This is looking like a very odd fall TV season. The list of shows to get excited about right this second is pretty short, but so is the list of shows to just dismiss out of hand. (I reviewed one of the latter group earlier today.) Probably the best show, Amazon’s “Transparent,” made its pilot publicly available back in February, and will be releasing all of its episodes at once on September 26, towards the tail end of the madness that is the official premiere week of the 2014-15 TV season. Mostly, though, there are a lot of new shows that could go either way: bad pilots that nonetheless have promising stars and/or creators attached (“Marry Me,” “Selfie”), good pilots that may not be sustainable (“Black-ish,” “The Affair”), shows that appear happy to settle in at competent (“NCIS: New Orleans”), etc.
Meanwhile, a number of returning shows that were previously part of fall have been pushed to either earlier in the year (“Masters of Sex,” wrapping up season 2 in a couple of weeks) or later in the season (don’t expect to see “Parks and Recreation” or “Community” until sometime in 2015), while other fall fixtures like “Parenthood” and “Boardwalk Empire” are nearing their series finales.
It’ll be a weird time, but Fienberg and I will be doing our best to guide you through it. I’ll be reviewing as many of the new shows as I can – sometimes in capsule form like I did last fall for the less interesting rookies – Dan and I will be discussing them all on various podcasts, and today we’re happy to unveil HitFix’s Fall TV 2014 guide, which includes our picks for the more promising newbies, potential breakout stars, burning questions about returning shows, stealth MVPs of veteran series, and more.
Click below to take a look, and let me pose a question to you: what new show are you most excited about? And are there any returning shows you don’t expect to be returning to this fall?