Fall (asleep) TV lineup
Schedule full of sequels & spinoffs
Welcome to the fall of TV shows you’ve already seen before.
A disappointing crop of new shows looks awfully familiar, mostly because they are. Peak TV has devolved into any number of spinoffs, sequels, remakes and reboots, leaving little room for original programming on networks and streaming services. Still, among the slim pickings, a few possible standouts emerge.
The highlight of the season may be Matthew Weiner’s triumphant post-“Mad Men” return to television, but that’s based on star power alone. An overwhelmingly impressive cast, including Isabelle Huppert, Aaron Eckhart, Andrew Rannells, Corey Stoll, Christina Hendricks, Amanda Peet, Diane Lane, Kathryn Hahn and Clea DuVall, comes to Amazon Prime for “The
Romanoffs,” a present day, eight-episode anthology story, shot across three continents, about people who think they’re descendants of the Russian royal family.
The fall’s big reunion is Jim Carrey and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” director Michel Gondry, who came together for “Kidding,” a socalled comedy about Mr. Pickles, a children’s TV icon whose personal life is in shambles. It doesn’t sound particularly comedic, but it’s Jim Carrey in his first regular TV role since “In Living Color,” and that’s enough.
The CW has done well for itself again, putting forward two promising new shows to compete alongside long-running network hits like “Supergirl,” “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” and “Supernatural.” The first, “All American,” stars Taye Dig School football coach Billy Baker, who recruits a black teenager (Daniel Ezra) from a south L.A. high school to play for him at Beverly Hills. Ezra’s Spencer James, based on former Giants and Jets linebacker Spencer Paysinger, stands out in every sense as he struggles to adjust to his new life, new school and new team. The second, “Charmed,” is exactly what you think it is: a slightly updated version of the original witchy show about three sisters who suddenly discover their magic gifts. Even with questions from the original cast, the reboot promises the delight of its predecessor and a 2018 look at the world around s that the W has tried nd delivered n before. Elsewhere, he annual un of comeies is strong, f largely unemarkable, etween Lil Rel Howery’s Rel” (a man’s wife cheats on n barber), the Amy Poehler-produced “I Feel Bad” (Sarayu Blue...feels bad about a lot of things), the Harry Styles-inspired “Happy Together” (a trainwreck pop star crashes on his accountant’s couch, throwing his and his girlfriend’s lives into a man-made hurricane) and the “This Is Us” lookalike “A Million Little Things” (a group of Boston friends reunites when one of them dies). “God Friended Me,” about an atheist who literally gets a Facebook friend request from God, is one of the riskier shows in recent memory, but that humor could go south very quickly if not wielded carefully and with the blessing of a higher being.
Other shows, for the most part, are relying on the draw of nostalgia. “Murphy
Brown” brought back Candice Bergen. “Magnum P.I.” got rid of Tom Selleck’s mustache and made Higgins a woman.
“The Rookie” (photo left) is just “Castle” with a few plot points changed (yes, Nathan Fillion stars). Even legendary “Law & Order” creator Dick Wolf is back, this time in New York with “FBI.”
Everything old is new again as streaming services and networks alike bank on viewers yearning for a simpler time.
Maybe they are, but maybe they deserve a little creativity, too.