It’s week three of the television season, and there are plenty of shows still to bow. Here are the television shows premiering this week, September 29 to October 5.
How are your television viewing habits shaping up? Well, if you have a few holes in your evening, there are still plenty of shows yet to premiere. This week alone we have the new NBC comedy, A to Z, David Tennant stretching his American accent acting muscle in Fox’s Gracepoint, the thrilling adaptation of Broadchurch, and the return of a Reign-ing CW drama.
What shows will you be tuning into? Which ones will you pass on?
‘Selfie’ (ABC)
Tuesday, September 30, 8:00 p.m.
John Cho and Karen Gillan’s chemistry is off the charts in ABC’s new comedy series Selfie. A retelling of My Fair Lady, Selfie follows the social media obsessed Eliza (Gillan), who seeks the help of marketing genius Henry (Cho) to re-brand herself.
Like Eliza, the show indulges in a bit too much usage of hashtags and Instagram references, but it also shows a lot of heart, and we are excited to share Eliza’s transformative journey.
‘Manhattan Love Story’ (ABC)
Tuesday, September 30, 9:00 p.m.
If you took the charm and setting of How I Met Your Mother and combine it with the quirky wit of Scrubs you would get somewhere close to what you can expect from Manhattan Love Story. This is the tale of two people who don’t seem to have much in common, but somehow find themselves on a date. For anyone that loved watching Jake McDorman as Evan Chambers on Greek, his character here, Peter, has a bit in common with the somewhat snotty frat president. Throw in a little more of the everyman, and you’ve basically got him to a tee.
Annaleigh Tipton plays Dana, who is equal parts awkward and no-nonsense. She may not be the most graceful or elegant, but she knows what she wants (and doesn’t want), and isn’t afraid to say if things just aren’t working. These two are a fun pair, and we can’t wait to see where the story takes them in the first season.
’Gracepoint’ (Fox)
Thursday, October 2, 9:00 p.m.
Does Gracepoint look familiar to you? To the well-trained television viewer it may, because the David Tennant-led whodunit drama is a remake of the BBC’s Broadchurch. Oh yeah, David Tennant starred in that one too.
Many eyebrows are raised about this remake because Broadchurch only aired in the U.K. last year, but showrunners (the same behind both shows) insist that Gracepoint will have a different ending.
We still can’t get over the fact that David Tennant is in both versions of this show playing the same character (lead detective Emmett Carver), but the good news is that the actress playing his co-detective in Gracepoint is stellar: Anna Gunn (Breaking Bad) will play Emmett’s partner Detective Ellie Miller.
We were gripped by Broadchurch last year and look forward to seeing how this American-ized version of the show plays out. Even though Tennant is in both shows, it IS Tennant, so we have to assume it’s going to be a great limited edition series for Fox.
’Reign’ (CW)
Thursday, October 2, 9:00 p.m.
Okay, we’ll admit, Reign is a not-so-guilty pleasure of a few of us over here on Hypable. Though it takes some liberties with its historical accuracy, there’s something about it that is positively gripping – and that probably has a lot to do with the cast. Adelaide Kane particularly shines as Queen Mary, and it certainly wasn’t difficult to root for her throughout the entirety of the first season. With everything from Francis’ mother, prophecies, Bash, and all sorts of courtly intrigue threatening to keep them apart, Mary and Francis’ romance was anything but easy. But fans of the couple saw them wed during the season, to much rejoicing. That is until Nostradamus has a vision of Francis dying a mere year into their marriage. Uh-oh.
From the death of the King at Francis’ own hand, and the plague descending upon them at the season’s end, we’ve been eagerly awaiting the return of the historical drama to our screens. We absolutely have to know Francis’ fate after the castle doors closed on him as he rushed to be at Lola’s side, as she gave birth to his child. We’re also looking forward to the changing dynamic between Mary, as the Queen of France, and the former queen, Catherine. How will they interact now that all the power lies with Mary? There’s also that small little issue of the plague that may just throw a wrench into the works. Only one thing is for certain this season: no one is safe. We can only hope that the tagline for the show stays true…
“Long may she reign.”
‘A to Z’ (NBC)
Thursday, October 2, 9:30 p.m.
A to Z, NBC’s new fall comedy, stars two actors, whose fates on their previous shows did not work in their favor. The show will catalogue the relationship (all 8 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, and 1 hour) of Mad Men’s insane Ginsberg (Ben Feldmen), clean shaven and not visibly insane, and How I Met Your Mother’s well, Mother (Cristin Milioti). The story of Andrew and Zelda (ha, get it?) is guided by a voice over, provided by Katey Sagal (Sons of Anarchy). The relationship may come pre-equipped with a termination date, but hopefully the details of the in-between will not have viewers counting down the days with anticipation. By the end of the first episode, (pilot is available for streaming) the two have already gone through a series worth of meet-cutes and check day one off of their romance. And so begins the tale of the man who works at the matchmaking website and the woman who practices law across the professional plaza.
‘Legend of Korra’ (Nick)
Friday, October 3
In Book 3, Korra was challenged by an anarchist group of insanely powerful benders called the Red Lotus. Led by a nutjob named Zaheer (one of the new post-Harmonic Convergence airbenders) the Red Lotus made it their business to tear down the political and spiritual structures of order in the Avatar-verse.
After murdering the Earth Queen, the group focused on kidnapping Korra. Using trickery and poison, the Red Lotus nearly succeeded with their plan of killing her while in the Avatar State – thus ending the Avatar cycle forever. Korra was saved by the combined efforts of Jinora and the newly-discovered airbenders, but the ordeal left her weakened in body and spirit. The Avatar was left confined to a wheelchair, questioning her place in the world.
The final season of The Legend of Korra promises many mysteries. How will Korra recover from her injuries? Who is this “Kuvira” person, and why is she important? What’s with the three-year time gap? Will we meet the final surviving member of Aang’s gang? And most importantly – how will we cope when our favorite animated series has come to its end?
‘Homeland’ (Showtime)
Sunday, October 5, 9:00 p.m.
“Where do we go from here?” That’s the question viewers of Homeland are asking themselves following the death of Brody in the season 3 finale. Showrunners promised a reboot of sorts for season 4 which will bring the story back to its roots: A CIA drama focused on taking out the bad guys overseas.
Hypable watched the two-hour premiere over the weekend, and we were very pleased by what we saw. The showrunners are taking this season in a refreshing and compelling direction. Like so many moments in the first three seasons of Homeland, season 4’s first two episodes have a handful of shocking moments that remind us why we love this show.
Thankfully for Showtime and Homeland’s fans, it’s possible for Carrie to have an interesting life after Brody.
‘Mulaney’ (FOX)
Sunday, October 5, 9:30 p.m.
John Mulaney is being heralded as the next Jerry Seinfeld, and the deck is stacked in his favor to prove it. For starters, he has his show named after him. Were you a fan of SNL Weekend Update’s Stefon? You can thank Mulaney, who created the character with Bill Hader, and wrote every Stefon piece. Poised to take Seth Meyer’s position as Weekend Update anchor, Mulaney was picked up, pulling him out of the running, and dragging SNL‘s Kim Kardashian, Nasim Pedrad, with him. After two years of development, his show is finally premiering this week and I couldn’t be more excited. Chock-full of stars like Martin Short and Elliot Gould, the trailers have all had me laughing out lout. I’m a big fan of Mulaney, if you couldn’t tell, and if his show is anything like his stand-up, I’ll be tuning in weekly.