10 TV shows to try this fall
The fall TV season isn't what it once was. Series are rolled out by the networks year-round, as fall premieres blend into midseason arrivals and beyond. But between Sept. 13 and Nov. 23 (when the Fox straggler "I Hate My Teenage Daughter" premieres), the five major broadcast networks will unveil a couple of dozen new shows.
Two tips about that: Forget you ever heard about "I Hate My Teenage Daughter." And make a special point to sample these recommended newcomers:
<b>1. "Ringer" (CW; premieres at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 13).</b> Eight years after "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Sarah Michelle Gellar is back in a new series, and it's a ring-a-ding-dinger. In one of her multiple roles, she plays Bridget, a stripper and drug addict in Wyoming who has struck a deal to testify against a fearsome villain whose latest heinous act she witnessed. Fearing for her safety, Bridget flees instead. She re-connects in Manhattan with her rich, long-estranged identical twin, Siobhan. But only after she appropriates her sister's identity does she realize that Sis' secret life makes her own seem idyllic by comparison. The first episode of "Ringer" is full of wicked twists that promise lots of juicy complications to come.
<b>2. "Free Agents" (NBC; premieres at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 14). </b>Alex is newly divorced and missing his kids. Helen is battling her loneliness with booze months after her fiance's untimely death. As co-workers in a public relations agency, they share one ill-advised night of passion, then, post-tryst, must face each other in the office. "Free Agents" has sassy, rapid-fire dialogue and, in a welcome change for a TV sitcom, grown-up comic plights. Hank Azaria plays Alex, about whom Helen aptly says, "I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but you're an absolute mess." To that, Alex counters that Helen (played by Kathryn Hahn) is just fine - at least, "apart from some problem drinking, occasionally mixed in with some impulsive sexual acting out."
<b>3. "2 Broke Girls" (CBS; premieres at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 19). </b>Thank Bernie Madoff for this delightful comedy. Formerly wealthy Manhattan socialite Caroline is broke and disgraced after her Madoff-like dad is busted for Wall Street piracy. Caroline seeks refuge in a downtrodden Brooklyn diner where she lands a job alongside street-wise Max, for whom waitressing is only one of two daily jobs. Despite their differences, they strike up a tentative friendship - and a business plan: Max bakes great cupcakes and Caroline turns out to have surprising business smarts. Is a sweet culinary empire in their future? Maybe, but not before they earn enough tips to get themselves out of hock. In the meantime, "2 Broke Girls" is blessed by sharp writing and a pair of young actresses who radiate instant comic chemistry.
<b>4. "The Playboy Club" (NBC; premieres at 9 p.m. Monday, Sept. 19). </b>This sexy melodrama is set in 1961 at the just-opened Chicago nightspot meant to build on Playboy magazine's seductive appeal, and it boasts romance, crime, period music and the aura of a glamorous, long-gone era. A half-century later, the power of the Playboy brand is such that merely attaching it to a glitzy prime-time soap is enough to scandalize modern-day cultural puritans. But people who actually watch the show will find "The Playboy Club" to be a plush escape, behind the scenes of a legendary watering hole. Starring as the bunnies are Amber Heard, Jenna Dewan Tatum, Naturi Naughton, Leah Renee and, as the Bunny Mother, Laura Benanti. Eddie Cibrian plays a mysterious lawyer, power broker (and, of course, playboy) who's a regular at the club. And David Krumholtz plays the general manager.
<b>5. "New Girl" (Fox; premieres at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20). </b>A wounded survivor of the relationship wars, Jess Day is goofy, good-natured and unguarded in her dealings with the world - and especially tone-deaf with men. When she catches her boyfriend with another woman in their apartment, she bolts for new living quarters, and ends up sharing a spacious loft with three guys. As played by the adorable Zooey Deschanel, Jess is not without her charms. But the likelihood of hanky-panky with any of her roomies seems slight. Instead, she seems to have drafted them as surrogate big brothers, with her domestic proximity forcing them to learn more about the female psyche than they ever dreamed.
<b>6. "Revenge" (ABC; premieres at 9 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21). </b>Emily Thorne is a wholesome, polished and friendly newcomer to the getaway known as the Hamptons in New York's Long Island. But Emily is an impostor. With her false name and identity, she's going undercover into Hamptons high society to wreak havoc on those who, years before, wronged her and her father terribly. She has a hit list, and "Revenge" seems poised to deliciously track her payback mission. Played by Emily Van Camp, Emily aims to take the rich folks down. It should be a blast watching her do it - and measuring the cost it exacts on her in the process.
<b>7. "Person of Interest" (CBS; premieres at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22). </b>An obscure software genius and an ex-CIA agent believed to be dead: This is the duo who dedicate themselves to preventing bad things from happening - even without knowing what the bad thing will be. This is an edgy thriller that links the video surveillance that blankets modern life with a computer program that identifies each "person of interest" - someone who, whether as a victim or a perpetrator, is about to be involved in a violent crime. Michael Emerson is the obscure man with the software, and he recruits Jim Caviezel, playing an off-the-grid ex-spy, to do his legwork.
<b>8. "A Gifted Man" (CBS; premieres at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23). </b>Dr. Michael Holt is a brilliant Manhattan-based surgeon-to-the-stars, but often his manner would make Dr. House seem warm and cuddly. Holt has charm he can switch on and off with the precision of his scalpel in the operating room. He is an overachiever in every sense, except as a man. But then his ex-wife, a fellow doctor and maybe the one woman he ever loved, re-enters his life. The twist is, she's dead. A radiant redhead with a tender, loving manner, she appears lifelike to him but is seen by no one else. She wants him to help finish her work at the medical clinic she ran for the poor. He wants her help in reclaiming his humanity. But as a man of science, can he handle this irrational arrangement? Patrick Wilson and Jennifer Ehle co-star.
<b>9. "Pan Am" (ABC; premieres at 9 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25). </b>The viewer's first reaction to watching this show might be to burst into tears. Revisiting the glorious dawn of the jet age in 1963, as compared with air travel today, is like comparing the Orient Express with Amtrak. This first-class new drama stars Christina Ricci, Kelli Garner, Margot Robbie and Karine Vanasse as the beautiful stewardesses (one of whom, adding to her awesomeness, is recruited as a government spy). On "Pan Am," there's romance, glamour and excitement for a new, ascendant age.
<b>10. "Once Upon a Time" (ABC; premieres at 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 23). </b>The whimsical abandon of this comedy-drama recalls "Pushing Daisies" and "Ugly Betty." It begins with an enchanted forest and the Seven Dwarfs as Prince Charming's kiss brings the deceased Snow White back to life. But before this loving couple has a chance to live happily ever after, the Evil Queen delivers a curse that traps them in the modern world. More specifically, they - and the rest of the universe of fairy tale characters - are rendered mortal, ordinary and frozen in time in Storybrooke, Maine. They don't remember that they used to be storybook characters. Their only hope: intervention by Emma Swan, a 28-year-old Bostonian who just may be the long-missing daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. Arlington Heights native Jennifer Morrison, Ginnifer Goodwin, Josh Dallas and Lana Parrilla star in a series that's dazzling to watch, kooky in concept, and leaves you after its first hour asking, "What just happened?" But you want to see more.