Fall TV Preview (Part 2)

Last week I shared details on the reboots and spin-offs that will be airing this fall on the major and cable networks as well as the streaming services. This time around we’re going to focus our attention on the brand new dramas that will be debuting. [Thanks to the folks at TV Guide Magazine for much of these details.]

Please note that a few of the dramas listed below have already debuted.

NEW SHOWS ON THE BLOCK

This year will find a little over a dozen new dramas debuting on the small screen. They appear in alphabetical order:

BMF (Starz, September 26 at 9 PM)

The real-life coming-of-age story starts in the late 1980s in Detroit, following two brothers as they become kingpins of a coast-to-coast empire called the Black Mafia Family. The series chronicles their move into hip-hop, launching an entertainment business to launder drug money. The two brothers will be played by Da’Vinchi and Demetrius Flenory Jr.

Colin in Black & White (Netflix, October 29)

Ava DuVernay produces and directs this scripted 6-episode series about the former NFL quarterback and social activist Colin Kaepernick, who will be portrayed by Jaden Michael (The Get Down and Wonderstruck). Mary-Louise Parker and Nick Offerman will play his adopted, compassionate white parents.

Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol (Peacock, September 16)

Film fans know the character of Robert Landgon as played by Tom Hanks, but this small screen adaptation will find actor Ashley Zukerman (Manhattan and Succession) as a young Langdon, who is invited into an ancient Masonic scavenger hunt across Washington, D.C., when his mentor, Peter Solomon (Eddie Izzard), is kidnapped. The CIA forces him onto a task force where he uncovers a chilling conspiracy. The cast includes Rick Gonzalez (Arrow) and Valorie Curry (The Following).

Dopesick (Hulu, October 13)

This fact-based 8-part series chronicles “the big lie” of OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma, exploring how marketing head Richard Sackler (Michael Stuhlbarg from Your Honor and The Looming Tower) led a campaign of misinformation in 1996 to fool doctors about the painkiller’s addictive nature. Michael Keaton will play a Virginia doctor; Kaitlyn Dever (Last Man Standing and Justified) will play a young coal miner; Peter Sarsgaard will play a US assistant attorney and Rosario Dawson will play a DEA agent.

Foundation (Apple TV+, September 24)

Based on the book series by Isaac Asimov, this sci-fi series is a complex saga of humans scattered on planets throughout the galaxy all living under the rule of the Galactic Empire. That empire is about to collapse, leading to 30,000 years of darkness. Using the predictive mathematical power of “psychohistory,” developed by Hari Seldon (Jared Harris from The Crown), a small group of people aim to reduce that to a “mere” 1,000 years. The cast includes Lee Pace (Guardians of the Galaxy and Pushing Daisies), T’Nia Miller (Free Rein and The Haunting of Bly Manor), Daniel McPherson (Strike Back and The Shannara Chronicles), Clarke Peters (The Wire) and Mido Hamada (Veronica Mars and Emerald City).

Hawkeye (Disney+, November 24)

Clint Barton [aka Hawkeye] (Jeremy Renner) is in New York City for the holidays with his family; but is pulled into the mystery of who is parading around the city as his persona of Ronin. That person turns out to be Kate (Hailee Steinfeld from Dickinson), who is a young warrior who worships Hawkeye. Set after the events of Avengers: Endgame, the city has recovered from the disappearance of half the population, but not all of its citizens have done so.

Invasion (Apple TV+, October 22)

Sam Neill stars as rural American sheriff John Bell Tyson, who is one day from retirement, but when he tries to solve a missing persons mystery, this leads him into danger and a close encounter of the third kind. The series also stars Shamier Anderson (Wynonna Earp).

La Brea (NBC, September 28 at 9 PM)

This sci-fi thriller is about a massive sinkhole that opens up at the site of the famous La Brea Tar Pits. Think of this as Jurassic Park meets Journey to the Center of the Earth. Dozens of people fall in the sinkhole and they are transported to a primeval world, having to band together to survive while those “up top” try to find a way to rescue their loved ones and survive the beastly residents inside the sinkhole become interested in what lies above. The core family separated by the sinkhole are estranged parents Eve and Gavin Harris (Natalie Zea from Justified and Eoin Macken from The Night Shift) and her son Josh (newcomer Jack Martin) and daughter Issy (newcomer Zyra Gorecki). Eve and Josh fell into the sinkhole while Gavin and Issy are “up top.” Nicholas Gonzalez (The Good Doctor), Jon Seda (Chicago P.D.) and Karina Logue (NCIS: Los Angeles) also star.

Maid (Netflix, October 1)

The 10-episode series is an adaptation of the 2019 book Maid: Hard work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive that will star Margaret Qualley (The Leftovers) as mom Alex, who barely exists as a house cleaner after leaving her partner Sean (Nick Robinson from Jurassic World and Love, Simon), who was emotionally and nearly physically abusive. Alex is trying to break the cycle of mistreatment. Qualley’s real-life mom Andie McDowell will play Alex’s bipolar mom Paula and Anika Noni Rose (Dreamgirls) will play a prickly lawyer named Regina who befriends Alex.

Ordinary Joe (NBC, September 20 at 10 PM)

James Wolk (Tell Me a Story and Watchmen) will star as Joe Kimbreau, who will live out three different paths after college graduation in a “what if” scenario: what would’ve happened if he became a nurse, a cop or a rock star? Cop Joe sings love songs at a bar, nurse Joe plays covers with his 9-year-old son and rock star Joe tries not to be too much of an ass. His love life veers in different directions with nurse Joe having a shaky marriage with Jenny (Elizabeth Lail from You and Once Upon a Time), his best friend from college while rock star Joe deals with a personal loss with wife Amy (Natalie Martinez from Under the Dome) while single cop Joe shares sparks with Amy as they cross paths with her many years after college.

One of Us Is Lying (Peacock, October 7)

The drama series, based on the best-selling novel by Karen M. McManus, tells the story of what happens when five high schoolers walk into detention and only four make it out alive. Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has something to hide. Think of this as Gossip Girl meets a much darker version of The Breakfast Club with a cast of fresh-faced newcomers (for the most part), including Annalisa Cochrane (Cobra Kai and The Young and the Restless), Chibuikem Uche (American Housewife), Jessica McLeod (You Me Her), Barrett Carnahan (Alexa & Katie and Cruel Summer) and Melissa Collazo (the box office film Freaky) and relative newcomers Marianly Tejada and Cooper van Grootel. The first three episodes will air on October 7 with the next 3 airing on October 14 and the final two episodes on October 21.

Our Kind of People (FOX, September 21 at 9 PM)

Based on the best-seller by Lawrence Otis, the series stars Yaya DaCosta (Chicago Med) plays Angela Vaughn, a new arrival to the Martha’s Vineyard enclave of Oak Bluffs, MA – which is the real-life playground of the Black elite. Her mother was once a maid on the island and now Angela wants to make some prominent connections for her hair-care line. Her daughter Nikki (newcomer Alana Bright) is with her as well as her aunt “Piggy” (Debbi Morgan of All My Children fame) as they met the Franklin-Dupont dynasty ruled by matriarch Olivia (L. Scott Caldwell from Lost), her son Raymond (Morris Chestnut from The Resident) and his socialite wife Leah (Nadine Ellis from Let’s Stay Together). Joe Morton (Scandal and Eureka) will play Teddy Franklin.

Queens (ABC, October 19 at 10 PM)

The fictional rap group Nasty Bitches reunites after 20 years to perform at the BET Awards after a hot artist samples their signature track [if this sounds just like Girls5Eva, it does, and it’s literally the same premise]. The series will star Brandy (Moesha) as single mother and struggling solo artist Naomi [aka Eplicit Lyrics]; Eve (The Talk and Eve) as mom of five Brianna [aka Professor Sex]; Naturi Naughton (Power) as devout churchgoer with a secret Jill [aka Da Thrill] and Nadine Velazquez (Major Crimes) as morning show host Valeria [aka Butter Pecan]. Taylor Sele (P-Valley) will play their former manager Eric.

The Big Leap (FOX, September 20 at 9 PM)

You can think of this show as a unique combination of the good parts of Glee and the bad parts of So You Think You Can Dance. The basic premise is amateur dances in Detroit are selected to audition then rehearse to perform a modernized Swan Lake all before cameras. The ensemble cast includes Scott Foley (Scandal and Felicity) as executive producer Nick Blackburn; Mallory Jansen (Galavant and Marvel’s Agents of Shield) as Monica Sullivan, former prima ballerina turned choreographer and judge; Kevin Daniels (Sirens and Council of Dads) as big, bold and encouraging judge Wayne Fontaine; Teri Polo (The Fosters) as Julia Perkins, a former ballerina and now disappointed wife and mom; Jon Rudnitsky (Saturday Night Live and Catch-22) as Mike Devries, an autoworker hoping to win back his wife; Piper Perabo (Covert Affairs) as Paula Clark, a musical theatre major turned corporate executive who is also a cancer survivor; Ser’Darius Blain (the latest Jumanji franchise) as Reggie Sadler, a celebrity pro football player recently “cancelled;” newcomer Simone Recasner as Gabby Lewis, a single mom who veered from her dance scholarship and now has a desk job; Raymond Cham Jr. (Five Points) as Gabby’s former dancer partner, who now runs a bowling alley and Anna Grace Barlow (The Young and the Restless) and Broadway vet Adam Kaplan as ballroom dancer twins Brittney and Simon Lovewell.

The Hot Zone: Anthrax (National Geographic, November 28 at 9 PM)

A few weeks after the 9/11 terror attacks, deadly anthrax spores were delivered to news outlets and politician’s offices contained inside mysterious letters. The series will dramatize those events with Daniel Dae Kim (Lost and Hawaii Five-0) starring as FBI agent and microbiologist Matthew Ryker. Tony Goldwyn (Scandal) will play Bruce Ivins, a US Army biodefense researcher.

The Wheel of Time (Amazon, November)

Based on the 14-book fantasy epic by Robert Jordan, the series stars Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) as justice-mindedMoiraine, a member of the Aes Sedai, a powerful organization of women who can use magic. She takes a group of five young people on a journey around the world, believing one of them might be the reincarnation of the Dragon, a powerful individual prophesied to either save the world or destroy it.

There will be more new dramas debuting later in the fall/winter as well as during mid-season, but those shows will be revisited when it’s closer to their debuts.