Fall 2016 TV Preview: 5 Most Anticipated New Shows

For even the most ardent of television fans, the fall season can be extraordinarily overwhelming. Not only do you have to navigate a fully reloaded broadcast schedule, filled to the brim with returning favorites and promising newbies, you have to contend with the sheer volume of programming coming your way. More outlets that ever are producing original scripted content and it can be a tall task to try to figure out what to sample, what to stick with, and what to ignore. The good thing about the seemingly never-ending cavalcade of original scripted shows is that networks are generally more patient nowadays and have grown more adept at monetizing the shows that aren’t hits in a Nielsen sense; the bad thing, though, is that finding out when a new show clicks into gear is next to impossible given the rise of staggered sampling and the inability of online television journalism to support on-going coverage of most new shows.

Therefore, before your DVR curls up into the fetal position sometime next month, KSiteTV has put together a list of five upcoming fall debuts that seem the most promising. Of course, these aren’t the only new shows we’ll be watching in the fall, but going by the promotional material, cast, and creative auspices, among other factors, these five shows seem poised to stand out against a heavily crowded fleet of content. In addition to providing our reasoning as to why each of these shows made it to the list, we’ve gathered the network they air on, their premiere date, and a list of the cast and creator, all topped off with a preview meant to show the series in action.

Eyewitness (USA Network)
Premiere Date: Sunday, October 16th – 10:00
Cast: Julianne Nicholson (Masters of Sex), James Paxton (Texas Rising), Gil Bellows (Ally McBeal), Warren Christie (Alphas), and Tyler Young (The Avatars)
Creator: Adi Hasak (Shades of Blue)
Though USA Network is in the middle of a rebrand built around edgier, prestige-chasing programming like Mr. Robot, they’ve not yet abandoned their crime drama faithful with Eyewitness. An adaptation of acclaimed Norwegian drama Øyevitne, Eyewitness tells the story of two teenage boys who bear witness to a crime and live in fear of both the perpetrator coming after them and their secret rendezvous being exposed. With a moody atmosphere not far removed from The Killing and a sure-to-be great lead performance from underrated Julianne Nicholson, the show would’ve been worthwhile even if it leaned more procedural than serial. However, the half of the show focusing on the teenage witnesses has the potential to lift this show to another level, thanks to the focus on PTSD and the impact that crime has beyond victims, perpetrators, and law enforcement. It’s an interesting twist on the type of crime drama we see on American television and something that could follow in the footsteps of this summer’s The Night Of in terms of showcasing aspects of the criminal justice system that don’t receive as much coverage.

Divorce (HBO)
Premiere Date: Sunday, October 9th – 10:00
Cast: Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex and the City), Thomas Haden Church (Wings), Molly Shannon (Saturday Night Live), Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords), and Talia Balsam (Mad Men)
Creator: Sharon Horgan (Catastrophe)
Over the past few years, HBO hasn’t been the friendliest network for low-key shows focused on relationships, as the likes of Looking, Togetherness, and Hello Ladies have all had their runs cut short. So one would think that excitement for Divorce, a low-key show focusing on relationships, would be tempered at best; however, the show’s creative team is absolutely stacked, with Sharon Horgan’s incisive writing about people fumbling through love, life, and marriage to be delivered by the likes of Sarah Jessica Parker (in her first series regular role since Sex and the City), Oscar nominee Thomas Haden Church, and Molly Shannon, whose turn on fellow low-key HBO dramedy Enlightened was nothing short of revelatory. Looking like a bittersweet take on the pricklier side of commitment, as well as what happens when one tries to be independent after decades of having someone else to rely upon, Divorce might not be as high concept as HBO’s current programming slate, but it has the potential to be one of the best projects they’ve put on in quite some time.

Queen Sugar (OWN)
Premiere Date: Tuesday, September 6th – 10:00 (special preview) and Wednesday, September 7th – 10:00
Cast: Rutina Wesley (True Blood), Tina Lifford (Parenthood), Kofi Siriboe (Awkward.), Dawn-Lyen Gardner (Art School Confidential), and Glynn Turman (House of Lies)
Creator: Ava DuVernay (Selma)
When you’re a network trying to be taken seriously as a destination for scripted content, sometimes all it takes is one show breaking through for people to hop on board. For OWN, that show was this summer’s Greenleaf, a family drama taking place in and around a megachurch in the south; with its fundamental understanding of television soaps, intriguing themes that don’t get explored much on television, and expensive look, it very quickly showed that OWN was a network that had higher creative ambitions than the Tyler Perry projects that made up their scripted slate to that point. Additionally, it very much ratcheted up my anticipation for Queen Sugar, a drama from Ava DuVernay based on the novel of the same name by Natalie Baszile. Centering on two sisters who inherit a New Orleans sugarcane farm from their recently departed father, the show looks to be following right in Greenleaf‘s footsteps as a drama with a decisive sense of place and a family dynamic ripe for exploration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEWo1jTw7vQ

No Tomorrow (The CW)
Premiere Date: Tuesday, October 4th – 9:00
Cast: Tori Anderson (The Other Kingdom), Joshua Sasse (Galavant), Jesse Rath (Defiance), Amy Pietz (The Nine Lives of Chloe King), and Sarayu Blue (The Real O’Neals)
Creator: Corinne Brinkerhoff (Jane the Virgin)
Based on Brazilian series Como Aproveitar o Fim do Mundo (How to Enjoy the End of the World), No Tomorrow is The CW’s latest attempt to add breadth to its brand of quirky romantic dramedies with unusual premises. Telling the story of a risk-averse woman who falls for a free-spirited man who believes the world is coming to an end in less than a year, No Tomorrow is a story of seizing the day and not allowing the boundaries you set for yourself to stifle your dreams. It’s right along the same wavelength as fellow CW dramedies Jane the Virgin and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend in dressing up heavy, resonant themes in comedic, (extremely) charming clothing, thereby enabling the show the latitude to try unusual things in order to allow its message to be heard. While one has to wonder whether this premise can sustain itself beyond a season, its uniqueness, combined with the show’s sunny optimism, should make it the new fall show with the most creative possibility.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gs3Dm8zO5Q

Versailles (Ovation)
Premiere Date: Saturday, October 1st – 10:00
Cast: George Blagden (Vikings), Alexander Vlahos (Merlin), Stuart Bowman (Gary Tank Commander), Tygh Runyan (Snakes on a Plane), and Noemie Schmidt (The Student and Mister Henri)
Creators: David Wolstencraft (Spooks) and Simon Mirren (Without a Trace)
Opulent costume drama Versailles, said to be the most expensive drama ever produced in Europe, hopes to bring the type of buzz to United States network Ovation as it did to Canal+ and BBC Two when it aired in France and the UK, respectively. Following in the sexy footsteps of The Tudors, The Borgias, and Reign, all full of delicious political intrigue and scandalous bed hopping, Versailles centers on famed “Sun King” Louis XIV as he moves French court from Paris to his father’s old hunting lodge in Versailles. The move inflames Parisian nobles and soon enough, the king is facing more threats than ever – all of whom want nothing more than to see him removed from power. It looks like a show whose visual richness will mesh well with its heightened sense of history in ways that are deeply satisfying, a show whose soapiness and themes of power and identity can happily co-exist.