The 30 Most Anticipated New TV Shows Of 2017

20. “Shots Fired”
Synopsis: A special prosecutor is appointed by the Justice Department to investigate two racially charged police killings — one by a black officer and one by a white officer — in a small North Carolina town.
What You Need To Know: It’s hard to believe that “Shots Fired,” a project developed by husband-and-wife filmmaking team Gina Prince-Bythewood (director of “Love and Basketball” and “Beyond the Lights“) and Reggie Rock Bythewood (writer of “Notorious,” producer of “Beyond the Lights”) could possibly have gained in topicality since its genesis in the fallout following the shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. And yet, here we are, two years later, after a sickening litany of similar incidents and an historically divisive presidential election have brought the issue of systemic, institutional U.S. racism to the surface to an unprecedented degree. Against that backdrop, this “midseason event” Fox Television show, which will reunite Prince-Bythewood with her “Love and Basketball” star Sanaa Lathan in the lead role, and will co-star Helen Hunt, Richard Dreyfuss, Stephen Moyer, Aisha Hands and Tristan Wilds, looks set to be among the most vitally relevant, potentially lightning-rod shows of 2017.
Airdate: Wednesdays at 8pm starting in the spring.

19. “Room 104” 
Synopsis: An anthology comedy show that will showcase different stories that happen in the same room of the same airport hotel.
What You Need To Know: We’ve bruised ankles from kicking ourselves over discovering the low-key greatness of the Duplass Brothers‘ last series “Togetherness” far too late to help to rescue it from wildly premature cancellation. But some consolation is on the way in the form of the indie powerhouses’ next project, which will also be for HBO, which takes the increasingly popular anthology-series format (in which each episode is somewhat self-contained, and features different characters) and applies it to comedy. There are no casting details as of yet, but Jay and Mark Duplass released this statement of intent: “We’ve all seen stories set in seedy motels and high-class international resorts, but for years we’ve been fascinated by the funny, weird, sad, scary, absurd things going down in that corporate chain hotel near the airport. That’s what ‘Room 104’ is after… finding some magic in the seemingly mundane.” Which sounds completely up our street, so we’re pledging here and now not to sleep on this one.
Airdate: None as yet, but since it’s only beginning production, we imagine it will be late 2017.

18. “Legion”
Synopsis: A young man who believes himself insane, but is in fact a hugely powerful mutant whose various powers are controlled by multiple personalities, goes in search of the woman he fell for when both were in a mental institution.
What You Need To Know: When it was announced that yet another Marvel Comics character was getting a TV show, it was a little hard to stifle a “what, another one?” eyeroll at the news. Which just goes to show how impressed we were with the trailer for “Legion,” which stars Dan Stevens (“Downton Abbey,” “The Guest“) as David Haller, the mutant in question, and will be the first Marvel TV show to connect to the “X-Men” rather than the “Avengers” movie universe (Haller is the son of Professor X). Co-starring Aubrey Plaza, Rachel Keller, Jean Smart, Jeremie Harris, Amber Midthunder, Katie Aselton, and Bill Irwin, the other big reason to get excited for the show is that it’s being written and run by Noah Hawley, whose previous work enlivening a potentially dubious concept — the TV transition of Joel and Ethan Coen‘s “Fargo” — has been such a resounding success. The signs are good that Hawley can bring some new texture to the Marvel TV project, and with a character like this, there seems to be the potential for something with a lot more internal variation and a less dour tone than some of the other horses in that stable.
Airdate: February 2017 on FX.

17. [Cannot Disclose Title Yet]
Synopsis: Under wraps
What You Need To Know: Everything, but for reasons beyond our control, the show we’d like to talk about is something that we can’t talk about. Yet. However, we’re so convinced it’s going to be really good that we’re going to keep its slot open until we can. We’ll update as soon as possible, promise. Meantime, enjoy the picture above which has nothing to do with anything (not even in a cool, clue-y way) but is a nice photo of a cat.
Airdate: Ahh, you sly devils, you’re not catching us out here either! Check back in a week or so.

16. “G.L.O.W.”
Synopsis: A Netflix comedy-drama set in the world of 1980s female wrestling following the fortunes of a group of women involved in the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (G.L.O.W.) organization
What You Need To Know: Basically, all you need to know is the above logline and the fact that this comes from “Orange Is The New Black” genius Jenji Kohan in the producer’s chair, and if you’re not already on board, I dunno what to tell you. Oh right, maybe that it tracks the story of an out-of-work actress who decides to try and revitalize her career with a stint on G.L.O.W., which ran for four seasons in the Reagan era as a Las Vegas-based spectacle and TV show, designed to field a female alternative to the male-dominated WWE. Names like Alison Brie and Marc Maron also appear in support, and the creators/showrunners have quite a pedigree — Liz Flahive was a writer on “Homeland” and “Nurse Jackie,” and Carly Mensch also wrote for “Nurse Jackie” in between stints on Kohan brainchildren “Weeds” and “Orange Is The New Black.” Big hair and bodyslams, tantrums and chokeholds, this has all the ingredients of a brash, kitschy knockout that, like Kohan’s hit prison-set show, also feel timely despite its period setting, in being a woman-centric go-round in a (literal) arena usually associated with men.
Airdate: None yet, but we are primed for bingeing on this one and it can’t come soon enough.