends when you can have man’s best friend? S E P T . 2 9

SEASON 8

10PM (CBS)

“It feels like going back to a college that we love, but can’t seem to graduate from,” says EP Kevin Wade of returning to set for the NYC cop procedural’s eighth season. That longevity means the show can explore new sides to long-running characters. After a drug cartel burned down his family home in the season 7 finale, NYPD detective Danny Reagan (Donnie Wahlberg) is reconsidering his

hotheaded ways. “He’s looking at life through a different lens,” says Wade. “There’s an element of circumspection and a bit of introspection, as he considers the residual collateral damage.” Wahlberg agrees: “Danny’s realizing this major shift in his life.” He’s not the only one. Tom Selleck’s police commissioner Frank Reagan is dealing with a new mayor in office. “For seven seasons Frank’s been telling everyone he doesn’t play politics,” says Wade. “But now he’s the longest-serving highprofile public servant, so we’re having fun with Frank running New York City.” S E P T . 2 9

F R I D AY W R I T T E N A N D R E P O R T E D B Y Natalie Abrams, Samantha Highfill,

Christian Holub, and Ruth Kinane

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SHOW

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STORY BY

PHOTOGRAPH BY

Millie Bobby Brown

This may come as a surpris e, but it’s

hard to get back to normal after an interdimensional portal opens in your town and unleashes a carnivorous demon. Yet the townsfolk of Hawkins, Indiana, are trying their damnedest to pretend everything is cool when Stranger Things returns for its highly anticipated second season. “It’s haunting them,” says co-creator Matt Duffer of season 1’s Demagorgon disaster. “But it’s very much human nature. My first instinct when something bad happens is to just pretend it didn’t happen at all. That rarely works out, and it will come and bite you in the ass later.” Adds his brother and co-creator Ross Duffer, “That door, that wound that was opened in season 1, is still there, and it continues to have repercussions that have to be dealt with.”

Season 2 begins about a year later, on the day before Halloween 1984. Will (Noah Schnapp) is seeing a new doctor (Paul Reiser) after being plagued by visions of the Upside Down featuring a more intelligent and more dangerous monster. “So the idea was ‘What if something out there had a plan?’ ” teases Ross of the latest cosmic threat. “Season 1 was so much about Will. We wanted to raise the stakes moving forward.”

That also means season 2 will deliver a little

more shock and awe. “Part of the thing I wanted to do this season, and something that Game of Thrones is doing so effectively, is marrying great character work with bigbudget-style visuals,” says Matt. “We wanted to take everything we did last year and add some spectacular visuals to the mix.”

The cast of Stranger Things is also growing, with the core boy group—Will, Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin)—meeting the skateboarding, videogame-loving new girl in town, Max (Sadie Sink). “It’s a little more complicated whether she wants to join the group or not, and not everyone in our group wants to add someone,” says Ross. “So it creates a little bit of friction.” Also adding a different dynamic to the group is a tiny creature that Dustin discovers and decides to keep as a pet. “I will say that a touchstone for us this year was definitely Gremlins,” explains Matt.

“I love the idea of a boy and his monster.”

Aside from the otherworldly threats affecting Hawkins, Max’s older brother, Billy (Power Rangers’ Dacre Montgomery), provides a very human face of evil, besting the worst instincts of last season’s resident bad boy, Steve.“Originally, in the pilot, Steve was just a monster of a guy,” reveals Ross. “Once we found Joe Keery, we wound up sculpting the character more to Joe’s talents, and we gave him an arc where he redeemed himself, at least a little bit. This season we wanted someone without those redeeming qualities.

Stephen King always has those human villains who are evil at heart.”

The most secretive element of the new season is the return of Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown). The telekinetic wunderkind was last seen vanishing after defeating the Demagorgon. In the recently released trailer, she appears to be back in the Upside Down, but finds a way out. “She plays a very different role this season, which we are excited about,” says Ross before Matt elaborates: “She has a lot more words in her vocabulary! Not a ton, but she’s developing her language skills.”

Does that mean she’s growing an appetite beyond Eggos, too? Jokes Matt, “I don’t know that she’ll ever not be into Eggos.”

There’s always season 3.

STR ANGER THINGS: NETFLIX (2); THE DUFFERS: JACKSON DAVIS/NETFLIX

Ross Duffer and Matt Duffer (in front) with EP Shawn Levy

Our very first idea for season 2 was to introduce a local arcade (named the Palace, in a nod to WarGames!). We love board games but in truth have spent more time playing videogames (too much time, our mom might say) so we wanted to weave them into the fabric of the show. An added bonus: Every game in the arcade worked, so we got to play between takes!

We always try to make sure that—when faced with a dilemma—our boys have different perspectives and solutions. This makes for fun conflict and helps further define their characters. The problem they’re facing in this scene is not exactly life-or-death: Are they willing to hook Keith up with Nancy in exchange for Mad Max’s identity?

We like that Mike stands up for Nancy here; he may be a jerk to her in person, but deep down he’s very protective of his sister. We feel this is very typical sibling behavior. Not that we would know anything about that…

Keith is a new character who works at the Palace. He’s several years older than our boys, but he’s somehow less mature.

The only thing he likes more than Cheetos is Nancy.

“Focus our attention on Will” is really a sign of things to come this season, as our main story line centers on Will and his recovery.

Just because Will was rescued from the Upside Down doesn’t mean he’s safe…

The slang “wastoid” became popular after The Breakfast Club, which was released February 1985, four months after our new season takes place.

But it’s such a great insult that we couldn’t help but fudge history a bit here. It was also a fun way for us to tip our hat to the great John Hughes.

Schnapp, Wolfhard, Matarazzo, and McLaughlin

GENRE

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STAR TREK: DISCOVERY: JAN THIJS/CBS (2)

PHOTOGRAPH BY

This new edition of Star Trek is so unlike every previous TV installment of the 51-year-old franchise that even the show’s iconic name doesn’t quite fit.

The word trek is defined as “a long, arduous journey”—such as the five-year planet-touring missions of the original series and The Next Generation.

CBS All Access’ new streaming adventure Star Trek: Discovery is more like a warp-speed war story—an urgent serialized adventure about the United Federation of Planets in crisis and battling the Klingons (too bad the name Star Wars is already taken!).

“It’s so different,” says longtime Trek fan and actor Rainn Wilson (The Office), who landed the role of con man Harry Mudd on Discovery after cold-calling producers to ask if he could join the cast. “The other shows are fairly static; there’s a formula—in every episode the ship goes out and encounters a new planet or a new guest. This is like a 15-hour movie. There are a lot of incredible plot surprises.” And Discovery is darker and more realistic, too, right? “This is a darker Star Trek than TV audiences have ever seen before,” Wilson confirms.

“But I don’t want to scare anyone off—because everything you know and love about the previous series is in this one as well.”

Which is to say: Discovery is still set in creator Gene Roddenberry’s idealistic vision of the future, where mankind has largely solved its collective problems and set out to explore the universe, gain new wisdom, and help keep the peace. Yet Starfleet officers will also act like

actual human beings (except when they’re aliens), especially when tough decisions have to be made. “War forces the Federation to examine their ideals and ethical rules of conflict,” says Aaron Harberts, who serves as showrunner alongside Gretchen J. Berg. “In times like that emotions can take hold, and morality gets a tiny bit muddy. Isolationism is a big theme. Racial purity is a big theme.”

For Trek traditionalists, there are still rousing self-contained adventures along the way (such as an episode that plays like Groundhog Day in space). But it’s the long-game dramatics that lured Harry Potter actor Jason Isaacs to the show for a mere supporting role. “There’s a complicated and layered story, which people aren’t used to in Star Trek,” says Isaacs, who plays Captain Gabriel Lorca, a steely

war vet with a secret agenda.

“Fans get excited because they think of the uniforms and phasers and Klingons and spaceships, but that stuff wears very thin very quickly if we can’t do what we need to do as actors.”

Then there’s the biggest shake-up of all: Discovery’s main character is not a captain but a first officer, who is played by the franchise’s first black female star, Sonequa Martin-Green.

Michael Burnham is brilliant and ambitious, the only human to ever attend the Vulcan Science Academy, but finds her carefully planned career suddenly upended. “She’s always had a yearning to be in a position of authority and has gone from one goal to the next,” Martin-Green says. “This journey is about how little control she actually has, being thrown off by that, and also accepting that.”

FROM TOP

James Frain; Chris Obi

Which is a huge shift for Trek.

Remember Kirk, Picard, and the other Trek leads? They were all charismatic seasoned leaders, firmly in charge, who solved a crisis-of-the-week by making near-perfect decisions. Burnham is more like a promising work in progress. “There’s a lot of social anxiety that the character deals with due to her level of intelligence,” Martin-Green says.

And her lower rank means Burnham won’t spend all her hours sitting on the bridge. Her duties will often take her below decks, where we’ll spend time with the ship’s crew. Expect to see bedrooms and bathrooms and follow rivalries and romance, such as the one between the franchise’s first gay couple (Anthony Rapp and Wilson Cruz).

“The stakes are going to be a little higher between the characters,” Rapp says. “While there was friction between Kirk, Spock, and Bones in the original series, that was ultimately pretty low-key.

In our show, people go toe-totoe, and it has consequences.”

But enough with the vague teases. Discovery has been under construction for two years in a top secret space dock in Toronto, and the last Trek series left the air in 2005. At this point, the cast and producers say they’re just eager to see this ship finally launched. “Normally I feel anxiety before a show comes out, but I’m more excited for this than any other I’ve done,” says showrunner Berg. “I can’t wait for the world to see this.”

Discovery’s journey to the small screen, at least, perfectly fits the word trek. —JAMES HIBBERD

S E AS O N 3 ( N E TF L IX)

Kimmy Gibbler (Andrea Barber) might not be a wacky teen anymore, but she can definitely still act like one. “Kimmy goes to great lengths to fit in with her daughter, Romona [Soni Nicole Bringas], and the teenage crowd, which creates some hilarious and embarrassing situations,” Barber teases of the new season. One of those situations? A dance-off at Romona’s high school. In non-

Gibbler news, D.J. (Candace Cameron Bure) is having some romantic troubles, and Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) is trying to have a baby. “By the time we end season 3,” creator Jeff Franklin says, “things are a lot different than how they started.” S E P T . 2 2

N E W C O M E DY (HULU)

Josh Hutcherson’s done some intensive film shoots before, a Hunger Games arena here, a wild

Jon Bernthal and Deborah Ann Woll

Journey there. But nothing compares to his work on this sci-fi action comedy. “I learned to run in heels!” laughs Hutcherson. “It’s all about keeping the weight on the balls of your feet.” Hutcherson plays Josh Futturman, a videogame obsessive called to worldsaving destiny by two exo-armored badasses traveling from the post-

How does this Frank compare with the Frank we met in Daredevil season 2?

The Frank Castle you see in Daredevil is reeling from the trauma of having his family killed, so the only thing he knows is his mission to kill every single person who’s responsible, because that’s the only way to quiet the storm that’s in his head. What [Punisher showrunner Steve] Lightfoot is trying to do is ask the question “What do you do when that’s over? What do you find out about yourself when you realize there’s nothing left?” There’s an introspective bent in trying to figure that out. It’s going to get into as dark and as brutal a place as you’ve ever seen in the Marvel world, I can promise you that.

Frank is a killer, but he has a passionate fan following.

Why do you think that is?

I think there’s a bit of Frank in all

apocalypse (Eliza Coupe and Derek Wilson). “He wants to fix the future without f---ing up all the present,” Hutcherson explains.

“They have to jump around through time to try to make adjustments.” Though Future Man has laughs, its ambitions are as cosmic as any sci-fi serial. Is there a master plan? “The premise has

of us. We all go through bouts of darkness and regret and shame, and we make mistakes, so I think to really zero in on that and to dig into that wound is what makes him interesting.

But if there’s one thing I want to get right for this show, it’s that I want to be completely respectful of the military community and the people that this character means so much to. More than anything, Frank is a soldier.

On that note, how much pressure do you feel now that you’re the star?

It’s a hundred times worse, I’ll be honest. [Laughs] It might be the Frank Castle inside me, but I’m always thinking things could be headed for the worst. There was an unbelievable response to the Frank we put out there in Daredevil, and I do not want to let people down.

RIVIER A: DES WILLIE/SUNDANCET V; MARVEL’S THE PUNISHER: NICOLE RIVELLI/NETFLIX

Frank C astle (Jon Bernthal) steps into the spotlight for his own spin-off series, but don’t expect to see him embrace it. The vet-turned-vigilante begins his post-Daredevil journey in hiding, until—surprise, surprise—a conspiracy involving his traumatic past draws him back out into the open. Bernthal, 40, sheds some light on what to expect from the antihero’s star turn. —SHIRLEY LI

R I V I E R A Julia Stiles

such legs,” promises Evan Goldberg, who executive-produced the project with longtime collaborator Seth Rogen. “It can go so many places—24 seasons, if we’re as successful as Supernatural.” Better polish those stilettos, Hutcherson!

NOV. 14

S E AS O N 6 TUESDAYS (HULU)

Just because Mindy’s (Mindy Kaling) new husband, Ben (Bryan Greenberg), is great doesn’t mean their marriage will last. Spoiler: It won’t. Kaling’s keeping mum on what leads to their divorce, but she does tease, “Ben is someone that everyone thinks is too good for her.”

Except for maybe Danny (Chris Messina), who is coming back for some co-parenting high jinks.

“There’s not a ton of dating— Mindy’s looking inward to her work and her family,” Kaling says of the final season. But she’ll still get a rom-com ending: “I think people will be really happy with the finale,” she hints. “It’s a big extravaganza.” PREMIERED SEPT. 12 Jonathan Groff

PATRICK HARBRON/NETFLIX

N E W D R A M A (SUNDANCE N OW)

Behind every great fortune is a great crime. That’s the premise of this 10-episode intrigue from Neil Jordan (The Crying Game).

Set in France, the series follows American expat Georgina (Julia Stiles), whose billionaire husband (Anthony LaPaglia) is killed in a yacht explosion. As she settles his affairs, Georgina learns her extravagant lifestyle has been funded by some very dirty money. “She comes across as maybe slightly naive, but I just got the sense that she would surprise us and become more cunning,” says Stiles. She’ll find something of an unexpected ally in her husband’s first wife, Irina (Lena Olin). “That was, to me, one of the most interesting relationships in the show,” Stiles says. “They can be competitive with each other and snarky, but at the same time there’s a mutual respect.” And a mutual love of high fashion—this is the Riviera, after all. P R E M I E R E D S E P T . 1 4

If you have nightmare s after watching Netflix’s new serial-killer series, you’ll have David Fincher and Charlize Theron to blame.

While shooting her Oscarwinning performance as murderer Aileen Wuornos in 2003’s Monster, Theron became fascinated by the works of FBI profiler and author John Douglas (the reported inspiration for the Jack Crawford character in The Silence of the Lambs).

Around 2009, the actress purchased the rights to Douglas’ book Mindhunter, which detailed his psychological studies on criminals like Ed Gein and Charles Manson. Theron knew it would be a perfect fit for the director of Seven and Zodiac. “The first person I went to was David Fincher,” says Theron. “I just thought it was a great idea for a

television show, and I was so obsessed with the thread of the story that I wasn’t thinking about it as an actor at all.”

The series uses Douglas’ book as inspiration for a fictional tale of FBI agents Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) and Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) as they push for the department to update its investigative approach.

“Holden is like that kid from the ’70s who’s having his mind expanded a little bit, and he feels like it should apply to the FBI,” says Groff.

“He gets placed in the behavioral-science unit, and through that he gets the idea that by talking to people who were incarcerated he could glean insight into how the criminal mind works and could prevent future events.”

The series will also follow the impact this work has on the men’s personal lives,

and Groff admits the dark subject matter rubbed off a bit on him during the Pittsburgh shoot. “Every morning, I would go for a run along the river. The more we were going on, I was like, ‘I’m definitely going to turn on the location setting on my iPhone so if someone pulls over on the side of the road, I can throw my phone in the bushes and everyone will know where I was captured.’ ” For his part, McCallany, a character actor with credits in the director’s Alien 3 and Fight Club, just felt thrilled Fincher had given him his biggest role to date. “It almost made all the years of struggle worth it,” says the 54-year-old. “It felt like I graduated, in a way.”

Fincher University is an excellent (albeit creepy) place to study. —TIM STACK

SARAH

SPOTLIGHT

N A M S I LV E R people,” she says. “I’m a people person. I find that people’s porcupine needles go down with that first hug hello, as long as it’s sincere. It’s very easy to get divided when you don’t see people’s faces and you don’t feel the warmth of their skin.”

Can Silverman become this nation’s great uniter?

We spoke to her to find out. —RAY RAHMAN

Sarah Silverman wants to touch you... via her new variety show, that is. Airing every Thursday on Hulu, the weekly series will find the hot-button comedian reaching out across the country to get a better

feel for the social and cultural issues affecting everyday Americans.

I Love You, America will feature field pieces and insightful interviews with people who might not always share Silverman’s worldview. “I like

What kind of show will this be? How will it be different from the other late-night options?

We were actually just laughing at the dichotomy of the show, because it’s so aggressively silly and dumb but then also very heady.

I think it’ll be smart but served in a big, bready sandwich of silly. The show will start with a monologue, but it won’t be jokes as much as a stream of consciousness about whatever is on my mind. There’ll be some bits, some pieces in the studio. We’re going to have an earnest focus group who’ll be an extension of the audience that splurges out onto the stage. I’ll be able to refer to them the way a host does with a house band.

And there’ll be an interview toward the end, but it’s not really celebrity interviews. It will be people who have been changed.

What kinds of people?

All sorts. We don’t have them all booked yet, but

I have people in mind.

I’m friendly with Megan Phelps-Roper. She was born into the Westboro Baptist Church, loved it, was fully a part of it—but she eventually left it and has done a TED Talk on [her experience].

So anyone who has been changed in any direction by new information or through some kind of inciting incident. That’s interesting to me.

You’ll also be traveling the country for field pieces. What places are you visiting?

I just went to Mineola, Tex. Eighty-seven percent of the town voted for Trump. It’s a tiny town, just a handful of 2,000 people.

I had dinner with a family in Louisiana who voted Trump and had never met a Jew. How’d that go?

It was delicious, but it really made me sick after.

NEW VA R I E T Y

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[Laughs] I’ve never had so much Velveeta cheese in my belly! But it was interesting. I fell in love with this 7-year-old named Blaize who just broke my heart. He and his grandfather, who is five years older than me, talked about how Blaize got one of his guns taken away because he shot it too close to a little girl. This 7-year-old has a shotgun, a BB gun, and a rifle.

And I’m not judging it.

It’s a different culture.

Will you also be covering current events?

We shoot Tuesday night and it’ll be posted on Thursday, so it has the ability to be fairly current, and we might take advantage of that. There are going to be things where we go, “Oh, this happened yesterday, it’s crazy not to talk about it.” But I’d say that the show is less about the politics of each day and more of this moment in time. It’s political just by

virtue of being made in this moment in history.

There isn’t anything that’s not political that’s being made right now, whether they know it or not. It’s kind of like when the guy who is forced to have a therapy session [says] at the end, “Shouldn’t I have been talking about my relationship with my father?” And the therapist says, “Oh, you were.”

T R A N S P A R E N T Judith Light and Jay Duplass

How did your experiences on the road doing stand-up inform your view of the country?

As much as comedians are enmeshed in the liberal-bubble universe, we’re also the one form of show business that travels the country—all reaches of it—and whose job it is to connect with people no matter how different-minded. We are both Marvel and DC. It’s inherent in our nature.

Is that the ultimate goal, to open or even change people’s minds?

The No. 1 goal is to be funny. Truly. Nothing brings people together more than laughing. And listen, I have very strong political views and I’m not abandoning them.

I’m still me, but I’m trying to be as open as possible because unless our porcupine needles are down, change can’t happen. The goal is really to find a way to be funny that isn’t “We’re right and you’re wrong and we’re smart and you’re dumb,” because I just think there’s enough of that. I like to think of us as the unlikely animal friendships of social politics. When things get too heavy, I always Google “unlikely animal friendships,” and I can do a deep dive for several hours of a turtle and a dog that are best friends and my heart feels better. I feel like that’s the show.

Sarah Silverman

N E W D R A M A (AMAZON) N E W C O M E DY (YOUTUBE RED)

SILVERMAN: PATRICK FR ASER /CORBIS VIA GET T Y IMAGES; I LOVE YOU, AMERICA: ROBYN VON SWANK /HULU; TR ANSPARENT: JENNIFER CL ASEN/AMA ZON PRIME VIDEO

GENRE

No procedural is complete without an expert consultant. Ryan Hansen has Ryan Hansen. The Veronica Mars star plays a version of himself enlisted by the LAPD to use his “actor skills” to help solve homicides. (“This is the Sasha Fierce to my Beyoncé,” Hansen jokes.)

Samira Wiley costars as the detective tasked with corralling him.

Guests like Kristen Bell and Joel McHale are already on board, but Hansen isn’t stopping there: “I’d love to see Dax [Shepard].”

He pauses. “And Brad Pitt.” OCT. 25

When organized crime infects the Canadian town of Little Big Bear after an oil refinery opens nearby, police chief Jim Worth (Tim Roth) does everything he can to protect what he holds dear. Unfortunately, his family gets caught in the crossfire and suffers a tragic loss. “It becomes this insane revenge drama,” teases Roth, whose character has a dark side named Jack that comes out whenever he blacks out from drinking.

“There’s this Jekyll and Hyde aspect to the character.” S E P T . 2 9

S E AS O N 4 (AMAZON) S E AS O N 2 (CRACKLE)

Tech companies like to move fast and break stuff—but what if they break too? StartUp returns with the GenCoin team leaving their currency venture after a string of defeats (and a death). “Most of us are on the outs,” says Adam Brody, who plays entrepreneur Nick. “My character is waiting tables. Izzy [Otmara Marrero] is borderline suicidal, and Ronald [Edi Gathegi] is in a low place as well.” Yet the gang will reunite for an even riskier play: the dark web. And, as with all modern perils, the Russians are involved—specifically mobsters looking to blackmail Agent Rask (Martin Freeman). The moral?

We should all log off. S E P T . 2 8

The Brady Bunch never went to Israel, but if it had, Jill Soloway guesses it would have looked a lot like this new season, in which the Pfefferman clan heads to the homeland. “Transparent is the dream project where I get to salute all my favorite family shows,” the creator laughs, adding that Maura (Jeffrey Tambor) encounters a “totally unexpected person” on the trip. “It’s a big, big revelation,” Tambor says. And though that discovery has consequences, it also unites the family. “There’s a message of love and togetherness that is hopefully going to be a warm, mushy, delicious comedy soup,” Soloway says. Just call them the Pfefferman Bunch. S E P T . 2 2

S T R E A M I N G W R I T T E N A N D R E P O R T E D B Y Chancellor Agard, Ariana Bacle, Kelly Connolly, Darren Franich, Ray Rahman, and Amy Wilkinson

EW’s TV critic J E F F J E N S E N singles out the promising series worth a season pass

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT

fights. Creators Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters (Reaper) brilliantly assimilate a broad swath of influences—religion, mythology, comic books—to craft a new-age Touched by an Angel that interrogates what being “super” means in a culture of badly broken mad men with much to redeem.

As a prodigal made magical by a radioactive meteor, Jason Ritter soars in a showcase long overdue.

S E P T. 2 5 8:30PM (CBS)

S E P T. 1 0 9PM (HBO)

The Wire’s David Simon and George Pelacanos return with an absorbing tragicomedy creation story about porn that shatters all of its illusions. James Franco as twins sucked into skin-trade exploitation and Maggie Gyllenhaal as a prostitute–turned–XXX auteur headline a sprawling saga that turns the ’70s scuzzland of Times Square into a vibrant underworld.

Truly mature entertainment about the human cost of “adult entertainment” worth your peeping.

OCT. 3 9:30PM (ABC)

Brandon Micheal Hall is breakout

E W.C O M /

terrific as an aspiring hip-hop artist with firecracker wit who runs for mayor of his California town as a promotional stunt.

When his real-talk takedown of the status quo makes a mark, guess what happens! Sprightly storytelling and a great supporting cast (including Community’s Yvette Nicole Brown and Glee’s Lea Michele) further animate this resonant comedy sure to test what we want from politically minded Trump-era TV.

TEN DAYS IN THE VALLEY A gripping mystery on ABC about a cop-show writer (Kyra Sedgwick) searching for her abducted daughter.

OCT. 3 10PM (ABC)

THE GIFTED Fox brings the X-Men to TV on an action-packed family drama tailored to our fraught resistance moment.

The fall’s best superhero show has no tights or world-shattering

ME, MYSELF & I Jack Dylan Grazer, Bobby Moynihan, and John Larroquette shine as the same lovelorn nerd on CBS’ time-flitting charmer.

Sitcom czar Chuck Lorre breaks form to winsome effect on this single-cam prequel to The Big Bang Theory focusing on the wonder years of Jim Parsons’ genius manchild. Iain Armitage owns egghead Sheldon, Zoe Perry is lovely as Sheldon’s mom, and Parsons’ narration is a perfectly measured sweetener. What moves you most is the portrait of a family trying to connect and love each other better.

S E P T. 1 0 8PM (FOX)

Seth MacFarlane boldly goes where he’s never gone before: sincerity. His latest meta-pop chuckler isn’t an irreverent Star Trek spoof but a slick, affectionate homage spiked with light irony and occasional lewdness. Playing a fallen starship captain given a last-chance command, MacFarlane is an appealing leading man.

His vision is retro optimism with slightly warped drive.

YOUNG SHELDON: ROBERT VOETS/CBS; KEVIN (PROBABLY) SAVES THE WORLD: RYAN GREEN/ABC; THE MAYOR: TONY RIVET TI/ABC; THE ORVILLE: MICHAEL BECKER /FOX; THE DEUCE: PAUL SCHIR ALDI/HBO (2)

Iain Armitage, Jason Ritter, Brandon Micheal Hall, Seth MacFarlane, Adrianne Palicki, James Franco, and Maggie Gyllenhaal

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SEPT. 20

SEPTEMBER

Are You the One? 10PM (MTV)

SEPT. 10 NEW

The Orville

8PM (FOX)

Outlander 8PM (STARZ) NEW

The Deuce

9PM (HBO)

SEPT. 12 The Mindy Project

A booze-soaked dating series you can watch without feeling icky.

Channel Zero: No-End House 10PM (SYFY)

We don’t think Aisha Dee will be able to tweet her way out of this horror story.

The Good Place 10PM (NBC)

(HULU)

SEPT. 21 SEPT. 13 Broad City 10:30PM (COMEDY CENTRAL)

SEPT. 14 Better Things 10PM (FX) NEW

Riviera

Gotham 8PM (FOX)

American Beauty Star NEW

10:30PM (LIFETIME)

Imagine if Project Runway were about hair and makeup experts, and hosted by Adriana Lima.

(SUNDANCE NOW)

SEPT. 15 NEW

American Vandal

(N E TF L IX )

The true-crime spoof you’ve been waiting for, only with more penis graffiti than you expected.

SEPT. 17 69th Primetime Emmy Awards 8PM (CBS)

TV’s biggest night...if you ignore Game of Thrones, NCIS, and Walking Dead.

NEW

The Vietnam War

8PM (PBS)

Ken Burns dives into one of our most chaotic wars in this 10-part doc.

Mike Judge Presents: Tales From the Tour Bus NEW

(CBS ALL ACCESS)

SEPT. 25

10PM (CINEMAX)

The Big Bang Theory

Country-music stars reminisce about life on the road on this animated series from the Silicon Valley co-creator.

8PM (CBS)

The Voice 8PM (NBC) NEW

Fuller House

Kevin Can Wait

Transparent

9PM (CBS)

(AMAZON)

NEW

Me, Myself & I

SEPT. 24

9:30PM (CBS)

Who Shot Biggie & Tupac?

NEW

NEW

The Brave

10PM (NBC)

8PM (FOX)

NEW

Clearly, the answer doesn’t lie in listening to their albums backward.

The Good Doctor

10PM (ABC)

Scorpion

10:30PM (HBO)

10PM (CBS)

It’s the raunchy beginning g of the end of Danny McBride and Walton Goggins’ insane VPs.

The Opposition With Jordan Klepper NEW

11:30PM (COMEDY CENTRAL)

SEPT. 26

SEPT. 18

Lethal Weapon

Dancing With the Stars s

8PM (FOX)

8PM (ABC) NEW

Young Sheldon

8:30PM (CBS)

( NE T F L IX )

NCIS

The State

8PM (CBS)

9PM (NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC)

Bull

Follow four Brits who leave their lives to join ISIS.

9PM (CBS)

Vice Principals

VICE PRINCIPALS: FRED NORRIS/HBO; COLBERT: JOHN FILO/CBS

Vice Principals

Star Trek: Discovery NEW

SEPT. 22

SEPT. 30

OCT. 2

Cake Boss

TRL

8PM (TLC)

3:30PM (MTV)

In the end, we were all the Cake Boss.

Nostalgia strikes again, and helps the network remember what the M in its name stands for.

Iyanla: Fix My Life 9PM (OWN)

Dear White People creator Justin Simien is obsessed with this life guru, and you should be too.

Versailles 10PM (OVATION)

The good times continue at Louis XIV’s dream palace.

OCTOBER OCT. 1 C L O C K W I S E F R O M F A R L E F T Emmy Awards host Stephen Colbert;

Scandal; The Mindy Project; The Last Man on Earth

Bob’s Burgers 7:30PM (FOX)

SCANDAL: RICHARD CART WRIGHT/ABC; THE L AST MAN ON E ARTH: PATRICK MCELHENNEY/FOX; THE MINDY PROJECT: JORDIN ALTHAUS/HULU

8PM (FOX)

Star

Chicago Fire

9PM (FOX)

9PM (FOX)

10PM (NBC)

This Is Us

American Housewife

9PM (NBC)

9:30PM (ABC)

How to Get Away With Murder

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Chicago P.D.

9:30PM (FOX)

10PM (NBC)

Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders

Criminal Minds

NEW

10PM (NBC)

10PM (CBS)

Designated Survivor 10PM (ABC)

NCIS: New Orleans 10PM (CBS)

NEW

Liar

10PM (SUNDANCETV)

8PM (NBC)

Joanne Froggatt and Ioan Gruffudd make a strong case for swearing off romance on this thriller.

Empire

NEW

8PM (FOX)

10:30PM (BET)

SEPT. 27 The Blacklist

The Goldbergs 8PM (ABC)

Survivor: Heroes vs.

Healers vs. Hustlers

50 Central

If you can’t find 50 Cent in the club, it’s because he’s trying his hand at sketch comedy on this variety show.

Nathan for You 10PM (COMEDY CENTRAL)

StartUp (CRACKLE)

SEPT. 29 Hell’s Kitchen 8PM (FOX)

MacGyver 8PM (CBS) NEW

Marvel’s Inhumans

8PM (ABC)

The Exorcist 9PM (FOX)

SEPT. 28

Ghosted

8:30PM (FOX)

Keeping Up With the Kardashians 9PM (E!)

Fingers crossed we get to see Kim and Kanye listening to “Look What You Made Me Do” for the first time.

Poldark

The Middle Fresh Off the Boat black-ish 9PM (ABC)

The Mayor

10PM (ABC)

OCT. 4 The Real Housewives of New Jersey 9PM (BRAVO)

Season 8 kicks off with a 75-minute premiere.

Adjust your wine purchases accordingly.

9PM (PBS)

Shark Tank 9PM (ABC)

The Last Man on Earth

OCT. 5 Scandal 9PM (ABC)

9:30PM (FOX)

NEW

9PM (CBS)

Yo-ho-ho and a pitcher of margs! Tandy and the gang take to the ocean to escape the failing nuclear plants.

10PM (SYFY)

9PM (SYFY)

9PM (ABC)

9PM (NBC)

10PM (CBS)

Great News

NEW

9:30PM (NBC)

(AMAZON)

SEAL Team

OCT. 3

N E W Kevin (Probably) Saves the World

9PM (FOX)

10PM (HBO)

9PM (CBS)

Fill that Downton Abbeysize hole in your heart with this ’40s-set drama about a fancy London hotel.

Family Guy

Blue Bloods

NEW

The Halcyon

10PM (OVATION)

9:30PM (ABC)

Will & Grace

9PM (NBC)

8PM (ABC)

NEW

8:30PM (CBS)

Modern Family

Superstore

The Gifted

9PM (FOX)

NEW

8PM (NBC)

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

NEW

Wisdom of the Crowd NEW

NCIS: Los Angeles

Grey’s Anatomy

9JKL

8:30PM (CBS)

8:30PM (ABC) NEW

Season 4 features a “zombie-free playground for millionaires.” Guess the apocalypse didn’t eradicate inequality.

8:30PM (ABC)

NEW

Hawaii Five-0 Z Nation

8PM (CBS)

Speechless

10PM (ABC)

8PM (FOX)

8PM (ABC)

The Simpsons The Mick

Lucifer

Tin Star

9:30PM (CBS)

Curb Your Enthusiasm Ten Days in the Valley NEW

10PM (ABC)

Ghost Wars

Forget the war on drugs—a small Alaskan town has more pressing problems when it’s overrun by paranormal forces.

NEW

Real Estate Wars

10PM (BRAVO)

Realtors are the new gangs on this reality series about a turf war between O.C.-based agents.

OCT. 6

The Story of Us With Morgan Freeman

OCT. 15

NEW

Once Upon a Time

Berlin Station

9PM (NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC)

8PM (ABC)

10PM (CBS)

Mr. Robot

OCT. 8

9PM (EPIX)

A “far-right tide” sweeping across Europe threatens German elections—and makes this espionage drama feel all too real.

10PM (USA)

OCT. 9 Supergirl

The Shannara Chronicles

Good Behavior

8PM (THE CW)

10PM (SPIKE)

10PM (TNT)

NEW

Chance

Valor

Hugh Laurie’s moody neuropsychiatrist teams up with a detective to pursue a serial killer in season 2.

OCT. 10 The Flash 8PM (THE CW)

of Us With Morgan Freeman

Looking forward to keeping it 100 with the former Nightly Show head writer on her satirical news show.

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow

OCT. 12

NEW

9PM (THE CW)

Supernatural

(HULU)

8PM (THE CW)

OCT. 11

9PM (THE CW)

8PM (THE CW) NEW

I Love You, America

OCT. 13

Arrow

Riverdale

9PM (THE CW)

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend 8PM (THE CW)

The Rundown With Robin Thede

Jane the Virgin

11PM (BET)

9PM (THE CW)

NEW

Dynasty

NEW

F R O M T O P Future Man; The Story

(HULU)

9PM (THE CW)

NEW

The Platinum Life

10PM (E!)

A.k.a. The Real Housewives of the Music Industry.

Mindhunter

( NE T F L IX )

NEW

OCT. 14

White Famous

10PM (SHOWTIME)

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency

OCT. 16

9PM (BBC AMERICA)

Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party

It’s Samuel Barnett and Elijah Wood versus a dangerous fantasy realm—i.e., just another day at the office.

The high-namic duo will break bread with Queen Latifah, RuPaul, and Margaret Cho this season.

10PM (VH1)

TREATMENT FOR YOUR GAME OF THRONES WITHDRAWAL “A captivating, heart-pounding fantasy”—US Weekly

“An adrenaline rush till the very last page”

“Spectacular” —Entertainment Weekly

—BuzzFeed

The Third Installment Coming Spring 2018!

“The addictive quality of The Hunger Games combined with the brutality of Game of Thrones.”

—Public Radio International

FUTURE MAN: ERIN SIMKIN/HULU; THE STORY OF US WITH MORGAN FREEMAN: ERIN SIMKIN/HULU

Madam Secretary

Freeman wanders the world exploring humanity, and somehow doesn’t lose faith in it.

OCT. 17 Hit the Road

8PM (AT&T AUDIENCE NETWORK )

Stranger Things 2

9PM (AMC)

(N E TFL IX )

OCT. 24

OCT. 30

At Home With Amy Sedaris

Superior Donuts

OCT. 21

NEW

The Watcher in the Woods

10:30PM (TRUTV)

NEW

8PM (LIFETIME)

We will throw a martini in your face Eileen Rand-style if you skip this remake of the ’80s cult classic, starring Anjelica Huston.

OCT. 22 NEW

The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt scene-stealer shows off her hilarious homemaking skills.

9:30PM (CBS)

The Jellies!

12:15AM (ADULT SWIM)

Shameless

NOVEMBER

9PM (SHOWTIME) NEW

OCT. 31

SMILF

NOV. 1

10PM (SHOWTIME)

Stan Against Evil

NOV. 8

10PM (IFC)

Why won’t the demons just leave Stan alone?

NEW

Hot Date

8PM (POP TV)

Major Crimes 9PM (T (TNT) NT )

OCT. 25

NOV. 2 N

NOV. 14

M om

NEW

9P PM (CBS)

(HULU)

Li fe in Pieces NEW

Future Man

TBD

9:3 30PM (CBS)

Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on Television* NEW

Rapper Tyler, the Creator co-created this oddball comedy about a family of jellyfish and their adopted human son.

VH1

The Walking Dead

Marvel’s The Punisher NEW

S.W.A.T.

1 0 PM (CBS)

( NE T F L IX )

(YOUTUBE RED)

N OV. 5 OCT. 27 Blindspot 8PM (NBC)

NEW

Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party

The Girlfriend Th Experience

WRIT TEN AND REP ORTED

BY Chancellor Agard

9PM (STARZ)

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY (ISSN 10490434) IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY EXCEPT FOR ONE WEEK IN JANUARY, FEBRUARY, APRIL, MAY, JUNE, AUGUST, SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER, NOVEMBER, DECEMBER AND TWO WEEKS IN MARCH AND JULY BY ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY INC., A WHOLLY OWNED SUBSIDIARY OF TIME INC. PRINCIPAL OFFICE: 225 LIBERTY STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10281. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT NEW YORK, NY, AND ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICES. U.S. SUBSCRIPTIONS: $49.92 FOR ONE YEAR. CANADA POST PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40110178. RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADA ADDRESSES TO: POSTAL STN. A, P.O. BOX 4327, TORONTO, ON M5W 3H5. GST 888381621RT0001. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, P.O. BOX 62120, TAMPA, FL 33662-2120, CALL 1-800-274-6800, OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW. EW.COM/SUBSCRIBERSERVICES. ©2017 ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED. ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, EW, CRITICAL MASS, LISTEN TO THIS, THE MUST LIST, AND THE SHAW REPORT ARE REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY INC. FANUARY IS A TRADEMARK OF ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY INC. SUBSCRIBERS: IF THE POSTAL AUTHORITIES ALERT US THAT YOUR MAGAZINE IS UNDELIVERABLE, WE HAVE NO FURTHER OBLIGATION UNLESS WE RECEIVE A CORRECTED ADDRESS WITHIN TWO YEARS. YOUR BANK MAY PROVIDE UPDATES TO THE CARD INFORMATION WE HAVE ON FILE. YOU MAY OPT OUT OF THIS SERVICE AT ANY TIME. MAILING LIST: WE MAKE A PORTION OF OUR MAILING LIST AVAILABLE TO REPUTABLE FIRMS. IF YOU WOULD PREFER THAT WE NOT INCLUDE YOUR NAME, PLEASE CALL OR WRITE US. PRINTED IN THE USA. ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

“THRILLING.”

“GAME CHANGER.”

“A VIBRANT, ACTION-PACKED SHOT OF ADRENALINE.”

“EXPLODING WITH COLOR, ACTION, AND UNRELENTING SPEED.”

—The Washington Post

—Leigh Bardugo,

#1 New York Times bestselling author of Six of Crows

—Wired Magazine

—Sabaa Tahir,

#1 New York Times bestselling author of An Ember in the Ashes

THE NEW NOVEL FROM #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR MARIE LU

FALL T V’S HITS & MISSES

The Bullseye

We’re pretty sure we’ve seen The Good Doctor before:

B Y MARC SNETIKER @MarcSnetiker

Shocker: The giant teleporting bulldog is not even remotely the weirdest thing about Inhumans.

d, ass-Same grizzled, kicking military man, way less Bones.

Maake TTV ’nasty again.

Make

We’d suggest spinning off Young Amy and Young Leonard next, but Blossom and Roseanne sort of took care of that already.

High, girls!

Revenge is a dish best served Crazy.

Meet Barbara! She’s seeking 51% equity of your votes for her new dancing start-up.

Can’t a guy prepare for his character’s highly anticipated impending death in peace anymore?

It’s almost like no time—or happy hour— has passed.

Finally, The Bernie Sanders Show is back in production.

Set phasers to stun and DVRs to “Record series with options.”

Our new favorite show is 9JKL! (LOL, j/k.)

116 E W.C O M

FA L L T V P R E V I E W 2 0 1 7

Kevin can can’t wait till his TV wife’s been dead long enough to get with Leah Remini.

HOUSE: WARWICK SAINT/FOX; LIFE IN PIECES: NEIL JACOBS/CBS VIA GET T Y IMAGES; CR A Z Y E X-GIRLFRIEND: SMALL Z & R ASKIND/ THE CW, ROBERT VOETS/ THE CW; YOUNG SHELDON: ROBERT VOETS/CBS; THE ORVILLE: MICHAEL BECKER /FOX; CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM: JOHN P. JOHNSON/HBO; KEVIN CAN WAIT: JEFFREY NEIR A/CBS; WILL & GR ACE: NBC UNIVERSAL; 9JKL, SE AL TE AM: CLIFF LIPSON/CBS (2); THIS IS US: RON BATZDORFF/NBC; DANCING WITH THE STARS: CR AIG SJODIN/ABC; BROAD CIT Y: CAR A HOWE/COMEDY CENTR AL; MARVEL’S INHUMANS: ABC/MARVEL

TV shows whose titles have new meaning since last fall: Life in Pieces, Speechless, American Horror Story