Packed fall TV brings Julia Roberts, Jim Carrey
There’s so much television to watch or pretend to watch have you really followed all of wrenching “The Handmaid’s Tale” or even heartwarming “This Is Us”? - the guru who coined the term “peak TV” is upping the ante.
John Landgraf, the erudite chief executive of FX Networks, warned that TV’s golden age may be morphing into a gilded one, borrowing Mark Twain’s zinger aimed at the late 19thcentury’s crass excess.
Harsh! But it’s true that TV has reached superstore proportions: Streaming, cable and broadcast are on track to surpass the record 487 shows they fielded last year, with 300-plus shows already out by mid-2018 per an ongoing FX tally.
The fall TV season officially kicks off next week and even avant-garde streaming platforms, which release ambitious shows nonstop, are part of the traditional September hoopla once owned by broadcast networks.
So how to find quality goods? You might consider these tips brainstormed with TV and popular culture professor Robert Thompson of Syracuse University.
■ Do your homework. Viewers who once leisurely browsed through the schedules of broadcast networks for free now face a dizzying number of fee-based platforms and shows. Trusted publications and bloggers can help you sort through them.
■ Break out of your comfort zone. “Take a percentage of your viewing and watch things you think you’re not going to like,” Thompson says. Cable and streaming lean toward gourmet fare and networks dish out comfort food, but both can yield surprises.
■ Don’t judge a TV series by
its cover, aka the pilot episode. It introduces characters and provides a blueprint for where it intends to go, a heavy lift. It’s a rare bird like “This Is Us” that starts out precisely realized.
■ Follow the work of stars you like but keep producers and writers in mind, too. When “Mad Men” creator Matthew Weiner unveils new anthology series “The Romanoffs” Oct. 12 on Amazon Prime Video, admirers of his late, lamented AMC drama will want to tune in.
Which leads us to this fall’s
newcomers, a mix of “yes,” ”maybe“and ”why?“Here’s a roadmap to a season that has something for everyone, and too much for all.
HEY, I’M ON TV!
Julia Roberts, the epitome of big-screen star power, is following the path beaten by Nicole Kidman and others to intriguing small-screen material. For Roberts, the lure is Amazon’s podcast-based psychological thriller “Homecoming,” in which she plays a social worker for returning soldiers.
Nov. 2.
Jim Carrey stars in his first TV series, Showtime’s “Kidding,” created by Dave Holstein (“Weeds,” ”Raising Hope“) and with director Michel Gondry (”Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind“) on board for several episodes of the dark comedy. Airing now.
“Superbad” stars Emma Stone and Jonah Hill are together again in Netflix’s dark comedy “Maniac” as guinea pigs in a drug trial gone awry. It’s directed by Cary Fukunaga (“True Detective,” ”Beasts of
No Nation“). Sept. 21.
Jennifer Garner (“Alias”) returns to her TV roots with HBO’s “Camping,” an outdoor test of marriage based on the British comedy and produced by Jenni Konner of “Girlfriends.” David Tennant (“Doctor Who”) co-stars. Oct. 14.
Michael Douglas produced and stars (opposite Alan Arkin) in Netflix’s “The Kominsky Method,” a nuanced comedy about aging that’s a departure for creator and sitcom hitmaker Chuck Lorre (“The Big Bang Theory,” ”Mom“). Nov. 16.