Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Pandemic shakes up fall TV season
YOU won’t be able to see the extended Pearson family fight and forgive each other on “This Is Us,” but you can watch “Tiger King’s” Carole Baskin dance the foxtrot.
Welcome to the fall TV season, COVID-style.
With the pandemic having delayed filming on, well, basically everything, the broadcast networks are filling their prime-time lineups pretty much any way they can: scripted series from outside sources, dramas from other countries, and game shows. So very many game shows.
CBS executives have expressed hope that its regular series could return in November. NBC has dated several of its shows — including “This Is Us,” “The Blacklist,” “Law & Order: SVU” and the “Chicago” franchise — for the week of Nov. 9. ABC will have new episodes of “The Goldbergs,” “The Conners” and “Black-ish” starting Oct. 21.
Of course, that assumes production goes smoothly. That will be easier for series — including ABC’s “The Good Doctor” and virtually the entire lineup of The CW — that film in Canada. There almost certainly will be some coronavirus-related delays, though, in areas where the spread hasn’t been contained as well. After all, if Warner Bros. can’t keep Robert Pattinson, the star of its upcoming “The Batman” franchise, coronavirus-free for more than a couple of days, what hope do some of these TV actors have?
Until things get back to normal, here’s a look at what the fall TV season has in store:
Shared series
To fill time, the networks have turned to foreign countries and their own corporate siblings for content.
The medical dramas “Transplant” (Tuesdays, NBC) and “Coroner”
(Oct. 7, The CW) hail from Canada, while Patrick Dempsey stars in the Italian banking thriller “Devils” (Oct. 7, The CW).
The streaming service CBS All Access is loaning out the first season of “Star Trek: Discovery” (Sept. 24, CBS) and the second season of the fairy tales of “Tell Me a Story” (Oct. 13, The CW).
The “Bad Boys” spinoff “L.A.’s Finest” (Sept. 21, Fox), starring Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba, and the Atlanta Olympics bombing miniseries “Manhunt: Deadly Games” (Sept. 21, CBS) debuted as Spectrum Originals available only to subscribers of Charter cable systems.
The reimagined “One Day at a Time” (Oct. 12, CBS) was canceled by Netflix after three critically acclaimed seasons before being res
cued by the CBS-affiliated Pop TV.
“Cosmos: Possible Worlds” (Sept. 22, Fox), hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, aired this past spring on National Geographic Channel.
“Swamp Thing” (Oct. 6, The CW), meanwhile, was canceled after its first episode aired on the fledgling DC Universe streamer, but its only season has been deemed worthy enough for network TV.
Other scripted fare
No new series captures the current condition quite like “Connecting” (Oct. 1, NBC).
The comedy follows a group of friends who keep in touch through video chats.
Sensing a troubled fall, Fox held back two new dramas that had been scheduled for the spring. Kim Cattrall stars in the Southern soap opera
“Filthy Rich” (Sept. 21), from “The Help” writerdirector Tate Taylor, while “Mad Men” Emmy nominee John Slattery headlines the artificial intelligence drama “NeXt” (Oct. 6).
Fox’s animated lineup —“The Simpsons,” “Bob’s Burgers,” “Bless the Harts” and “Family Guy” — was largely unaffected by the
pandemic and will return Sept. 27.
Unscripted shows
The made-in-Vegas episodes of “Shark Tank” will debut Oct. 16 on ABC. The network also has “Dancing With the Stars” (Monday), with the aforementioned Baskin being elevated to “star” status, and “The Bachelorette” (Oct. 13).
Otherwise, ABC is leaning on game shows to prop up its fall. Leslie Jones hosts the revival of “Supermarket Sweep” (Oct. 18). Jimmy Kimmel is back hosting new episodes of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” (Oct. 18) featuring celebrity contestants and front-line workers. ABC also has new seasons of “Celebrity Family Feud”
(Sept. 24), “Press Your Luck” (Sept. 24), “Match Game” (Sept. 24) and
“Card Sharks” (Oct. 18).
NBC, meanwhile, is bringing back “Weakest Link” (Sept. 29), with new host Jane Lynch, along with “Ellen’s Game of Games”
(Oct. 6).
Musical competitions
“The Voice” (Oct. 19, NBC) and “The Masked Singer”
(Sunday, Fox) return, while the latter adds a companion series with the musical guessing game “I Can See Your Voice” (Sept. 23, Fox).
With a new season of “Survivor” unable to shoot, CBS held onto “The Amazing Race” (Oct. 14) for fall, along with new episodes of “Undercover Boss” (Oct. 2).
Placeholders
If you need verifiable proof of the havoc the pandemic has unleashed on the fall season, look no further than these entries.
CBS already has introduced “48 Hours: Suspicion” (Wednesdays) to accompany the newsmagazine “48 Hours” (Saturdays). The network also has “The FBI Declassified” (Oct. 13), a look at some of the agency’s biggest cases, from the production team behind “48 Hours.”
Elsewhere at CBS, “The Greatest #AtHome Videos” (Sept. 25), hosted by Cedric the Entertainer, becomes a regular series.
The CW is introducing “World’s Funniest Animals” (Friday).
And Luke Wilson hosts “Emergency Call” (Sept. 28, ABC), an unscripted look inside 911 call centers.