Television can't/won't/don't stop, and the new year brings more of it even though you're still trying to catch up on shows from 2012. Well, give up on those old projects because midseason 2016 is bringing some good looking programs to get in on the ground floor!
We're looking at 10 shows that are coming out in the next few months that have caught our eye, and they range from eccentric comedies to a time-traveling James Franco. And because we couldn't whittle the list down to just 10, there are some honorable mentions to take a gander at, too. Start planning your schedule!
10. 11/22/1963 (Hulu)
WHEN IT'S ON: November 22, 1963. Wait, that's not right! Monday, February 15. It's an eight-part miniseries that will be streamable on Hulu, probably only for subscribers.
WHO'S IN IT: James Friggin' Franco, Chris Cooper, Josh Duhamel, T.R. Knight, Cherry Jones, Sarah Gadon, Lucy Fry, George MacKay, and Daniel Webber. James Franco! We care about James Franco, right?
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Based on a Stephen King book not involving a dome, this mind trip sees a high-school English teacher (Franco!) traveling back in time to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and having a really hard time doing it.
WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Franco returns to television even more of a freak than he was before! But the promise of alternate history, time travel, and "what if?" questions played out before our eyes has us ready to down this in one go.
9. Vinyl (HBO)
WHEN IT'S ON: The 10-episode first season will swoop in just in time for Valentine's Day, you know, Sunday, February 14 at 9pm. Nothing says romance like bare chests and leather pants.
WHO'S IN IT: Bobby Cannavale, Olivia Wilde, Ray Romano, Ato Essandoh, Max Casella, and a whole lot of other people. It's also a Martin Scorsese and Terence Winter joint (and Mick Jagger), who are fresh off a giant ensemble in Boardwalk Empire.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Set in 1970s New York City, Cannavale plays a record executive looking for the fresh sound amidst an ocean of disco, punk, and rock and roll. Presumably, there will be others trying to stop him and probably some romantic connections, and and and! Murder?
WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Maybe you've heard about this HBO place, but they tend to put out some good television. And Scorsese reliving his fun days in late-'70s Big Apple feels like the show he was meant to do all along. Kick out the jamz!
8. Angie Tribeca (TBS)
WHEN IT'S ON: Well... it's kind of confusing. TBS is making the odd decision of airing the entire 10-episode first season for 25 hours straight on January 17, meaning Season 1 will run five times in a row. After that, TBS will air Season 2 weekly like a normal network, along with repeats of Season 1. This is one hell of an experiment.
WHO'S IN IT: Rashida Jones, Hayes MacArthur, Jere Burns, and a ton of guest stars, as you'll see in the trailer. Co-creators Nancy Carell and Steve Carell—yes, that Steve Carell—may make appearances, too.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Angie Tribeca (Jones) is a cop working for the LAPD's RHCU (Really Heinous Crime Unit) and she fights crime and stuff. There may be banana peels and slide whistles, too, because this is a silly satire of police procedurals.
WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Have you ever wanted Naked Gun: The TV Series? Oh right, there was Police Squad. Well, this looks like it will be like Police Squad But With a Female Cop then!
7. The Catch (ABC)
WHEN IT'S ON: Thursdays starting March 24 at 10pm on ABC
WHO'S IN IT: Mireille Enos, Peter Krause, Sonya Walger, Jacky Ido, Rose Rollins, and the spirit of Shonda Rhimes looming over it all.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: A fraud investigator—scratch that—a sexy fraud investigator becomes the victim of fraud herself... by her fiancé! When she isn't working her own cases for work, she's tracking down that sleazy scuzzball to get her life back.
WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: It's created by Jennifer Schuur (Hannibal), but it's produced by Queen Midas herself, Shonda Rhimes, which means you can drop your chiropractor because this thing is going to twist you into a pretzel. Plus it's nice to see The Killing's Enos out of the dreary Seattle rain and into Sexytown.
6. Hunters (Syfy)
WHEN IT'S ON: The 13-episode first season is due in April.
WHO'S IN IT: Julian McMahon, Britne Oldford, Nathan Phillips. It comes from Gale Anne Hurd (The Walking Dead ) and Natalie Chaidez (12 Monkeys).
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Based on Whitley Strieber's novel Alien Hunter, Hunters follows an FBI agent who joins a secretive government off-shoot that fights terrorism. A specific type of terrorism. ALIEN TERRORISM.
WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: The trailer looks pretty slick, and there's some meat to chew on here by looking at terrorism from a different angle. Plus, rules are rules, and one show from Syfy has to be on these Most Anticipated lists at all times.
5. The X-Files (Fox)
WHEN IT'S ON: Sunday, January 24 after the big football match (around 10pm?), and then it moves to Mondays starting the next day at 9pm. And by that time, it's practically over as there are only six episodes in this first round of revivals (but if it does well, count on a Season 2).
WHO'S IN IT: You know who is in it! David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson! As well as Mitch Pileggi and William B. Davis, you know, Skinner and Ciggy Man. Joining the new episodes will be Joel McHale, Rhys Darby, Annet Mahendru, Kumail Nanjiani, Robbie Amell, and Lauren Ambrose.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: A total weirdo FBI guy believes in UFOs and drags his skeptical straight-laced partner into his mess of aliens, cannibals, legless Indian street beggars, giant sewer-dwelling flukeworm men, and inbred hillbillies.
WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: It's one of television's classics, and though bringing a series back almost 14 years after it aired on television sounds like suicide, the original crew is back so it can't be THAT bad, can it? (We watched the first episode, and it isn't bad!)
4. Outsiders (WGN America)
WHEN IT'S ON: Tuesdays starting January 26 at 9pm on WGN America
WHO'S IN IT: A bunch of people with scary facial hair and teeth! David Morse, Joe Anderson, Thomas M. Wright, Ryan Hurst, and Gillian Alexy.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: A clan of hillbillies in the Appalachians wants to live by their rules in the backwoods, but when they start tangling with a local town, a sheriff has to broker peace. Which in this case means fighting.
WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: There's something inherently inspiring and downright frightening about separatists, and Outsiders has a concept that we haven't seen much of on TV. But some of our favorite actors, including Hannibal's Joe Anderson, The Bridge's Thomas M. Wright, and Sons of Anarchy's Ryan Hurst, look like they're in line for some meaty material.
3. DC's Legends of Tomorrow (The CW)
WHEN IT'S ON: Thursdays, starting January 21 at 8pm. Yep, it displaced The Vampire Diaries.
WHO'S IN IT: Victor Garber, Brandon Routh, Caity Lotz, Arthur Darvill, Dominic Purcell, Wentworth Miller, Ciara Renée, Falk Hentschel, and Franz Drameh.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Superheroes! Except instead of being about one, it's about a BUNCH of them! Firestorm, the Atom, White Canary, Heat Wave, Captain Cold, Hawkgirl, and Hawkwoman! They team up to stop a time-traveling menace named Vandal Savage. Look, if you're going to watch this show, you probably already know what it's about. You don't need me to bungle it up.
WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: The CW is doing aiiiiight with its superhero entries Arrow and The Flash, so why not one more? And why not load it with superheroes that have appeared on those other two shows so that the network can milk crossovers? And once this is setup, how about a triple-crossover that would make even Allen Iverson jealous?
2. Billions (Showtime)
WHEN IT'S ON: Sunday at 9pm, starting January 17 on Showtime
WHO'S IN IT: Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis! Who cares who else is in it?!?!?! But if you do, Maggie Siff, Malin Ackerman, Toby Leonard Moore, and David Costabile. But they better just stay out of the way.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: A big-time hedge fund king (Lewis) is swimming in cash like all those fat cats on Wall Street, and a federal regulator (Giamatti) is going to stop him.
WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Giamatti vs. Lewis is pretty much a heavyweight showdown between two titans of acting, and if we get to see some lecherous rich asshole get taken down in the process, even better!
1. Baskets (FX)
WHEN IT'S ON: Thursdays starting January 21 on FX at 10pm
WHO'S IN IT: Zach Galifianakakds... Zach Galiffniaks... Zach Glafinakis... Zach Galifianakis.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Galifianakis plays a guy who wants to be a French clown but ends up being a rodeo clown in America. Or something.
WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Zach Galifianakis. And Schweppes.
THE RUNNERS-UP
– The Shannara Chronicles (MTV, January 5): The fantasy books come to television from the Smallville team of Miles Millar and Alfred Gough, and from the early trailers it looks... like, way too expensive for an MTV show?
– Idiotsitter (Comedy Central, January 14): The network is on a roll lately, and its latest makes the jump from web series to full-fledged television program just like Broad City did. Jillian Bell (Workaholics) stars as a spoiled woman-child (the idiot) who gets a hired plaything/supervisor (the sitter, Charlotte Newhouse) to look after her while she's on house arrest. Sounds silly.
– The Magicians (Syfy, January 25): What if there was a school for people to learn magic? And what if it wasn't named Hogwarts? The Magicians takes the Harry Potter idea of a secret magic academy and brings it to the kegger crowd as college-aged magicians are recruited to hone their craft and also battle the forces of evil. And judging by the number of eyeballs ripped out of a guy's face in the special sneak preview that's available, it might be a little nasty. Supernatural's Sera Gamble runs the show, with Jason Ralph, Stella Maeve, and Olivia Taylor Dudley playing the sexy younguns.
– Mercy Street(PBS, January 17): Set on the border of the North and South during the Civil War, this elegant drama is told from the perspectives of two nurses—one a Confederate, the other an abolitionist—who tend to the injured from both sides of the war in a border hospital. Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Gary Cole, Josh Radnor, and AnnaSophia Robb star.
– Mad Dogs(Amazon, January 22): The Shield's Shawn Ryan adapted the British series of the same name about four guys who go to Belize to partay but end up getting sucked into the local crime scene and murder. Fun! Michael Imperioli, Steve Zahn, Romany Malco, and Ben Chaplin star.
Which new fall shows are you most excited about?
We're looking at 10 shows that are coming out in the next few months that have caught our eye, and they range from eccentric comedies to a time-traveling James Franco. And because we couldn't whittle the list down to just 10, there are some honorable mentions to take a gander at, too. Start planning your schedule!
10. 11/22/1963 (Hulu)
WHEN IT'S ON: November 22, 1963. Wait, that's not right! Monday, February 15. It's an eight-part miniseries that will be streamable on Hulu, probably only for subscribers.
WHO'S IN IT: James Friggin' Franco, Chris Cooper, Josh Duhamel, T.R. Knight, Cherry Jones, Sarah Gadon, Lucy Fry, George MacKay, and Daniel Webber. James Franco! We care about James Franco, right?
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Based on a Stephen King book not involving a dome, this mind trip sees a high-school English teacher (Franco!) traveling back in time to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and having a really hard time doing it.
WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Franco returns to television even more of a freak than he was before! But the promise of alternate history, time travel, and "what if?" questions played out before our eyes has us ready to down this in one go.
9. Vinyl (HBO)
WHEN IT'S ON: The 10-episode first season will swoop in just in time for Valentine's Day, you know, Sunday, February 14 at 9pm. Nothing says romance like bare chests and leather pants.
WHO'S IN IT: Bobby Cannavale, Olivia Wilde, Ray Romano, Ato Essandoh, Max Casella, and a whole lot of other people. It's also a Martin Scorsese and Terence Winter joint (and Mick Jagger), who are fresh off a giant ensemble in Boardwalk Empire.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Set in 1970s New York City, Cannavale plays a record executive looking for the fresh sound amidst an ocean of disco, punk, and rock and roll. Presumably, there will be others trying to stop him and probably some romantic connections, and and and! Murder?
WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Maybe you've heard about this HBO place, but they tend to put out some good television. And Scorsese reliving his fun days in late-'70s Big Apple feels like the show he was meant to do all along. Kick out the jamz!
8. Angie Tribeca (TBS)
WHEN IT'S ON: Well... it's kind of confusing. TBS is making the odd decision of airing the entire 10-episode first season for 25 hours straight on January 17, meaning Season 1 will run five times in a row. After that, TBS will air Season 2 weekly like a normal network, along with repeats of Season 1. This is one hell of an experiment.
WHO'S IN IT: Rashida Jones, Hayes MacArthur, Jere Burns, and a ton of guest stars, as you'll see in the trailer. Co-creators Nancy Carell and Steve Carell—yes, that Steve Carell—may make appearances, too.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Angie Tribeca (Jones) is a cop working for the LAPD's RHCU (Really Heinous Crime Unit) and she fights crime and stuff. There may be banana peels and slide whistles, too, because this is a silly satire of police procedurals.
WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Have you ever wanted Naked Gun: The TV Series? Oh right, there was Police Squad. Well, this looks like it will be like Police Squad But With a Female Cop then!
7. The Catch (ABC)
WHEN IT'S ON: Thursdays starting March 24 at 10pm on ABC
WHO'S IN IT: Mireille Enos, Peter Krause, Sonya Walger, Jacky Ido, Rose Rollins, and the spirit of Shonda Rhimes looming over it all.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: A fraud investigator—scratch that—a sexy fraud investigator becomes the victim of fraud herself... by her fiancé! When she isn't working her own cases for work, she's tracking down that sleazy scuzzball to get her life back.
WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: It's created by Jennifer Schuur (Hannibal), but it's produced by Queen Midas herself, Shonda Rhimes, which means you can drop your chiropractor because this thing is going to twist you into a pretzel. Plus it's nice to see The Killing's Enos out of the dreary Seattle rain and into Sexytown.
6. Hunters (Syfy)
WHEN IT'S ON: The 13-episode first season is due in April.
WHO'S IN IT: Julian McMahon, Britne Oldford, Nathan Phillips. It comes from Gale Anne Hurd (The Walking Dead ) and Natalie Chaidez (12 Monkeys).
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Based on Whitley Strieber's novel Alien Hunter, Hunters follows an FBI agent who joins a secretive government off-shoot that fights terrorism. A specific type of terrorism. ALIEN TERRORISM.
WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: The trailer looks pretty slick, and there's some meat to chew on here by looking at terrorism from a different angle. Plus, rules are rules, and one show from Syfy has to be on these Most Anticipated lists at all times.
5. The X-Files (Fox)
WHEN IT'S ON: Sunday, January 24 after the big football match (around 10pm?), and then it moves to Mondays starting the next day at 9pm. And by that time, it's practically over as there are only six episodes in this first round of revivals (but if it does well, count on a Season 2).
WHO'S IN IT: You know who is in it! David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson! As well as Mitch Pileggi and William B. Davis, you know, Skinner and Ciggy Man. Joining the new episodes will be Joel McHale, Rhys Darby, Annet Mahendru, Kumail Nanjiani, Robbie Amell, and Lauren Ambrose.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: A total weirdo FBI guy believes in UFOs and drags his skeptical straight-laced partner into his mess of aliens, cannibals, legless Indian street beggars, giant sewer-dwelling flukeworm men, and inbred hillbillies.
WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: It's one of television's classics, and though bringing a series back almost 14 years after it aired on television sounds like suicide, the original crew is back so it can't be THAT bad, can it? (We watched the first episode, and it isn't bad!)
4. Outsiders (WGN America)
WHEN IT'S ON: Tuesdays starting January 26 at 9pm on WGN America
WHO'S IN IT: A bunch of people with scary facial hair and teeth! David Morse, Joe Anderson, Thomas M. Wright, Ryan Hurst, and Gillian Alexy.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: A clan of hillbillies in the Appalachians wants to live by their rules in the backwoods, but when they start tangling with a local town, a sheriff has to broker peace. Which in this case means fighting.
WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: There's something inherently inspiring and downright frightening about separatists, and Outsiders has a concept that we haven't seen much of on TV. But some of our favorite actors, including Hannibal's Joe Anderson, The Bridge's Thomas M. Wright, and Sons of Anarchy's Ryan Hurst, look like they're in line for some meaty material.
3. DC's Legends of Tomorrow (The CW)
WHEN IT'S ON: Thursdays, starting January 21 at 8pm. Yep, it displaced The Vampire Diaries.
WHO'S IN IT: Victor Garber, Brandon Routh, Caity Lotz, Arthur Darvill, Dominic Purcell, Wentworth Miller, Ciara Renée, Falk Hentschel, and Franz Drameh.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Superheroes! Except instead of being about one, it's about a BUNCH of them! Firestorm, the Atom, White Canary, Heat Wave, Captain Cold, Hawkgirl, and Hawkwoman! They team up to stop a time-traveling menace named Vandal Savage. Look, if you're going to watch this show, you probably already know what it's about. You don't need me to bungle it up.
WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: The CW is doing aiiiiight with its superhero entries Arrow and The Flash, so why not one more? And why not load it with superheroes that have appeared on those other two shows so that the network can milk crossovers? And once this is setup, how about a triple-crossover that would make even Allen Iverson jealous?
2. Billions (Showtime)
WHEN IT'S ON: Sunday at 9pm, starting January 17 on Showtime
WHO'S IN IT: Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis! Who cares who else is in it?!?!?! But if you do, Maggie Siff, Malin Ackerman, Toby Leonard Moore, and David Costabile. But they better just stay out of the way.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: A big-time hedge fund king (Lewis) is swimming in cash like all those fat cats on Wall Street, and a federal regulator (Giamatti) is going to stop him.
WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Giamatti vs. Lewis is pretty much a heavyweight showdown between two titans of acting, and if we get to see some lecherous rich asshole get taken down in the process, even better!
1. Baskets (FX)
WHEN IT'S ON: Thursdays starting January 21 on FX at 10pm
WHO'S IN IT: Zach Galifianakakds... Zach Galiffniaks... Zach Glafinakis... Zach Galifianakis.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Galifianakis plays a guy who wants to be a French clown but ends up being a rodeo clown in America. Or something.
WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Zach Galifianakis. And Schweppes.
THE RUNNERS-UP
– The Shannara Chronicles (MTV, January 5): The fantasy books come to television from the Smallville team of Miles Millar and Alfred Gough, and from the early trailers it looks... like, way too expensive for an MTV show?
– Idiotsitter (Comedy Central, January 14): The network is on a roll lately, and its latest makes the jump from web series to full-fledged television program just like Broad City did. Jillian Bell (Workaholics) stars as a spoiled woman-child (the idiot) who gets a hired plaything/supervisor (the sitter, Charlotte Newhouse) to look after her while she's on house arrest. Sounds silly.
– The Magicians (Syfy, January 25): What if there was a school for people to learn magic? And what if it wasn't named Hogwarts? The Magicians takes the Harry Potter idea of a secret magic academy and brings it to the kegger crowd as college-aged magicians are recruited to hone their craft and also battle the forces of evil. And judging by the number of eyeballs ripped out of a guy's face in the special sneak preview that's available, it might be a little nasty. Supernatural's Sera Gamble runs the show, with Jason Ralph, Stella Maeve, and Olivia Taylor Dudley playing the sexy younguns.
– Mercy Street(PBS, January 17): Set on the border of the North and South during the Civil War, this elegant drama is told from the perspectives of two nurses—one a Confederate, the other an abolitionist—who tend to the injured from both sides of the war in a border hospital. Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Gary Cole, Josh Radnor, and AnnaSophia Robb star.
– Mad Dogs(Amazon, January 22): The Shield's Shawn Ryan adapted the British series of the same name about four guys who go to Belize to partay but end up getting sucked into the local crime scene and murder. Fun! Michael Imperioli, Steve Zahn, Romany Malco, and Ben Chaplin star.
Which new fall shows are you most excited about?
