‘The Penguin,’ ‘Grotesquerie,’ ‘High Potential’ & More New Must-See Network and Cable Shows
Fall Preview
The are so many new shows to check out this Fall on TV among which include various titles on network and cable. Whether you’re into crime dramas or eager to delve into a comic book spinoff, there is something for everyone.
With titles like ABC‘s High Potential, HBO‘s The Penguin, and FX‘s latest Ryan Murphy venture Grostesquerie arriving, there’s no better time than the next few months to tune into the channels. Below, find out what’s in store for these titles and more as our Fall TV preview continues to roll out.
It’s finally (almost) fall and that means TV is back! Join us for our Fall TV Preview event, as we give you daily exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes scoops, and more about fall’s new and returning shows, both on broadcast and streaming.
Scamanda
Premieres Wednesday, October 9, 10/9c, ABC
Meet Amanda Riley, a good Christian living a seemingly perfect life in San Jose, California, as a loving wife to Cory and mother to their two children, Carter and Connor. However, this docuseries, based on the No. 1 podcast of the same name, explores what happened after she announced that she had Hodgkin’s lymphoma. For seven years, Amanda shared her heart-wrenching journey on her blog, which not only gained many sympathetic followers (including public figures like singer LeAnn Rimes) but also donors who sent funds to help her defeat the life-threatening cancer.
But what if Amanda’s story was all a big lie and she was bilking people out of money? That question spurred an investigative reporter — who received an anonymous tip to look into Amanda’s blog — to dig into the truth for answers that will shock a nation. Shame, Amanda! —Jim Halterman
High Potential
Premieres Tuesday, September 17, 10/9c, ABC
Kaitlin Olson trades always sunny Philadelphia for grittier Los Angeles crime scenes in a new dramedy that’s a perfect showcase for her razor-sharp sass. Based on the French hit Haut Potentiel Intellectuel, the Hacks Emmy nominee stars as Morgan Gillory, a cleaning lady and single mom of three whose genius IQ catches the attention of the Los Angeles Police Department. “She begrudgingly gets roped into helping them because she has a problem with authority, which I love,” says Olson. “So it’s a fish-out-of-water situation where they end up working together to solve a crime.”
By the end of the opener, Morgan is consulting for the LAPD, despite the resistance of a by-the-book detective played by Daniel Sunjata. As it turns out, she’s not the only one bringing some oddball energy to the police procedural. “Over time,” she says, “we all become a really good team of misfits.” —Damian Holbrook
The Summit
Premieres Sunday, September 29, 9/8c, CBS (Timeslot premiere: Wednesday, October 16, 9:30/8:30c)
Sixteen strangers traverse the treacherous New Zealand Alps, each carrying backpacks that contain an equal share of $1 million, a prize they’ll take home only if they reach the peak of a mountain in 14 days. One might say that the stakes of this new reality competition are high — pun intended. Executive producer Kevin Lee agrees: “I don’t think we could have made it anywhere else.”
The original Summit debuted in Australia in 2023, and Lee says this version for American viewers includes more drama around the obstacles and a curated episodic setup, but that it preserves “the heart of the format that the Australians came up with.” Native Kiwi actor Manu Bennett hosts. “His heritage gave the cast some respect for where they were,” says Lee. —Andrea Towers
Murder in a Small Town
Premieres Tuesday, September 24, 8/7c, Fox
Think of it as a less grim version of The Killing: This impressively solid whodunit set in the Pacific Northwest plays like a page-turner with just a touch of cozy romance. Which is fitting, since Murder is based on a series of thrillers by author L.R. Wright. “They’re tremendous novels,” says showrunner Ian Weir, praising the books for giving him the “gift of wonderfully rich characters and tremendous murder mystery storylines” to adapt.
Rossif Sutherland stars as Karl Alberg, a former big-city cop who has moved to the coastal hamlet of Gibsons to become the new police chief. Imposing yet affable, Alberg immediately hits it off with librarian Cassandra Lee (Smallville’s Kristin Kreuk), but before their first lunch date is over, there’s already a dead body to deal with. “There’s not a murder in every episode, but almost all of the episodes have a murder at the heart of them,” explains Weir. He promises that there’s still a lot to love about Gibsons. “There’s quite a blue-sky feel to the town, leaving aside the fact that, yes, people die at a rate of seven or eight per season,” Weir quips. —DH
Universal Basic Guys
Premieres Sunday, September 8, 8/7c, Fox
Losing your job and being replaced by robots should be a bummer, but for Philly-based blue-collar brothers Mark and Hank Hoagies (Devin Halliwell and Adam Malamut), it’s a windfall in this animated comedy. Thanks to a new basic income program giving them each a $3,000 monthly check, the Hoagies try to find purpose in life and, of course, buy things. But will happiness come when, in upcoming episodes, the guys spend their free money on a heat-seeking crossbow for hunting and a championship football ring? If not, the good news is that the show is already renewed for a second season. Win-win! —JH
Joan
Premieres Wednesday, October 2, 9/8c, The CW
Like Sophie Turner’s Game of Thrones character, Sansa Stark, the British actress’ latest TV persona, Joan Hannington, is a young abused wife. Hannington, however, is a real-life trauma survivor whose harrowing childhood and first marriage don’t keep her down.
Turner shines in this edge-of-your-seat six-part crime drama inspired by Hannington’s 2004 memoir describing her rise from poverty and petty thievery to the fascinating master jewel thief known as “The Godmother” in London’s 1980s underworld. Divorced, with her young daughter in foster care, Joan’s bleak life changes when she discovers a talent for entering high-end jewelry stores in myriad disguises, swallowing diamonds, switching them with fakes, and then selling the real gems to shady jewelers. Joan lived the high life while
pocketing millions in British pounds, but all along, she never stopped trying to get her child back. —Kate Hahn
Scrabble & Trivial Pursuit
Premiere Monday, October 7, Scrabble at 8/7c; Trivial Pursuit at 9/8c
The saying “what’s old is new again” becomes true this fall when two classic board games get a TV upgrade and a pair of perfect hosts: Emmy-winning actor and producer LeVar Burton (who takes on Trivial Pursuit) and Emmy-nominated actress Raven-Symoné (who emcees Scrabble). Both longtime game players — Raven-Symoné recalls watching Wheel of Fortune with her grandmother and Burton remembers playing Dick Clark’s Pyramid games at home — they’re excited to bring audiences of all ages together for new spins on a
beloved pastime.
The rules won’t deviate from the originals, but each will get bigger and more exciting. “I think people will be reinvigorated with [Scrabble] because of the contestants and their stories and how we go about it,” says Raven-Symoné, teasing that the show has a “beautiful, huge digital Scrabble board.” Burton feels similarly about Trivial Pursuit, calling the gig “on brand” for his career. “I’m a storyteller,” he says. “My job is to provide an atmosphere in which these competitors can present their best selves.” Let’s play! —AT
Big Cats 24/7
Premieres Wednesday, September 18, 8/7c, PBS (check local listings at pbs.org)
“…Nine…ten lions!” says wildlife cinematographer Gordan Buchanan, who’s happily counting felines that he sees only a few feet away in Botswana’s Okavango Delta. A pride is feeding on a nighttime kill, and their tails twitch in high definition thanks to thermal imaging that captures previously unobtainable after-dark nature footage. This tech means the six-part doc roars with groundbreaking images and the crew can follow these African hunters, well, 24/7.
“You actually see better than the [animals] do,” says longtime wildlife filmmaker Brad Bestelink. His remote bush camp is home base for the camera crews, who also spend thrilling daytime hours with lions, leopards, and cheetahs. When a bush fire threatens the camp in the premiere, you’ll be fully invested in feline and filmmaker survival. —KH
Leonardo da Vinci
Premieres Monday, November 18, 8/7c, PBS
Ken Burns’ masterful new documentary, a two-part, four-hour comprehensive exploration of Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), captivates with the sheer breadth of the brilliant Renaissance polymath’s talents. The film uses da Vinci’s surviving notepads full of sketches and thoughts to re-create his innovative artistic techniques, including the use of light and shadow, and the model’s gaze, in iconic works such as The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa.
Da Vinci was also an observational scientist who examined gravity and the human circulatory system; an engineer who designed armaments for Italy’s myriad wars; and an illustrator of futuristic technology.
Biographers also reveal the social milieu of da Vinci’s early years in Tuscany while covering his productive decades in Florence, Milan, and Venice. —Ileane Rudolph
Moonflower Murders
Sunday, September 15, 9/8c, PBS
Book editor turned amateur sleuth Susan Ryeland (a spot-on Lesley Manville) returns in Masterpiece’s follow-up to the clever 2022 crime show Magpie Murders with an equally entertaining six-part whodunit. Bored with running a struggling hotel in Crete alongside her loving boyfriend Andreas (Alexandros Logothetis), Susan finds her interest piqued when a British couple offer her a much-needed hefty paycheck to find their missing daughter.
She disappeared after telling them that the detective novel Atticus Pünd Takes the Case, which Susan edited, proved that the wrong man was imprisoned for killing a guest at the family’s hotel eight years earlier. As in the wry first series, the novel’s plot is dramatized, and Susan has conversations with famous fictional detective Pünd (an amusing Tim McMullan), who offers mystery-solving tips. —IR
Lucy Worsley’s Holmes vs. Doyle
Premieres Sunday, December 8, 8/7c, PBS
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s first Sherlock Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet, published in 1887, became a sensation, leading to many more Holmesian novels and stories. But in December 1893, Doyle infamously “killed the brute,” as he put it, and decided to become the hero of his own story.
Why did Doyle want to end the life of the most beloved fictional detective in the world? Historian and lifelong fan Lucy Worsley tracks down clues and evaluates evidence in this three-part docuseries as she explores this decision through Doyle’s personal papers and unearths surprising facts about the author, who brought Holmes back eight years later in the thriller The Hound of the Baskervilles. By then, however, both the writer’s life and his stories began to take darker turns. —IR
The Penguin
Premieres Thursday, September 19, 9/8c, HBO
Gotham City’s notorious gangster gets his own origin story in a limited-series sequel to director Matt Reeves’ 2022 movie The Batman. Again unrecognizable under masterful prosthetics, Colin Farrell reprises his role as Oswald Cobblepot, the corpulent criminal who capitalizes on the disastrous events from the film (Gotham was flooded after the Riddler took out the city’s harbor seawall) to seize any sort of power he can. Over eight gorgeously atmospheric hours — and with the help of a reluctant sidekick (Rhenzy Feliz) — Oz butts heads with an array of fellow baddies, including Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti), the shockingly merciless daughter of a crime lord who met his maker in The Batman, while also battling his own personal demons.
Slipping back into the fat suit was an easy sell for Farrell once he heard showrunner Lauren LeFranc’s vision for the villain. “She spoke about his life, how broken it was, the consequences of certain events that took place in Oz’s childhood,” he said at Comic-Con in San Diego, adding that he relished the chance to go deeper with this “tasty character” that only had a few scenes on the big screen. “I was baffled by how brilliant [Lauren’s idea] was, how complicated, how dark and painful and also funny at turns it was.” —DH
Dune: Prophecy
November, HBO
Faith, war and the sandworm-filled world of Frank Herbert’s legendary sci-fi novels continue to collide with a big-budget prequel series to the blockbuster Dune films directed by Denis Villeneuve. Inspired by the novel Sisterhood of Dune, by the author’s son Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, and set 10,000 years before the events of the movies, this six-part series charts the origins of the all-female sect known as Bene Gesserit.
“Our series definitely blends intrigue, action, politics, and romance,” says showrunner Alison Schapker. “The Bene Gesserit occupy positions of influence in the halls of power, but they also operate in the shadows and engage in espionage, sabotage, romantic entanglements, and an abundance of manipulation.”
Chornobyl’s Emily Watson and The Crown’s Olivia Williams star as daughters of the powerful Harkonnen dynasty and key players in a battle to save humanity that gives rise to the sisterhood. On the men’s side, Travis Fimmel (Vikings) files in as a soldier whose loyalty to the Emperor (Mark Strong) may come with a hefty price for the Harkonnens. —DH
Grotesquerie
Premieres Wednesday, September 25, 10/9c, FX
Emmy winner Niecy Nash-Betts goes from real-life serial killers to unspeakable scares in this new chiller from her Dahmer—Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story boss Ryan Murphy. Like most of the executive producer’s projects, key details are being kept under wraps, but we can confirm that Nash-Betts stars as Lois Tryon, a detective in a small community that’s been plagued by unsettling crimes. She’s joined by fellow Emmy winner Courtney B. Vance (American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson) as her ailing husband and Tony nominee Micaela Diamond (Broadway’s Parade) as a Catholic nun and journalist who aids Lois in the increasingly ominous investigation.
Oh, and the Kansas City Chiefs’ main Swiftie, Travis Kelce, is also on board, but it would be unsportsmanlike for us to reveal anything more. —DH
Three Women
Premieres Friday, September 13, Starz
The trio at the center of this heartbreaking new series about desire and intimacy “all had the audacity to believe that they deserved more,” says narrator Gia (Shailene Woodley), who’s writing a book about sex in America. Inspired by Lisa Taddeo’s nonfiction bestseller, the story focuses on three ordinary women experiencing drastic life transformations: Dissatisfied Indiana homemaker Lina (Betty Gilpin) embarks on an affair; glamorous entrepreneur Sloane (DeWanda Wise) is perilously drawn to an alluring stranger; and Maggie (Gabrielle Creevy) seeks to expose her illicit high school fling with a teacher. By creating the series, Taddeo says she hopes “to invite more women to tell their stories.” —Christopher Wallenberg
Sweetpea
October, Starz
We’ve all felt like killing someone. Especially when they’ve pushed us to the edge. Young Rhiannon Lewis (Ella Purnell, Fallout), who’s undervalued by her boss, her boyfriend, and random strangers, actually does it. And she likes it. A lot. Murder, for Rhiannon in this black humor series based on a novel by C.J. Skuse, is a confidence-booster. The challenge is how to hide her bloody deeds.
An overlooked editorial assistant who has no control over anything, including her dad’s illness, suddenly has an intoxicating sense of power. It’s a “wild coming-of-rage” story, says Purnell. “The series is about a woman finally finding her voice, told through a uniquely dark and comedic lens.”
Purnell’s enthusiastic about playing the complex role. She says, “I hope audiences have as much fun [watching it] as we did bringing it to life.” Or bringing death to it. —KH
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