The 30 Most Anticipated Fall TV Shows

“Crisis In Six Scenes”
Synopsis: In the 1960s, a middle-class suburban family have their life turned upside down by an enigmatic visitor.
What You Need To Know: You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but you can apparently bring an 80-year-old director kicking and screaming into the streaming TV revolution. The announcement a couple of years back that Amazon had scored a coup by getting Woody Allen to make a TV series is arguably the biggest deal of the new era of television. Remarkably, Allen managed to squeeze it in without interfering with his usual one-film-a-year schedule, and “Crisis In Six Scenes” will hit the service at the end of September, marking the first time that Allen has written for the small screen since working for Sid Caesar in the 1950s. Beyond a fairly charming first clip, details are fairly thin on the ground so far, but we can possibly surmise a certain amount from the title: presumably each scene will take up an episode. Will this be Allen by way of Roy Andersson, with each episode made up of a single tableau? Any way around it, he’s assembled a great cast, with Allen acting, Elaine May also starring, and Miley Cyrus, John Magaro, Rachel Brosnahan, Becky Ann Baker, Michael Rapaport, Joy Behar and David Harbour also appearing. Let’s hope this is “Blue Jasmine” Woody rather than “Irrational Man” Woody.
Airdate: September 30th on Amazon.

“Marvel’s Luke Cage”
Synopsis: A bartender with super strength attempts to rebuild his life, but becomes embroiled in a battle for the future of Harlem.
What You Need To Know: Marvel’s Netflix experiment got off to a decent start in 2015: neither “Daredevil” nor “Jessica Jones” were perfect (the former in particular fell off in season 2), but each had a lot going for them, particularly the latter, which is stealthily an examination of abuse and trauma disguised as a superhero noir. The Jessica character hadn’t even been hinted at in “Daredevil,” so the third of five shows (“Iron Fist” will follow, with a “Defenders” team-up miniseries after that) is at an immediate advantage, as its central character was already a main character in “Jessica Jones.” The show, run by Cheo Hodari Coker (“Notorious,” “Ray Donovan”), takes Mike Colter’s near-indestructible Luke to Harlem, with a predominately African-American cast including Alfre Woodard and Simone Missick. Arguably the best features of these shows have been the villains, yet it’s too early to see whether villainous nightclub owner Cottonmouth can fill the shoes of Kingpin and Kilgrave: the character is played by “House Of Cards” veteran Mahershala Ali.
Airdate: September 30th on Netflix

“Westworld”
Synopsis: The story of the guests, inhabitants and creators of Westworld, a wild west theme park using state of the art robot technology to give its clients everything they ever dreamt of.
What You Need To Know: Whatever the pay-cable version of a summer blockbuster is —that’s “Westworld.” Based on Michael Crichton’s sci-fi novel (which itself spawned a successful movie in the ’70s), this J.J. Abrams-produced HBO show is co-created by Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan, co-writer of “The Prestige,” “The Dark Knight” and “Interstellar,” and creator of “Person Of Interest.” Teasers suggest a midpoint of “Jurassic Park,” “Ex Machina” and “Deadwood,” and the cast is spectacular:  Anthony Hopkins, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Rodrigo Santoro,“Creed” star Tessa Thompson, “The Duke Of Burgundy”’s Sidse Babett Knudsen, Clifton Collins Jr., and stepping into Yul Brynner’s shoes is none other than Ed Harris. It’s clearly HBO’s attempt for a new genre-flecked monster to fill the vacuum that “Game Of Thrones” will leave in a few years, but it’s not had the easiest time getting made — there have been massive cost overshoots, re-castings and even a shutdown of the show. But “Game Of Thrones” had a bumpy road too, and look how that turned out…
Airdate: October 2nd on HBO

“Divorce”
Synopsis: A woman tries to make a fresh start after a divorce.
What You Need To Know: Fans of bleak, testosterone-y “True Detective”-style HBO dramas might run for the hills at the news that Sarah Jessica Parker is returning to the network twelve years after “Sex And The City” wrapped up. But they may be forgetting that before it was tainted by the terrible movie versions, that show was a groundbreaking and often terrific comedy. And there’s reason to believe that “Divorce,” starring and produced by Parker, could be something special. The cast is strong: Thomas Haden Church plays her ex-husband, Molly Shannon plays her best friend, and Talia Balsam, Robert Forster, Tracy Letts and Jemaine Clement all have supporting roles. But the reason we’re really amped is that it’s created by Sharon Horgan, the Irish actress/writer who was behind both “Pulling” and the currently ongoing, absolutely brilliant “Catastrophe.” If “Divorce” can be half as raw, funny and charming about splitting up as “Catastrophe” is about getting together, we’ll be there every week.
Airdate: Oct 9th on HBO

“Insecure’
Synopsis: Comedy about “the friendship, experiences and tribulations” of two black women.
What You Need To Know: As great as “Girls” is, the show’s always been a disappointingly white look at the 20something bohemian lifestyle. Fortunately, “Insecure” should be a corrective. Created by Issa Rae, who previously starred in the hit web series “The Misadventures Of Awkward Black Girl” (and who here becomes the first black woman to create and star in her own cable sitcom), with comedy veteran Larry Wilmore on board as a producer, this show promises to be as honest and witty as its predecessor, and will surely launch Rae and co-star Yvonne Orji to stardom. It also looks like it’ll follow the lead of “Master Of None” and be genuinely beautiful to look at, with Melina Matsoukas, director of Beyoncé‘s “Formation” and Rihanna‘s “We Found Love” videos, helming the pilot, and a strong selection of directors beyond that. It’s good to see HBO embracing diversity a little more: let’s just hope this gets the kind of push that, say, “Looking” didn’t.
Airdate: Oct 9th on HBO

“Graves”
Synopsis: A former U.S. president realizes that his policies have damaged the country and sets out on a journey to right his wrongs, as his wife starts to follow her own political ambitions.
What You Need To Know: Although it’s existed for less than a decade, it’s surprising that Epix, the premium cable channel set up by Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM, has taken this long to get into the original programming racket, given the success that HBO, Showtime and Starz have all had. But this fall sees the network finally getting into it with a pretty big-name star leading the first of their two series. Nick Nolte headlines “Graves” as a cantankerous, vaguely Ronald Reagan/Bill Clinton-esque ex-president on a Don Quixote-style quest as his wife (Sela Ward) runs for president herself. Bringing Nolte to television is certainly a coup, and the time is certainly right for a political satire like this (at least until “Veep” comes back). But with the show coming from Joshua Michael Stern, writer/director of “Swing Vote” and “Jobs,” we’ll probably need a little more convincing to tune in, even with Sundays looking a little less crowded than usual.
Airdate: Oct 16th on Epix