Paley Sneaks a Peek at the New Shows on ABC & CBS

Recently the Paley Center for Media held their annual Paley Preview Parties, which are a precursor for the upcoming fall TV season, showcasing just some of the new shows debuting on the major networks. Two of those parties were for ABC and CBS.

First, the Preview Party for CBS featured the entire (reunited) cast of Criminal Minds including (in alphabetical order) Paget Brewster, A. J. Cook, Thomas Gibson, Matthew Gray Gubler, Joe Mantegna, Shemar Moore and Kirsten Vangsness. Joining them was Executive Producer Erica Messer.

The cast obviously shared with a very fan-heavy audience their excitement over having Paget and A.J. back on the show and what their returns mean for the team. They spoke about some of the great villains that have been featured throughout the show’s history and even how “beloved” the show is all over the world by featuring a fan-made video from France – where they are the number one show – featuring highlights from the past seasons.

That night the pilots for the comedies 2 Broke Girls and How to Be a Gentleman and the new dramas Person of Interest and Unforgettable were all screened.

Person of Interest

The new Poppy Montgomery-led drama Unforgettable will debut on September 20 at 10 PM with Criminal Minds returning for its 7th season on September 21 at 9 PM. Meanwhile, the new drama, Person of Interest, starring Jim Caviezel and Michael Emerson will debut on September 22 at 9 PM. Whereas the new comedies 2 Broke Girl will debut on September 19 at 9:30 PM and How to Be a Gentleman will debut on September 29 at 8:30 PM.

Unforgettable

Then, there was the Preview Party for ABC, featuring, first, the screenings of the new comedies Suburgatory, Man Up and Last Man Standing. That was then followed by a panel with actors from those shows, including Dan Fogler and Christopher Moynihan from Man Up; newcomer Jane Levy and Jeremy Sisto from Suburgatory and Hector Elizando and Nancy Travis from Last Man Standing.

As creator and lead writer for Man Up, Christopher explained the reason behind creating Man Up was two-fold: to support his family and to show how the current generation of men needs to man up to their responsibilities and adulthood (compared to their fathers and grandfathers); Jeremy explained after doing a lot of drama it was delightful to be working in comedy like Suburgatory while newcomer Jane was overwhelmed and thrilled to be part of one of the most-buzzed about shows. Lastly, Hector and Nancy joked about working with Tim Allen and dealing with his ad-libbing on the set of Last Man Standing.

Man Up will debut on October 18 at 8:30 PM; Last Man Standing will debut on October 11 at 8 PM and Suburgatory will debut on September 28 at 8:30 PM

Revenge

Lastly, the pilot episode of the new drama Revenge was screened and was well-received by the audience with some of the cast – Josh Bowman, Nick Wechsler, Gabriel Mann and Emily Van Camp and Executive Producer Mike Kelly – appearing in the panel that followed the screening.

They shared stories about filming in North Carolina while the show is set in The Hamptons and that Mike’s obsession with the 1980’s soap opera Knot’s Landing influenced his creating the show. They were all very careful not to give away spoilers, but they did share that we will get answers to all the mysteries surrounding Emily’s character, her past and what really happened to her father; and that the latter part of the series will feature a trial regarding the death of a character that is shown at the beginning of the pilot episode.

Tune in for the series premiere of Revenge on September 21 at 10 PM.