Best New TV Shows and Series to Watch: Fall Schedule

Photo-Illustration: Kris Andrew Small; Photos: Macall Polay/Max (The Penguin); Netflix (The Perfect Couple); Mike Taing/Disney (Interior Chinatown); Samuel Dore/Netflix (Heartstopper); Apple TV+  (Disclaimer); Michael Parmelee/CBS (Elsbeth)

You may be worried that fall TV will feel like a letdown now that the biggest, buzziest shows of the year, such as House of the Dragon and The Bear, have come and gone. Worry not, because there’s still plenty to watch — and a lot of it sounds pretty dang good. There’s tons of genre TV to fill the Westeros-shaped void, including Dune and Batman spinoffs, an increasingly rare small-screen MCU entry, and Zack Snyder’s TV debut. There’s also an unusual amount of shows about espionage and secret agents, including not one but two series about old man spies. (One is a comedy, the other a drama.) There’s more Squid Game to be played and more backstabbing to be had on The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. Somehow, there are four (4) Taylor Sheridan shows. It’s gonna be a busy TV season — no dragons needed. —James Grebey

This promising half-hour comedy comes courtesy of actor and comedian Brian Jordan Alvarez, known for TikTok characters like TJ Mack (and his improvised earworm “Sitting”) and supporting roles in M3GAN and the Will & Grace revival. Alvarez stars as Evan Marquez, a high-school English teacher in Austin struggling to juggle his professional and love lives. —Ben Rosenstock

Streamers have played us all for fools, convincing us it’s normal to have two- or even three-year gaps between seasons of a show. Thank goodness for Slow Horses, as Gary Oldman and his gaggle of semi-inept spies are back for a fourth season premiering less than a year after its third (they were shot simultaneously). This time around, a bomb has gone off in London, Hugo Weaving has joined the cast as a scary new baddie, and Oldman’s Jackson Lamb is still a miserly cad. —J.G.

Grace Van Patten and Jackson White’s toxic lovers return for the sophomore season of this intrigue-filled romantic drama, which sees the pair on the outs following a breakup before summer vacation. But Lucy and Stephen can’t seem to quit each other, for better or worse — and given that their relationship has already featured a deadly hit-and-run and a cover-up, it’s probably the latter. Lucifer star Tom Ellis joins the cast as a professor at Baird College. —J.G.

A true-crime podcast that’s not about a terrible murder gets big-name talent for the adaptation, which chronicles a historic heist on the night of Muhammad Ali’s 1970 comeback fight in Atlanta. Kevin Hart stars alongside Taraji P. Henson, Terrence Howard, Chloe Bailey, and Samuel L. Jackson. —J.G.

Adapted from Elin Hilderbrand’s best-selling murder mystery, this six-episode limited series sees Nicole Kidman play a rich novelist planning her son’s (Billy Howle) wedding in Nantucket. But when a body appears on the beach, the wedding turns into a murder investigation. The cast also features Liev Schreiber, Dakota Fanning, Meghann Fahy, and Eve Hewson. —B.R.

Sometimes you want prestige, and sometimes you want a docureality series about a friend group of Mormon mom influencers whose lives are rocked by the revelation that there are swingers in their midst. —Kathryn VanArendonk

One surprising highlight of Matt Reeves’s The Batman was Colin Farrell’s prosthetics-laden take on Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, an unhinged gangster and lieutenant of Carmine Falcone with ambitions of his own. Now Oz is back with his own spinoff series, hoping to take advantage of a new power vacuum in Gotham — though Falcone’s daughter Sofia (Cristin Milioti) has designs on the criminal empire. —B.R.

The Elena Ferrante adaptation returns for an emotional final season directed by Laura Bispuri. The characters age up with a new cast one final time: Alba Rohrwacher (La Chimera) plays Lenù after narrating her story for the first three seasons, while Irene Maiorino is an uncannily perfect older version of Lila. As the former struggles to reconcile her identity as a feminist author with her dependence on Nino (Fabrizio Gifuni), the latter runs a tech business in the old neighborhood and continues to humiliate its previous masters the Solaras. —Jasmine Vojdani

We’ve all gotten a little older waiting for this thriller’s second season but it’s finally here. Season two sends not one but two old men, Jeff Bridges’s former CIA operative Dan Chase and John Lithgow’s FBI head Harold Harper, into Afghanistan to rescue Alia Shawkat from the terrorist who kidnapped her. Not what I’d want to do with my golden years, but it’s good that these senior citizens have a hobby. —J.G.

Natasha Rothwell is returning to The White Lotus for season three but spent her time away from the resort creating and starring in this brand-new comedy. How to Die Alone follows Mel, described as “a broke, fat, Black JFK airport employee,” as she decides to give life and love an earnest try after surviving a near-death experience. —J.G.

The title is misleading: It’s actually about four women. Shailene Woodley stars as a fictionalized Lisa Taddeo, the author behind the 2019 book on which the series is based. She travels the country looking for inspiration and stumbles on the stories of a woman who wants to find a sexual spark in her marriage again (Betty Gilpin), a woman who enjoys swinging with her husband (DeWanda Wise), and a high-school student having an affair with her teacher (Gabrielle Creevy). —J.G.

Sylvester Stallone’s Mafia capo returns in this Taylor Sheridan–produced series. After successfully establishing a casino and a criminal operation in Tulsa (making himself the city’s “king,” if you will), Dwight “The General” Manfredi has now made a target of himself, as both the Kansas City mob and a powerful Tulsa businessman played by Neal McDonough look to challenge his rule. —J.G.

We have not one, not two, but three Ryan Murphy productions hitting our screens this fall. First up is the latest in the ever-expanding American Story–verse: Season one of this athlete-focused anthology deals with former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez (Josh Andrés Rivera), who died by suicide in 2017 while in prison for first-degree murder. The large ensemble also includes Patrick Schwarzenegger as Tim Tebow, along with Lindsay Mendez, Tony Yazbeck, and Jake Cannavale. —B.R.

You know that scene in Good Will Hunting where Matt Damon solves a math problem and everybody realizes he’s a secret genius? Kaitlin Olson does that but for solving murders in this sitcom about a cleaning lady the police hire as a consultant after she sees what none of the pros could in the evidence during her nightly shift. —J.G.

WandaVision creator Jac Schaeffer is back with this long-awaited spinoff starring Kathryn Hahn as Agatha, the witch disguised as Wanda’s neighbor. Freed from the sitcom world and joined by a goth teen familiar (Joe Locke), Agatha puts together a coven of witches — including Aubrey Plaza, Patti LuPone, and Sasheer Zamata — to travel down the Witches’ Road for some mysterious magical reward. —B.R.

Following the events of last season’s bombshell finale with the unmasking of Reality Von Tease, the Housewives from Utah are back and ready for more drama. Lisa Barlow’s friend Bronwyn Newport enters the fray as a new Housewife as Monica Garcia departs, with the season’s action including critiques of one another’s parenting styles, disagreements about faith, and “harmful rumors” about one of the wives’ jewelry line. —J.G.

Sure, the first Golden Bachelor and his winner ended up divorced within months of their televised wedding. But will that happen to our gal Joan Vassos? Only the rose knows. The inaugural Golden Bachelorette season will follow the 61-year-old widowed school administrator from Maryland as she’s wooed by 24 potential husbands. And there’s no MILF Island crap: All the men are between 57 and 69 years old — though Vassos admitted that she’s “probably going to kiss a fair amount of guys on camera” to find her soulmate. Good for her! —Devon Ivie

Those tossed salads and scrambled eggs? They’re callin’ again — again. Kelsey Grammer’s title character is still based in Boston and still teaching at Harvard, but he’ll revisit Seattle and step back into the KACL radio booth for an episode of the reboot. Peri Gilpin will reprise her role as Roz Doyle from the original series run, but as far as we can tell, Niles Crane (David Hyde Pierce) is still MIA. —J.G.

This anthology began as a limited series tracking serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer (Evan Peters) from adolescence through his eventual murder in prison. In the follow-up, one monster becomes two: Nicholas Chavez and Cooper Koch play Lyle and Erik Menéndez, the infamous brothers convicted in 1996 for murdering their parents (played here by Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny). —B.R.

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole director Zack Snyder returns to animation for his first-ever TV show, a gnarly looking tale of revenge, love, and bloodshed. Twilight of the Gods is Snyder’s take on Norse mythology, a subject that seems so tailored to his interests it’s surprising he hasn’t already tackled it. —J.G.

The original Matlock ran for nine seasons in the ’80s and ’90s and racked up nearly 200 episodes by the time of the finale. That’s the sort of thing that simply doesn’t happen anymore, so perhaps the reboot is going for a quality-over-quantity situation. (No offense to the late Andy Griffith.) There’s another big difference with this one: Whereas the old Matlock, a criminal-defense attorney, was a man, the new Matlock is an Academy Award–winning woman as Kathy Bates steps into the courtroom to defend the presumed innocent. —J.G.

We don’t know much about the new horror series Grotesquerie aside from the involvement of regular Ryan Murphy collaborators (Niecy Nash-Betts and Courtney B. Vance) and those new to that particular universe (Lesley Manville and Travis Kelce). But in terms of grotesquerie in a Murphy production, it’ll be hard to top Mr. Schuester’s performance of “La Cucaracha.” —B.R.

The first season of this charming Australian rom-com brought Ashley (Harriet Dyer) and Gordon (Patrick Brammall) together as a couple after they accidentally kind of sort of hit a dog (the titular Colin) with a car. Season two has them living together and trying to make their relationship work while also attempting to retrieve Colin from his original owners. —J.G.

9-1-1 meets Below Deck in Ryan Murphy’s new series, which stars Joshua Jackson as the onboard doctor of a luxury cruise ship. I’ve never been on a cruise, but my understanding is that norovirus outbreaks are the primary medical concern. Hopefully Doctor Odyssey will deal with cases that aren’t as shitty. —J.G.

Erin Foster’s own love story inspired this comedy series, which stars Adam Brody as a rabbi named Noah and Kristen Bell as Joanne, the brutally honest agnostic woman with whom he falls in love. Timothy Simons (Veep) and Justine Lupe (Succession) play Noah’s brother and Joanne’s sister. —B.R.

Are the kids all right? FX’s new documentary series Social Studies follows a group of Los Angeles teenagers throughout a school year, offering a revealing look at how social media has impacted the high-school experience — including the role TikTok, Instagram, etc. play in bullying, peer pressure, self-image, and all the other stuff about being a teen that already sucked before the internet. —J.G.

The famed mountaineer George Mallory supposedly said he wanted to climb Mount Everest “because it’s there.” The competitors on CBS’s reality series The Summit have a different motivation: The 16 competitors have a combined $1 million in their backpacks, and unless they all reach the top of a far-off mountain in the New Zealand Alps, they don’t get the prize money. It’s maybe not as noble as Mallory’s motives, but he also died on Mount Everest, so who’s to say who is right? —J.G.

It’s time for The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon to crack the spine of The Book of Carol — and presumably some literal zombie spines, too. The original series’ two breakout characters have plenty to do, as Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride) is still searching for Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus), who has become a major player in the fate of postapocalyptic France. —J.G.

Outlast, season two (Netflix, September 4)
Selling Sunset, season eight (Netflix, September 6)
The Circle, season seven (Netflix, September 11)
The Tailor of Sin City (AMC, September 12)
A Very Royal Scandal (Prime Video, September 19)
La Maison (Apple TV+, September 20)
From, season three (MGM+, September 22)
Brilliant Minds (NBC, September 23)
Murder in a Small Town (FOX, September 24)
Midnight Family (Apple TV+, September 25)
Grey’s Anatomy, season 21 (ABC, September 26)

With its PG-rated sentimentality and emphasis on 14- and 15-year-olds calmly talking through their problems, Heartstopper may come across as cloying to viewers with a taste for the gritty. But the show’s multifaceted portrait of queerness never feels manipulative or unrealistic — especially in season two, which introduced weightier subject matter including Charlie’s (Joe Locke) eating disorder. If Alice Oseman’s source material is any indication, this season could be the most serious yet — but Heartstopper always feels like a warm salve, and that shouldn’t change anytime soon. —B.R.

Critical Role, the web series where professional voice actors play an elaborate and lengthy game of Dungeons & Dragons, is back for a third season of the animated adaptation of the group’s first epic campaign. It’s another tight 12 episodes of high-fantasy action and humor — significantly streamlined from the 447-hour total runtime of the original livestreamed show. Think House of the Dragon but with more dick jokes. —J.G.

As manager to down-and-out boxer Esteban “La Máquina” Osuna (Gael García Bernal), Andy Lujan (Diego Luna) sets up a match that will hopefully reverse his best friend’s fortunes. Then the pair find themselves entangled in a criminal underworld. 3 Body Problem’s Eiza González co-stars as Esteban’s journalist ex-wife, Irasema. —J.G.

The strike-shortened third season of Abbott Elementary ended with a moment that fans have been waiting for: Janine and Gregory kissing and presumably beginning a real romantic relationship. (They did kiss once before, but now it’s really on.) What will that dynamic actually look like once school is back in session? Will Jacob get a new love interest to fill the Zach-shaped hole in his heart? And which Philadelphia natives could show up to roam the halls this time? It’s only a matter of time before Will Smith drops in, right? —B.R.

James Wan, the man who brought us the beautifully deranged movie Malignant in addition to Aquaman and some Fast and Furious entries, executive-produces Peacock’s upcoming sci-fi horror series. A loose adaptation of the ’80s novel Stinger, Teacup stars Yvonne Strahovski as one of a handful of residents of a small Georgia town who must contend with a grotesque alien visitor. —J.G.

Hayley Atwell voices the iconic video-game heroine in Netflix’s anime-style series, which supposedly bridges the narrative gap between the original ’90s games and the well-regarded reboot trilogy from the 2010s. That’s all well and good as long as it doesn’t get in the way of some cool tomb-raiding action that any layperson can enjoy. —J.G.

Alfonso Cuarón’s last big project was Roma in 2018, and he hasn’t worked in TV since the short-lived NBC fantasy drama Believe back in 2014. Now he’s adapting Renée Knight’s bestselling novel Disclaimer. The seven-episode psychological thriller follows Catherine Ravenscroft (Cate Blanchett), a journalist who receives a threatening gift from an anonymous sender: a novel in which she’s the main character and all her secrets are on display. —B.R.

After originating the role of Elsbeth Tascioni on The Good Wife and making further appearances in The Good Fight, Carrie Preston got her own Columbo-inspired spinoff, shifting from attorney to pseudo-detective with the NYPD. Now Elsbeth is back for a full 20-episode second season. That means double the episodes and double the extravagantly quirky outfits. —B.R.

Billy Crystal gets serious (and possibly a bit spooky) in this Apple TV+ psychological thriller, playing a recently widowed child psychologist who begins treating a young boy (Jacobi Jupe) linked to his past. Judith Light and Rosie Perez co-star. —J.G.

FX’s beloved vampire comedy reset everything at the end of the last season as Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) willingly gave up the bloodsucking powers he’d briefly gained after desperately coveting them for the five previous seasons. But that lack of a cliffhanger might actually raise the stakes (pun intended) for the sixth and final season of WWDITS: What can Nandor, Laszlo, and Nadja do that will actually leave a lasting mark on the world after decades of pretty much just bumming around Staten Island? —J.G.

Last season cemented this comedy-drama as one of the tenderest shows on TV. Credit creators Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen for bringing the distinct small-town Kansas setting to life — and executive producer and star Bridget Everett, whose endearingly imperfect Sam is Somebody Somewhere’s anchor. Everett comes from a cabaret background, and season three should deliver more tear-jerking musical performances — along with, hopefully, many more joyful hangout sessions with Joel (Jeff Hiller). —B.R.

Keri Russell is used to playing characters dealing with international crises, from a Russian spy in D.C. during the Cold War to a nurse trapped on a planet with a race of superintelligent apes. In The Diplomat, she’s the new U.S. ambassador to the U.K., and the stakes are high, even if season one didn’t come close to touching The Americans in quality. Tune in to season two if you’re interested in seeing more of the performance that netted Russell her fourth Emmy nomination. (It’s a crime she’s never won.) —B.R.

Even with Deadpool & Wolverine raking in money at the box office, it’s hard to escape the feeling that Marvel fatigue started setting in sometime around the end of Phase Three. This half-hour comedy from director Sam Mendes and writer Armando Iannucci (known for satires like The Thick of It and Veep) loses the actual superheroes, focusing on the behind-the-scenes of a superhero-movie production. —B.R.

Sweetpea (Starz, October 1)
Joan (The CW, October 2)
Where’s Wanda (Apple TV+, October 2)
Trivial Pursuit (The CW, October 7)
Scrabble (The CW, October 7)
House of Villains, season two (E!, October 9)
Scamanda (NBC, October 9)
Citadel: Diana (Prime Video, October 10)
Shrinking, season two (Apple TV+, October 16)
Ghosts, season four (CBS, October 17)
Passenger (BritBox, October 17)
Happy’s Place (NBC, October 18)
Hysteria (Peacock, October 18)
Poppa’s House (CBS, October 21)
The Librarians: The Next Chapter (The CW, October 24)
Like a Dragon (Prime Video, October 25)
The Marlow Murder Club (PBS, October 27)

It’s difficult to think of another recent show with as lengthy a midseason break as Taylor Sheridan’s highly rated ranch drama, which premiered its midseason finale in the first few days of 2023. Since then, the production has been fraught with tension between Sheridan and star Kevin Costner, who announced in June that he wouldn’t return for the final six episodes of the show. That seemingly leaves us with Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Jamie’s (Wes Bentley) never-ending war as the main ongoing story. —B.R.

NBC’s latest single-camera sitcom from Superstore alums Justin Spitzer and Eric Ledgin follows in the tradition of workplace mockumentaries from the network’s past. This one, set in an underfunded hospital, stars Wendi McLendon-Covey and David Alan Grier, along with a large ensemble including Allison Tolman, Josh Lawson, Mekki Leeper, Kahyun Kim, and Kaliko Kauahi. —B.R.

The black comedy pulls a Big Little Lies with a sophomore season that explores the aftermath of getting away with murder — or, at least, getting away with murder so far. Sharon Horgan, Anne-Marie Duff, Eva Birthistle, Sarah Greene, and Eve Hewson return as the Garvey sisters, all five of whom are trying to move on following the murder of the second-eldest’s abusive husband and the accidental murder of his mother. Surely it’s smooth sailing from here on out, right? Right?? —J.G.

Patrick Radden Keefe’s 2018 book investigated the 1972 disappearance of a mother of ten accused of collaborating with the British while expanding its focus to largely analyze the history, motives, and tactics of both the loyalists and the nationalists during the Troubles. Josh Zetumer, who created the FX miniseries adaptation, has a sparse track record (he wrote the RoboCop reboot and the Mark Wahlberg vehicle Patriots Day), but director Michael Lennox directed all episodes of the Northern Ireland–set teen sitcom Derry Girls, so the series should benefit from his ability to create a sense of place. —Roxana Hadadi

At the end of the first season of this surprise-hit sci-fi series about the survivors of an apocalypse who live in an underground silo, Rebecca Ferguson’s main character, Juliette, left the dang silo! The broadening scope of the story, which is based on a series of books, means there’s plenty more mystery to uncover and frontiers to explore as Juliette tries to discover what happened to the Earth. Steve Zahn also joins the cast. —J.G.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Taylor Sheridan has a new drama set in the American West starring an A-list movie actor as a tough man in a rough industry. Landman is slightly different, though, as it’s based on the nonfiction podcast Boomtown, which explores the West Texas oil boom. Billy Bob Thornton stars as a crisis executive at a powerful oil company alongside Ali Larter, Demi Moore, Jon Hamm, and Michael Peña. —J.G.

Charles Yu’s novel of the same name, which won the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction, was formatted like a TV script to illustrate the ways Asian performers are historically limited to a select few “roles” in the popular white imagination — typecast, if you will, in both Hollywood and everyday life. While the imaginative story’s expansion to miniseries length is hard to visualize, with Yu himself onboard as showrunner and a strong cast led by Jimmy O. Yang, Interior Chinatown could be a richly satirical, formally creative adaptation. —B.R.

A key piece of the mythology in Frank Herbert’s Dune books (and Denis Villeneuve’s recent film adaptations) is the Bene Gesserit, an ancient order of women who hone superhuman abilities through vigorous training. This spinoff, set 10,000 years before the events of Dune, offers the origin story of that sect told through two sisters: Valya (Emily Watson) and Tula Harkonnen (Olivia Williams). —B.R.

Everyone’s favorite (mostly) reformed supervillain couple, Harley Quinn (Kaley Cuoco) and Poison Ivy (Lake Bell), have left Batman’s hometown of Gotham behind to set up shop on Superman’s turf, Metropolis. But, to paraphrase Joan Didion, it’s not “Goodbye to All Bat” — the Bat-Family and Harley’s rogues’ gallery of friends will still be around. Lex Luthor and Brainiac will be there too, though. Ugh. —J.G.

It’s a Good Place reunion as Mike Schur and Ted Danson link up for this Netflix comedy inspired by the true story of a retired grandfather who became an undercover detective while residing in the Pacific View Retirement Residence. Always Sunny star Mary Elizabeth Ellis plays his daughter, who has some thoughts about her dad’s twilight career as a PI. —J.G.

The Day of the Jackal (Peacock, November 7)
Citadel: Honey Bunny (Prime Video, November 7)
Cross (Prime Video, November 14)
Outlander, season seven, part two (Starz, November 20)
Arcane, season two (Netflix)

Creator-director Hwang Dong-hyuk conceived of Squid Game as a movie before turning it into a limited series … and then turning that limited series into an ongoing show when it became one of Netflix’s biggest hits. Season one’s heavy death toll means that season two has only a few returnees — Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon), and the Recruiter (Gong Yoo) have been announced — but now we’ll get to meet a whole new ensemble of people marked for death. Hwang says season two will center on one particular theme: the question “Is true solidarity between humans possible?” —B.R.

Secret Level (Prime Video, December 10)
100 Years of Solitude (Netflix)
Dexter: Original Sin (Paramount+)
The Sticky (Prime Video)
The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On, season three (Netflix)

Tamara Lawrance plays Millie-Jean Black, a Jamaican-born detective who must return to Kingston after a stint at Scotland Yard comes to an abrupt end. However, it turns out that London isn’t quite done with her after all, as one of the missing-person cases she’s dealing with ends up connected to a case that brings Detective Luke Holborn (Joe Dempsie) across the pond to the Caribbean. —J.G.

Zoe Saldaña returns in a role that doesn’t require her to be a blue or a green alien for the sophomore season of Taylor Sheridan’s spy thriller. Few details have been released as of yet, but Nicole Kidman will also be back. —J.G.

The latest from Dead to Me creator Liz Feldman follows three families as they all attempt to buy the same gorgeous little 1920s Spanish-style villa. It goes poorly. The all-star cast includes Ray Romano, Lisa Kudrow, Linda Cardellini, Luke Wilson, Teyonah Parris, O-T Fagbenle, Abbi Jacobson, and Denis Leary. —J.G.

Times may be changing for streamers, but it’s nice to see Netflix still taking the occasional important, prestige-y swing. Gabriel García Márquez’s celebrated magical realist novel gets a sweeping 16 episodes to follow the saga of the Buendía family and the curse that’s haunted their mythical Colombian home of Macondo for seven generations —

Okay, bad news first: Leighton’s leaving Essex College. Reneé Rapp ditched The Sex Lives of College Girls on what don’t appear to be the best terms, and she’ll appear in only a handful of episodes before permanently transferring to a different school (read: her music career). The good news is that one of the funniest pure comedies of the streaming era is coming back for its sophomore year (er, third season; yes, this is confusing). Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet), Bela (Amrit Kaur), and Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott) will just have to have more escapades and sexcapades in Leighton’s absence. —J.G.