‘Big Bang’ prequel part of the mix of promising series for autumn
Television, more than ever, is a year-round business. But fall remains a time to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of shows competing for viewers’ attention.
Here, based on dozens of hours of screening — or in a few cases, cockeyed optimism — are some of the most promising new series:
‘ The Orville’
“Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane has made a lot of money for Fox, and no expense seems to have been spared in designing and outfitting the starship of his dreams for this sci-fi series in which served as executive producer and star. The homage to the original “Star Trek,” but with better production values, the series moves — not always seamlessly — between broad comedy and thoughtprovoking drama. As the crew of the Orville explores new worlds, its captain (MacFarlane) revisits old wounds: Adrianne Palicki (“Friday Night Lights”) plays the ship’s new first officer, who happens to be the captain’s ex-wife.
‘ The Deuce’
From George Pelecanos and David Simon (“The Wire”) comes
a flashback to the gritty beginnings of the modern porn industry in 1970s New York. James Franco plays twins — based on real-life brothers who worked as fronts for the Gambino crime family — and Maggie Gyllenhaal portrays an entrepreneurial hooker who’s quick to recognize an opportunity to move beyond the streets. Fans of “The Wire” will see familiar faces, including Lawrence Gilliard Jr. as a cop whose territory includes the stretch of 42nd Street nicknamed The Deuce, Gbenga Akinnagbe as a pimp and Chris Bauer as the brother-in-law of Franco’s characters.
‘ Young Sheldon’
Jim Parsons, a coproducer, narrates the charming prequel to “The Big Bang Theory.” The series brings a “Wonder Years” vibe to the east Texas childhood of Parsons’ Sheldon Cooper, played by Iain Armitage (“Big Little Lies”). Zoe Perry, who plays Sheldon’s mother, is eerily good as a younger version of the character that her reallife mother (Laurie Metcalf) portrayed on “The Big Bang Theory.” She does her best to help her genius 9-yearold fit in — or at least remain safe — as he enters the ninth grade with his older brother.
‘Me, Myself & I’
If you can get past the peculiarity of casting John Larroquette as an older version of a character played by the considerably shorter Bobby Moynihan (“Saturday Night Live”) — a difference the show will be working to minimize — the comedy about an inventor at three pivotal stages of life is worth a look.
‘ The Good Doctor’
The new medical drama from “House” creator David Shore stars Freddie Highmore (“Bates Motel”) as a surgical resident with autism and savant syndrome; Richard Schiff (“The West Wing”) as the mentor trying to make his colleagues focus on the young doctor’s abilities, not his disabilities; and Hill Harper as a physician who has his doubts. The series was adapted from a South Korean series.
Mike Vogel (“Under the Dome”) stars as the leader of a special-ops squad, with Anne Heche (“Men in Trees”) playing the deputy director of the agency overseeing the squad’s international activities. One way to tell this new drama about an elite military team apart from two others: It appears to be less interested in the squad members’ home lives.
‘Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders’
The series represents a departure for the “L&O” franchise, which typically rewrites real-life crime stories and changes the names. Edie Falco (“Nurse Jackie,” “The Sopranos”) stars as defense attorney Leslie Abramson in an eight-part treatment of the case of Erik and Lyle Menendez, convicted in the 1989 murders of their parents at their Beverly Hills mansion.
‘SEAL Team’
David Boreanaz (“Bones,” “Angel”) stars as a leader of Tier One Navy SEALs — the elite of the elite — in a drama that encompasses both the team missions and its members’ complicated home lives.
‘ Will & Grace’
Will (Eric McCormack), Grace (Debra Messing), Jack (Sean Hayes) and Karen (Megan Mullally) are back together. And NBC, confident that we won’t want to let them go again, has ordered a second season of the once-groundbreaking comedy about a gay man and his best friend, together navigating single lives in New York.
‘Ghosted’
Comedy stars Craig Robinson (“The Office”) and Adam Scott (“Parks and Recreation”) play oddcouple investigators of the paranormal whose work could determine “the fate of the entire planet.” It’s more fun than that sounds.
‘ Ten Days in the Valley’
Kyra Sedgwick (“The Closer”) stars as a TV producer and single mother whose young daughter’s abduction exposes myriad secrets. After her caseof-the-week TNT drama, Sedgwick says, “I was interested in doing a show where I’m not solving a mystery. I am a mystery.”
Marvel might be everywhere, but not everything it offers is marvelous. This series, set in the X-Men universe, isn’t up to the standards of Netflix’s “Jessica Jones” or “Luke Cage,” but it’s a solidly suspenseful family drama starring Stephen Moyer (“True Blood”) and Amy Acker (“Person of Interest,” “Dollhouse”) as parents forced to take their family on the run after their children (Natalie Alyn Lind and Percy Hynes White) develop mutant powers.
‘ The Mayor’
What if someone ran for public office to boost his celebrity and then unexpectedly won? Brandon Micheal Hall stars as a young rapper who does just that — and then, with the help of his mother (Yvette Nicole Brown, “Community”) and his opponent’s manager (“Glee’s” Lea Michele) is pushed to try to become the leader his city deserves.
‘Kevin (Probably) Saves the World’
Jason Ritter (“Parenthood”) stars as Kevin, a man who has lived selfishly and is about to be transformed by the arrival of a messenger from God named Yvette (Kimberly Hébert Gregory). JoAnna Garcia Swisher plays Kevin’s twin sister, Amy, a widowed college professor who takes him in after he attempts suicide; Chloe East is her daughter, Reese, who doesn’t exactly greet her long-absent uncle with open arms.
Valor’
The third, and possibly the soapiest, of the season’s dramas to focus on elite military types, the series centers on U.S. Army helicopter pilots, with Christina Ochoa starring as one of her unit’s first female pilots and Matt Barr as the superior officer with whom she shares some dangerous secrets.
‘S.W.A.T.’
I have no memory, affectionate or otherwise, of the 1970s series or the film. But this TV series, starring Shemar Moore (“Criminal Minds”) as the new leader of a tactical police unit in Los Angeles, is more thoughtful than I expected (though no less action-packed).
(Sept. 24, CBS All Access): The series receives a special launch on CBS network affiliates and the CBS All Access streaming service, then switches to All Acess only — where new episodes will become available to subscribers on Sundays. The cast includes Sonequa Martin-Green, Jason Isaacs, Michelle Yeoh, Doug Jones, Rainn Wilson, Anthony Rapp and James Frain.
(Sept. 29, Netflix): Based on the teen years of co-creators Nick Kroll and Andrew Goldberg, the surreal animated comedy features the voices of Kroll, John Mulaney, Maya Rudolph, Fred Armisen and Jordan Peele.
(Sept. 29, Netflix): The TV version of the Stephen King novel "Mr. Mercedes" is outstanding. Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood star.
(Sept. 29, Amazon): Tim Roth stars in the 10-episode futuristic thriller about a British cop who relocates to the Canadian Rockies, where he becomes the police chief of Little Big Bear. He moves to the small town with a secret, trying to escape a dark past.
(Oct. 12, Hulu): The comedy/ talk show is hosted by Sarah Silverman.
(Oct. 13, Netflix): Based on the book of the same name, the crime drama follows an agent (Jonathan Groff) in the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit.
(Nov. 3, Netflix): Sarah Gadon, Anna Paquin, Kerr Logan, Zachary Levi and David Cronenberg star in the second streaming miniseries of the year based on a Margaret Atwood novel (the first was Hulu's "The Handmaid's Tale"). Atwood's 1996 book, inspired by an 1843 double murder in Canada, has been adapted into six episodes.
(Nov. 14, Hulu): The comedy stars Josh Hutcherson as a janitor who is transported through time and charged with saving the human race.
(Nov. 23, Netflix): Spike Lee's first TV series is a 10-episode updated version of his 1986 film. DaWanda Wise stars.