Preparing for the Fall TV Season (October)

The 2012-2013 TV season got started last month and in an effort to help our readers decide what new dramas to check out this TV season, I wanted to provide a brief rundown of what TV viewers can expect from the major and cable networks this month (October).

Again, this list will only focus on the new dramas – since that is my preferred genre; and the fact that – even according to some of the best-known TV critics – there are little to no worthwhile, new comedies being introduced this TV season.

TRANSPORTER – This Cinemax series is based on the film of the same name about professional transporter Frank Martin, who operates in a seedy underworld of dangerous criminals and desperate players. The series will debut in October.

ARROW – The new CW drama will debut on October 10 at 8 PM, chronicling what happens after a violent shipwreck leaves billionaire playboy Oliver Queen missing and presumed dead for five years before being discovered alive on a remote island in the Pacific. When he returns home to Starling City, his family and best friend welcome him home, but they sense Oliver has been changed by his ordeal on the island. While Oliver hides the truth about the man he’s become, he desperately wants to make amends for the actions he took as the boy he was; and so, he secretly creates the persona of Arrow – a vigilante – to right the wrongs of his family, fight the ills of society, and restore Starling City to its former glory.

NASHVILLE – Rayna James is a legendary country music superstar, whose star has begun to fade, causing her producers to offer her a joint tour with up-and-comer Juliette Barnes, the young and sexy future of country music. But both singers are pursuing their goals. Juliette wants to take the place of Rayna while Rayna thinks that a few songs written by talented author Scarlett O’Connor will help to revive her success. The drama will debut on ABC on October 10 at 10 PM.

CHICAGO FIRE – This NBC drama will debut on October 10 at 10 PM and follows the lives of the firefighters and paramedics working at the Chicago Fire Department.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST – Loosely based on the 1980’s series, this CW version will debut on October 11 at 9 PM, focusing on Detective Catherine Chandler, who witnessed the brutal murder of her mother by two gunmen. She would have also been killed if not for some sort of “being” who saved her life. Years later, Catherine finds a clue that leads her to the discovery of a handsome doctor named Vincent Keller, presumed dead in 2002 while serving in Afghanistan. For the last ten years, Vincent has kept a low profile in order to hide the fact that when he becomes angry, he turns into a beast… the same beast that saved Catherine’s life years ago.

EMILY OWENS, M.D. – The series follows the life of Emily Owens, a first-year intern at Denver Memorial Hospital, where she realizes that her med school crush Will Rider and her high school nemesis Cassandra Kopelson also work. Emily is not only the new kid once again, but real life is also just as awkward as high school. The series debuts on October 16 on The CW at 9 PM.

HUNTED – The Cinemax series will debut on October 19 at 10 PM and focuses on an operative for an elite private intelligence firm who survives an attempt on her life that may have been orchestrated by members of her own team.

Regardless of what type of dramatic programming you prefer to watch, there are plenty of choices on TV this fall. One suggestion, though, please don’t pass judgment on any of these shows until you watch them because you just might be surprised by what you find.

NOTE: More details will follow next month for the shows to be on the look-out for in November.