The Most Anticipated Fall TV Shows

With Breaking Bad wrapping up, Game of Thrones and Mad Men returning next year, it's easy to get discouraged. What are we supposed to watch until then?! Lest you forget, there's more to life than Walter White (and Daenarys Targaryen and Don Draper for that matter)—fall programming is upon us, signalling the return of some of your favorite sitcoms—Parks and Recreation and New Girl—and your other favorite dramas,Sons of Anarchy and The Walking Dead. And that's in addition to a grip of new shows, such as the highly anticipated Rebel Wilson vehicle Super Fun Night and Toni Collette's return to the small screen, Hostages.

And if those aren't your thing, you're guaranteed to find something up your alley in our list of the most anticipated fall TV shows. Trust us, your DVR box will shit itself.

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Stars: Will Arnett, Beau Bridges, Margo Martindale, J.B. Smoove, Jayma Mays, Nelson Franklin, Eve Moon
Premiere date: October 3

Will Arnett hasn't had much luck on television. Save Arrested Development, every sitcom he's been cast in has never made it to a third season—Freak Show, Sit Down and Shut Up, Running Wilde, Todd Margaret, Up All Night. However, thanks to Raising Hope creator Greg Garcia, Arnett might've just found the comedy vehicle that'll make him a mainstay on television, The Millers.

The multi-camera sitcom follows a recently divorced Nathan Miller (Will Arnett), whose mom and dad (played by Margot Martindale and Beau Bridges, respectively) follow suit after hearing the news. As soon as his mother moves in after their separation, a wrench is thrown into the new young-and-single life Nathan and his best friend Ray (JB Smoove) have recreated for themselves. Count on bizarre sex jokes and middle-life crises references. —TA

Stars: Robbie Amell, Luke Mitchell, Aaron Yoo, Peyton List, Mark Pellegrino, Jason Dohring, Madeleine Mantock
Premiere date: October 9

In 1992, TV showrunners went back in time to the '70s to ressurect The Tomorrow People, a British show about human evolution. The new TP had a charmingly diverse cast of young actors and actresses who epitomized hip for the Nickelodeon set, where the second incarnation of the show ran. And then the '90s ended. Now, The CW is carrying on the work of Nick by bringing back The Tomorrow People for a third time.

The premise remains the same: The world encounters the next stage of evolution in the form of the Tomorrow People, kids born to regular parents but with serious upgrades, not limited to telepathy, telekinesis, and teleportation. Because this is on The CW, adolescent sexual angst/exploration and hot dubstep tracks will play a larger role. Start a new cult every day is the adopted motto of The CW's teen-centric programming, and the network must surely be hoping to have another Supernatural on its hands with this reboot of a reboot. —RS

Stars: Tom Mison, Nicole Beharie, Orlando Jones, Katia Winter, John Cho, Richard Cetrone
Premiere date: September 16

And here we have the bastard child of ABC's Once Upon a Time and NBC's Grimm.

Clearly ignoring the bits in Washington Irving's classic tale The Legend of Sleepy Hollow about how Ichabod Crane is a lanky weakling, the creators of the new Fox series Sleepy Hollow have gone full-on hunk. Un-Ichabod-like actor Tom Mison stars as the Headless Horseman's number one adversary, who somehow dies in 1790, wakes up in 2014, and becomes the new sheriff of Sleepy Hollow.

It's no surprise that Sleepy Hollow will air after Bones, since the "crime-solving, male/female, will-they-or-won't-they partners" angle of Ichabod's relationship with fellow sheriff Abbie Mills (played by 42's Nicole Beharie) looks and feels like a Bones Brennan/Seeley Booth ripoff already. Expect plenty of awkwardness milked from 18th Century Colonial transplant Crane working with the female and black Abbie. And hope that the show itself is more Grimm and less, well, Once Upon a Time. —MB

Stars: Maggie Lawson, James Caan, Griffin Gluck, Ben Koldyke, Lenoa Crichlow, Cooper Roth
Premiere date: September 25

If you've been dreaming of a series-length version of The Bad News Bears, boy, do you and the ABC exectuives have a scary amount in common. Back in the Game takes a yuppie-ish, newly divorced mom (Maggie Lawson) and puts her in charge of a baseball team of rejects (her son is one of them). To coach a team comprised of the kids who didn't make the regular team, she enlists the help of her grizzled dad (James Caan, in the network equivalent of Kenny Powers), who used to play baseball. Caan is the real reason to speculate about this show rising beyond the familiarity of its story. If nothing else, Back in the Game is a sign that TV is, increasingly, the place to be for actors looking outside of the cookie-cutting factory that is Hollywood. —RS

Stars: Sean Hayes, Linda Lavin, Sami Isler, Thomas Lennon, Megan Hilty, Echo Kellum, Vik Sahay
Premiere date: October 3

The good: Sean Hayes (Jack on Will and Grace) is back on a sitcom playing a gay character. The questionable: Sean Saves the World, though the premise is applause-worthy—gay single dad raises daughter—and the cast boasts proven talent not only in the form of Hayes but also with Thomas Lennon (Reno 911), who plays Sean's difficult boss, we're still looking at a laugh-track-having, multi-cam comedy. Perhaps genuinely novel content can invigorate this dying format, but if it doesn't, someone wake CBS up from its coma and let it know that it's over. —RS

Stars: Joseph Morgan, Phoebe Tonkin, Daniel Gillies, Claire Holt, Charles Michael Davis, Danielle Pineda, Danielle Campbell, Leah Pipes
Premiere date: October 3

A spin-off of The Vampire Diaries, The Originals follows the Mikaelson family— Klaus, (Joseph Morgan) and his half siblings Rebekah (Claire Holt) and Elijah (Daniel Gillies)—introduced in its parent drama as the original vampires, from which all other bloodsuckers have decended from. However, there's something special about Klaus: he's a hybrid, part vampire and part werewolf.

Years after being run of New Orleans by his stepfather, Mikael, Klaus returns to reclaim the throne of the city, which his protege Marcel (Charles Michael Davis) has taken control of. Upon Klaus' return, he's confronted by a werewolf, Hayley (Phoebe Tonkin), who comes with news that she's bearing his child. Thus, not only must he redeem his family's place in New Orleans, but also protect his legacy.

Witches, werewolves, vampires—the CW doesn't run out of supernatural creatures to populate its lineup. But who's complaining? Considering the success of TVD, The Originals has plenty of promise. —TA

Stars: Hannah Ware, Stuart Townsend, Henry Thomas, Wendy Moniz, Chris Johnson, Braeden Lemasters, James Cromwell, Elizabeth McLaughlin
Premiere date: September 29

Take a look at the cast. We bet you can guess what Betrayal is all about. If you answered pretty people being unfaithful each other, you get a gold star. A remake of the Dutch drama Overspel, the drama follows photographer Sara Hayward (Hannah Ware, formerly of Starz's Boss) who begins an affair with a lawyer (Stuart Townswend) that happens to be on the other side of a major murder case her husband (Henry Thomas) is defending.

If there's one thing ABC knows how to do perfectly well, it's set fire to the lives of sexy rich people—Revenge and Desperate Housewives, anyone?—and make it so damn entertaining to watch. Betrayal shouldn't disappoint either. —TA

Stars: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Jessica De Gouw, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Katie McGrath, Nonso Anozie, Victoria Smurfit, Thomas Krestchmann, Michael Nardone
Premiere date: October 25

Frankly, we can't believe this hasn't happened sooner. In today's True Blood and post-Twilight society, vampires are still the rage, so the fact that it's taken this long to go directly back to the character who started it all, Count Dracula, is surprising. Then again, it's also the end of the mercy shown toward horror purists by Hollywood executives. After all, Bram Stoker's legacy could only remain untouched for so long.

The silver lining here, though, is that Dracula—starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers as the undead man himself—will air on NBC, the same network that recently defied genre fans' expectations with the excellent Hannibal, a satisfying mix of great acting, crafty story, and cable-ready violence and gore. If the peacock network can apply that same kind of borderline R-rated elegance to Dracula, this thing might actually not…wait for it…suck. —MB

Stars: Michael J. Fox, Betsy Brandt, Conor Romero, Juliette Goglia, Jack Gore, Katie Finnerna, Wendell Pierce
Premiere date: September 26

The elevator pitch: Curb Your Enthusiasm but with the fourth-wall breaking address of The Office and Parks and Rec. Oh, and the Curb influence comes from star Michael J. Fox playing the meta role of a beloved newscaster returning to the air (also on NBC) despite his having Parkinson's. How could you say no to that, especially after Fox showed that he hasn't lost his sense of humor with his appearance on the most reason season of Curb Your Enthusiasm? (Must've been where he got the inspiration for this show.)

The supporting cast here includes Breaking Bad's Betsy Brandt (now able to do more than steal and buy things colored purple) and The Wire's Wendell Pierce. Will Gluck, who worked on the underrated Andy Richter Controls the Universe, is behind the cameras as co-creator. If this much talent can't pull of the impressive feat of a funny drama with moments of real (meaning not saccharine) insight into a debilitating disease, no one can. —RS

Stars: Dylan McDermott, Toni Collette, Tate Donovan, Quinn Shepherd, Billy Brown, Rhys Coiro, Sandrine Holt, Mateus Ward
Premiere date: September 23

What would be the worst time to be taken hostage? If you guessed "On the night before you're scheduled to perform an intense surgery on the President of the United States," then you probably don't need to watch Hostages, as you already have a wondrous imagination (or you watched the original Israeli series on which this new CBS drama is based).

Jeffrey Nachmanoff, the writer of Traitor with Don Cheadle and The Day After Tomorrow, and the director of a couple episodes of Homeland, wrote the pilot. The dependable Toni Collette returns to the small screen after her star turn on The United States of Tara to play Dr. Ellen Sanders. Dyaln McDermott, in a riff on his similarly treacherous role in Olympus Has Fallen, plays the FBI agent who's orchestrated the kidnapping. Turns out he wants to have the POTUS assassinated, and he wants Sanders to do it during the surgery. Either that or her family gets it. Tune in to find out how you keep this story going for an entire season of TV. —RS

Stars: Mindy Kaling, Chris Messina, Ike barinholtz, Ed Weeks, Zoe Jarman, Beth Grant
Premiere date: September 17

The Mindy Project didn't come out of the gate swinging like we all expected to in its first season. It played more like an over-extended rom-com. But that doesn't mean we're giving up on it just yet.

The final episodes of season one showed promise, as it now looks like it knows where it's going. Season two will kick off with Mindy (Mindy Kaling) and Casey (guest star Anders Holm) revealing whether or not they went to Haiti and whether or not they're engaged, which only begs the question: does Danny (Chris Messina) have feelings for Dr. Lahiri? It's a conflict set up clumsily all throughout season one, but it looks like the show will finally address the elephant in the room more directly. —TA

Stars: Karl Urban, Michael Ealy, Minka Kelly, Lili Taylor, Mackenzie Crook, Michael Irby
Premiere date: November 4

In J.J. Abrams we trust. With eye- and intellect-pleasing shows like Alias, Lost, and Fringe among his television credits, the super-producer has earned the benefit of the doubt in any project he helps create. Not that we have much uncertainty about Almost Human, which he is co-executive producing with creator and former Fringe writer/director/showrunner J.H. Wyman.

The slick looking sci-fi cop drama is set in 2048, when flesh-and-blood police work alongside lifelike androids to solve and prevent crimes. Crippled LAPD detective John Kennex (Karl Urban), who lost his human partner and a leg when a robot officer, basing its actions on the statistical probability of survival, failed to provide cover fire for them, distrusts and dislikes machines to the point that he rejects his own artificial limb. Naturally, a department mandate forces him to partner up with an android. After retiring one heartless bot by shoving it out of a moving car, Kennex is paired with Dorian (Michael Ealy), or DRN, an early model “synthetic” that was designed to feel emotion, and the part-man, part-machine, odd couple adventures begin.

There are many familiar elements to the show—I, Robot’s wariness of technology, RoboCop’s tug-of-war between android directives and human emotion, and Alien Nation’s adversarial cops of different species developing a mutual respect and understanding for each other, to name a few—but that shouldn’t deter anyone from watching. Abrams and Wyman challenged the hell out of audiences with Fringe, and Lost fans are still pondering that series’ central question (“WTF?”), so it would be surprising if they don’t build upon the sci-fi and police procedural tropes that more, um, robotic minds would calculate are statistically probable to get high ratings.

Oh, and if that's not reason enough to be excited, Minka Kelly plays intelligence analyst Valerie Stahl, and that woman is hot enough to make a robot st-st-stutter. —JM

Stars: Giovanni Ribisi, Seth Green, Martin Mull, Peter Riegert, Brenda Song, Tonita Castro, Vanessa Lachey
Premiere date: September 17

You've got to give it to Seth MacFarlane and his Family Guy colleagues Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild: They definitely know how to piss people off.

As if the Griffin family's crass, and, of course, often hilarious, antics weren't enough, MacFarlane's crew are prodding moralistic critics even harder with their latest show, Dads, their first live-action TV property. It stars Seth Green and Giovanni Ribisi are two video game developers whose slacker fathers (Martin Mull and Peter Riegert) move in with them. And it also features a plethora of insensitive racial jokes, including actress Brenda Song as Green and Ribisi's assistant who's forced to dress up in a barely-there schoolgirl outfit to sway a bunch of male Asian clients.

Yeah, this one could be a disaster. Hopefully, though, Dads retains some of Family Guy's cleverness, lest it quickly devolve into an onslaught of oh-no-they-didn't stereotypes and gags before unmerciful cancellation. —MB

Stars: Glenn Howerton, Charlie Day, Rob McElhenney, Danny DeVito, Kaitlin Olson
Premiere date: September 4

Despite Sunny’s move from FX to the new youth-focused FXX channel, and those ironic black-and-white Swedish art house commercials, not much is expected to change as the Gang from Paddy’s Pub returns for season nine. Since the show premiered in August 2005, Dennis (Glenn Howerton), Dee (Kaitlin Olsen), Mac (Rob McElhenney), Charlie (Charlie Day), and Frank (Danny DeVito) have regularly raised—or perhaps lowered?—the bar on depravity and self-absorbed behavior. With its quintet of deplorable dicks doing very bad things, Sunny has mined racism, child molestation, incest, drug abuse, same-sex marriage, abortion, prostitution, poverty, cancer, cannibalism, mental and physical handicaps, obesity, and pretty much any other potentially offensive topic for jokes and come up with comedic gold.

Of course, anytime a show “goes there” with taboo topics, it can become difficult to match or one-up itself, and in recent seasons Sunny has struggled with consistency. But if plots occasionally felt forgettable, at least the well defined and lovable Gang remained as awful as ever in whatever scenario it was thrown into. The only shark-jumping we anticipate from season nine of Sunny involves Charlie and Frank visiting Adventure Aquarium, diving in a tank, and literally double penetrating one of those toothy bastards, and we'd damn sure tune in for that. —JM

Stars: Stephen Merchant, Christine Woods, Nate Torrence, Kevin Weisman
Premiere date: September 29

British comedy lovers will recognize Stephen Merchant as the co-creator of the original Office and Extras, in addition to his self-deprecating stand-up. Stepping out from the world of Ricky Gervais, Merchant is the star of HBO's Hello Ladies. He plays Stuart, an expat from the UK living in Los Angeles, working as a web designer. Mostly though, he's here for the women. Joined by a ragtag group of similarly-enfeebled nerds, he'll try to find love through awkward conversation-starters about abortion.

The teasers promise the kind of knuckle-biting discomfort of his previous work and strong physical comedy. If Merchant can work the magic he did with Gervais on their incredibly successful earlier outings, Hello Ladies will be the premium comedy to watch this fall. —RS

Stars: Joel McHale, Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Donald Glover, Jim Rash, Yvette Nicole Brown, Ken Jeong
Premiere date: To be determined

Community lovers, we are a jerked around bunch, aren't we? First the network replaced creator and mad genius Dan Harmon for the fourth season with Moses Port and David Guarascio, and many of us predicted the show wouldn't make it without the OG. Now, after much back and forth, Harmon is back—but Donald Glover is out. And you may recall that Chevy Chase left last season. We still have McHale, Brie, Jacobs, and Pudi as our principals, but who knows what the hell we're going to get in terms of quality this season. In Harmon we trust?

Look on the bright side, though—Jonathan Banks (Breaking Bad's Mike Ehrmantraut) will be a regular for season five. As he was one of the best things on AMC's meth drama, expect greatness from him when he touches down on a community college campus with his gruff voice and sleepy eyes. —RS

Stars: Rebel Wilson, Lauren Ash, Liza Lapira, Kelen Coleman, Kevin Bishop, Kate Jenkinson
Premiere date: October 2

After standout supporting roles in Bridesmaids (2011), Pitch Perfect(2012), and Pain & Gain (2013), Australian comedian Rebel Wilson is taking center stage as creator, writer, and star of her own TV show, Super Fun Night. The story centers on a trio of socially awkward friends—Kimmie (Wilson), Helen-Alice (Lauren Ash), and Marika (Liza Lapira)—who venture out into the wider world of bars and clubs after 13 years spending their Friday nights at home, drinking, dancing, and having costume parties, just the three of them.

Inspired by its hilarious plus-size star’s personal experiences, executive produced by late-night veteran Conan O’Brien and roast master Jeff Ross, and featuring guest appearances from talents like Workaholics' Adam DeVine and Bridesmaids' Matt Lucas, Super Fun Night promises abundant humor with some actual heartfelt moments. Unfortunately, early word has been mostly negative. Critics have lashed out at Rebel’s American accent, the characters' one-note bumbling around cool people, stale fat joke site gags, and lesbian jokes about Marika’s implied crush on Kimmie. CBS may have been onto something when it passed on the show last year.

Still, Super Fun Night wouldn’t be the first sitcom to start inauspiciously and find its groove given time to develop. Rebel has undeniable charisma and some great comedic minds behind the project—not to mention a prime spot between hits Modern Family and Nashville—so hopefully Wednesdays ultimately turn out to be super fun nights rather than an excuse to go out and get wasted mid week. —JM

Stars: Mark Duplass, Nick Kroll, Paul Scheer, Stephen Rannazzisi, Katie Aselton, Jon Lajoie
Premiere date: September 4

Bro, there are exactly seven fantasy football teams anybody wants to hear about, and they are all managed by the protagonists of The League (and unhinged recurring show-stealer Rafi, played by Jason Mantzoukas). When Pete (Mark Duplass), Kevin (Stephen Rannazzisi), Ruxin (Nick Kroll), Andre (Paul Scheer), Taco (Jon Lajoie), and Jenny (Katie Aselton) first hit man caves in October 2009, it seemed impossible that a sitcom about such an uninviting activity as imaginary NFL management could succeed.

Succeed it did, thanks to the fantasy community’s embrace and the fact that the show was less about insider stats analysis than the relationships between frenemies who will stop at nothing to beat each other out for a trophy and bragging rights. The talented comedic cast, which frequently improvises, has undeniable chemistry and it hasn’t hurt that the show has ventured further into their lives than Thursday, Sunday, and Monday football. Add to that an impressive list of big-name guest appearances, from NFL studs like Adrian Peterson and Robert Griffin III, to Hollywood stars like Seth Rogen (librarian/pornographer Dirty Randy) and Jeff Goldblum (Ruxin’s lascivious father), and The League is now as important a part of one’s weekly routine as checking your fantasy roster five minutes before kickoff to make sure your starting tight end isn’t out with a bad case of orchestrating someone’s murder. —JM

Stars: Jon Bernthal, Jeremy Luke, Milo Ventimiglia, Neal McDonough, Jeffrey DeMun, Alexa Davalos, Robert Knupper, Edward Burns, Ernie Hudson
Premiere date: December 4

Fans of The Walking Dead, get ready to experience deja vu. TNT's Mob City—based on writer John Buntin's book L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City, and covering similar terrain as Gangster Squad—was developed by Frank Darabont and stars Jon Bernthal and Jeffrey DeMunn, a.k.a, yes, The Walking Dead's late Shane and even later Dale. Yes, two of the AMC zombie show's best actors and its powerhouse creator (Darabont, it's worth noting, directed the superlative films The Shawshank Redemption and The Mist). Start getting excited.

Also, continue forgetting about the awful, aforementioned Gangster Squad, a huge, missed big-screen opportunity to make an L.A. Confidential-like film out of gangster Mickey Cohen and the lawmen who brought him down. With Darabont at the helm, Mob City—that lame title notwithstanding—should deliver in every way that Ryan Gosling and his ridiculous accent couldn't. —MB

Stars: Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge
Premiere date: September 24

It's a Marvel Comics world, folks—we all just happen to be living in it.

Apparently feeling unfulfilled by dominating the film world with The Avengers crew and all of their individual blockbusters, the Marvel brain-trust is now determine to take over the television market with Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Overseen by Avengers writer-director Joss Whedon, it's a light-hearted adventure series centering on movie regular (and somehow no longer dead) Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and his team of young, attractive, superpower-less agents as they handle cases too small for Iron Man, Thor, and their larger-than-life colleagues.

Seems like a ratings slam dunk, no? Not so fast. Keep in mind that Whedon's small-screen track record hasn't exactly been stellar; sure, the quality's always been there (even with the underrated and prematurely cancelled shows Firefly and Dollhouse), but he's yet to create a show to match Buffy the Vampire Slayer's longevity and cultural impact.

Whedon brought the goods in The Avengers, so, at the very least, optimism for Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. being better than past superhero-themed shows like The Cape is warranted. —MB

Stars: Danny McBride, Steve Little, Katy Mixon, Andrew Daly, John Hawkes, Jennifer Irwin
Premiere date: September 29

Eastbound & Down is like a 101 mph fastball that nearly takes your head off, followed by a knuckleball that takes the flight of a butterfly across the heart of the plate for strike three, then another heater that nails you in the ass as you walk back to the dugout. Delightfully unpredictable, it’s only right that the star-powered HBO comedy should rise from the dead for a fourth and final season after its third and “final” season concluded with its protagonist, disgraced former MLB stud closer Kenny Powers (Danny McBride, in a role he’ll take to the grave with him), faking his death and sneaking home to his baby mama despite having finally achieved his stated goal and worked his way back to the majors from teaching gym class and slinging balls in Mexico and the U.S. minor leagues.

Trying to guess what comes next is pointless, but the show resumes several years into Kenny’s retirement in NC, where he’s living with his family and surely still acting like a brash asshole. Wonderful comedic actors Ken Marino (Party Down, Childrens Hospital) and Tim Heidecker (Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!) join the cast along with Omar Dorsey (Django Unchained), and Lindsay Lohan reportedly makes a guest appearance in the series finale and is rumored to be a main character’s illegitimate child. (The fact that you immediately think Kenny probably means his oft abused sidekick Stevie planted this seed.) It’s still sad to think that Powers and the team will be fucking out for good after this, but at least viewers get to relish one more trip to the batter’s box to receive chin music from the one and only Doctor Cock and Balls. —JM

Stars: Charlie Hunnam, Ron Perlman, Katey Sagal, Maggie Siff, Tommy Flanagan, Theo Rossi, Donal Logue, Kim Coates, Mark Boone Junior, Dayton Callie
Premiere date: September 10

Hop on your hogs and rev your engines, brothers, because Sons of Anarchy is back for another thrilling 13-episode fun ride! Though not in the class of The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, or The Wire, owing to some laughable time-killing side plots and the presence of secondary characters that can come off as one-dimensional racial stereotypes, showrunner Kurt Sutter’s underrated California-set crime drama about an outlaw motorcycle club has a killer Shakespearean central story of love, power, and betrayal (and badass bikes). It has also earned some of the most unforgettable moments in television history, acts of violence that are ballsy and disturbing but also moving enough to make a burly biker moisten his clavicle-length beard with tears (Five words: “This is what she felt.”).

The heart of the show has always been Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam), the club’s former V.P. and current President, who started questioning the money-hungry criminal direction of the Sons under stepfather and then prez Clay (Ron Perlman) when he discovered writings from his deceased father, SOA co-founder John Teller, right as he was having his own first child. In subsequent seasons, Jax has compromised his ethics and delayed going straight to stay afloat, and has even entered the club into shady drug dealings that his pops would have been ashamed of. By the end of season five, the once-moral center of the Sons has become almost as vile and every bit as corrupted and Machiavellian as Clay, forcibly injecting his first born’s recovering addict mother with heroin to prevent her from snitching and getting custody of their son and framing his patch-stripped stepfather for murder. And, thanks to the illegal aid he’s asked her to provide, Jax has gotten his doctor wife, Tara (Maggie Siff), arrested for her role in a prison murder.

What else can go wrong in what is expected to be SOA’s penultimate season? If history is any indicator, a lot. Jax still has a score to settle with imprisoned Clay, who killed numerous club members, including Jax’s father, right? Will he ever truly be able to forgive or trust Juice (Theo Rossi), who ratted on the club? How long can his business partnerships with other ethnic gangs last when they’re built on deceit? And with Jax’s manipulative mother, Gemma (Katey Sagal), sliding right in to help in Tara’s absence, how will she influence his leadership? Don’t forget to strap on a helmet, because this ride promises to have plenty of bumps and nasty spills. —JM

Stars: Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Nick Offerman, Adam Scott, Chris Pratt, Aubrey Plaza, Rob Lowe, Aziz Ansari, Retta, Jim O'Heir
Premiere date: September 26

After a finale in which we witnessed Andy's (Chris Pratt) hilarious witch hunt for the Parks and Rec department employee who threw out the positive pregnancy test, season 6 only promises to be more batshit. First of all, Ron Swanson, the king of meat and moustaches, will be a dad. Second of all, Rashida Jones and Rob Lowe are departing the show, vacating the Leslie Knope BFF position, which could possibly mean more Aubrey Plaza or Retta screen time. Finally, Orphan Black's breakout Tatyana Maslany will have a guest arc on the show as Tom's (Aziz Ansari) new boo thang.

We're looking forward to the most consistent sitcom on television to shake things up a bit. As much as we'll miss Ann (Jones) and hearing the word "literally" 10 times an episode, we can't wait for some fresh storylines. —TA

Stars: Andrew Lincoln, Steven Yeun, Norman Reedus, Danai Gurira, David Morrissey, Chandler Riggs, Melissa McBride, Scott Wilson, Maggie Cohan, Emily Kinney, Chad L. Coleman, Larry Gilliard, Jr., Sonequa Martin-Green
Premiere date: October 13

Bad news for many Walking Dead fans: Per the cast and crew's insight in recent interviews, the upcoming fourth season is going to slow things down a bit. Meaning, less emphasis on zombie action and more importance placed on character development. It's the doing of new showrunner Scott Gimple, a longtime Walking Dead producer and writer whose been behind some of the show's least zombie-heavy episodes, including last season's "Clear," the one where Rick (Andrew Lincoln) awkwardly reunites with the now-looney Morgan (Lennie James).

Of course, this is all really good news for people who appreciate things like, you know, character development, rich storytelling, and artistic maturity. "Clear," if you'll recall, was a season three highpoint, and Gimple's plan to devote certain episodes to one or two of The Walking Dead's overstuffed cast of characters is exactly what the series needs.

Watching people get eaten alive and blow walkers' heads off is cool and all, but it's even better when you give a damn about the victims and heroes. Otherwise, you might as well just rent a Resident Evil movie. —MB

Stars: Andy Samberg, Andre Braugher, Melissa Fumero, Terry Crews, Stephanie Beatriz, Chelsea Peretti, Joe Lo Truglio
Premiere date: September 17

Inside every office there's a colorful cast of characters just waiting to make you laugh—even when those characters are cops. Following in the footsteps of slightly shaky single-cam comedies like The Office and Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine fills a police precinct with zaniness. Andy Samberg plays Detective Jake Peralta a smart cop who acts like Andy Samberg. Which is to say: like the class clown of an elementary school. He's under new scrutiny in the form of his new boss, Captain Ray Holt (Andre Braugher, of Homicide: Life on the Street).

As for more literal Office/Parks and Rec connections, the show's creators, Dan Goor and Michael Schur, are both vets of the succesful NBC comedies, where they wrote and produced. Though the trailer for Brooklyn Nine-Nine feels familiar, there's no reason it won't do like Parks did before it, and shake off the shadow of The Office and come into its own. —RS

Stars: Michael Sheen, Lizzy Caplan, Nicholas D'Agosto, Teddy Sears, Cailtin Fitzgerald
Premiere date: September 29

Of the new dramas coming this fall, Showtime's period piece Masters of Sex is the best. The series opens in the late '50s, at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Williams Masters (Michael Sheen) is the best OBGYN in the country, an expert at solving the fertility problems of other couples. But he's having trouble at home; his wife can't get pregnant. At the same time, he's beginning to study sexual pleasure, specifically the female orgasm, as he thinks it might hold the secret to issues of conception. Yes, this sort of occupational irony is usually a red flag, but since the show is based on a true story you have to give it some wiggle room. Anyway, Masters isn't the most fascinating thing here.

No, Masters of Sex is going to be a smash for two reasons: One, creator Michelle Ashford (of HBO's The Pacific) is telling a story about a watershed moment in the study of sexuality, and she's doing so with a strong cast of women that will shake up preconceived notions about what sex looks like on TV, how it's talked about. Two, Lizzy Caplan is going to become a star once this premieres. She plays Virginia Johnson, the secretary who becomes Masters partner in his research. Her character is one of the most interesting we've seen on TV, a woman who doesn't play by the rules of the time in which she lives. She's shrewd, confident, and open, and allows Caplan to flex dramatic chops none of us have ever seen.

If you always thought you'd like Mad Men even more if only it were to home in on the fucking, here's your new favorite series. —RS

Stars: Zooey Deschanel, Jake Johnson, Max Greenfield, Lamorne Morris, Hannah Simone
Premiere date: September 17

Some fans have complained that the Nick and Jess (Jake Johnson and Zooey Deschanel) romance came way too soon in the series. Where will the show go from here?! But considering they're the Ross and Rachel of the sitcom, keeping in mind how the Friends couple played out over 10 seasons, we're not worried. There's plenty of hilarious wrenches—first loves, hot new co-workers, commitment issues— that can still be thrown at their romance. To us, it doesn't really matter whether they're together or not; Jake Johnson and Zooey Deschanel sharing a scene together is comedy gold.

As for the rest of the characters, season three will reveal whether or not Schmidt will choose Cece (Hannah Simone) or Elizabeth (guest star Merritt Wever), his first love. Meanwhile, Winston (Lamorne Morris) will continue doing random Winston things, which is still incomprehensible. —TA

Stars: Claire Danes, Damian Lewis, Mandy Patinkin, Morena Baccarin
Premiere date: September 29

Even when it's flirting with the ridiculous, Homeland is always compelling television. And last year, during the show's uneven second season, there were plenty of far-fetched moments, usually involving politician/possible terrorist Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) and his inane ability to defy security practices in high-ranking governmental and C.I.A. facilities. Once the explosive season finale hit, however, Homeland's flaws all disappeared in the rubble left by that car-bomb outside of Langley.

Now, the show's main character arcs for season 3 are all clouded in mystery. Will Carrie (Claire Danes) keep pining for Brody while he's off hiding in Montreal, or wherever the hell he's migrated to by this point? Is Saul (Mandy Patinkin) secretly behind that car explosion? Considering that he's off the grid, what will Brody's role be now? And, most importantly, are we finally done with his insufferably unhappy daughter, Dana (Morgan Saylor)? —MB

Stars: Steve Buscemi, Michael K. Williams, Jack Huston, Stephen Graham, Kelly Macdonald, Michael Shannon, Shea Whigham, Michael Stuhlbarg, Anthony Laciura, Vincent Piazza, Jeffrey Wright, Ron Livingston
Premiere date: September 8

The sepia tone posters for Boardwalk Empire’s fourth season look like old timey portraits. They feature the HBO Prohibition-era crime drama's ostensibly important players, their names and location (Atlantic City, New York, Harlem, Chicago), and the year 1924. On first glance, they’re not as exciting as season three’s ads, in which crooked politician Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi) looked menacing next to the infamous words of his former mentee-turned-adversary-and-murder-victim Jimmy Darmody (Michael Pitt)—“You can't be half a gangster”—signaling Nuck’s transition to full-on gangsterism and a season of bloody bootlegger warfare. But upon closer examination, this season’s tease has just as much to be amped about.

For starters, there’s the always entertaining Al Capone (Stephen Graham) mean mugging with his brothers. One of the biggest real-life names from the series, “Scarface” hasn’t had as much screen-time as many would like, but trailers show him and his kin stepping up their presence in Chicago, warring with unions and police. Lucky Luciano (Vincent Piazza), Arnold Rothstein (Michael Stuhlbarg), and Meyer Lansky (Anatol Yusef) represent continued problems with New York, as the powerful Rothstein takes exception to Nucky selling him out, and the innovative younger pair are changing the way the streets operate. Out of Harlem emerges Dr. Valentin Narcisse (Jeffrey Wright), a philanthropist, Doctor of Divinity, and boss who appears to have a problem with Nucky helping Atlantic City’s head black gangster, Chalky White (Michael K. Williams), open up competing nightlife on the boardwalk.

But we’re most excited about Richard Harrow (Jack Huston), the sad and endearing WWI veteran and gunman with the disfigured face half covered with a creepy tin mask who got one of five BE solo portraits. Last season, he took on a well deserved larger role in the wake of his friend Jimmy’s death, capped by his one-man, Travis Bickle-esque massacre of rival gangsters to rescue Darmody’s son in the finale. Having sacrificed his dream of a normal life to save the boy, it’s unclear where he will go, but there are many parties who will want him dead and others who will see the value in a “dead-eye shooter.” In the struggle for power, which Narcisse defines as “control over men who are lesser than you,” it always helps to employ a man whose marksmanship reminds people where they stand, or will lay eternally. —JM

Stars: Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Evan Peters, Lily Rabe, Sarah Paulson, Emma Roberts, Gabourey Sidibe, Taissa Farmiga, Denis O'Hare, Alexandra Breckenridge, Patti LuPone
Premiere date: October 9

Crazy fact: American Horror Story: Asylum received the most Emmy nominations of any TV show this year. That's right, the insane FX series in which a nun got possessed by a devil and turned satanically horny, James Cromwell created mutants using old Nazi tricks, and Adam Levine got slaughtered by a killer called Bloody Face beat out programs like Mad Men and Breaking Bad. Perhaps the inmates really do run the asylum these days.

Or, more likely, the Emmy committee's members aren't as close-minded and anti-genre as those Oscar folks. The rampant nihilism and WTF-ness aside, American Horror Story, in its two seasons thus far, has been of the highest quality, marked by exceptional performances (all hail Jessica Lange), clever storytelling, and the magnetism that comes from watching serious actors let loose in the name of anything-goes wildness.

And the latest season, sub-titled Coven, should be even more of that. Set in New Orleans and Salem, the witch-centric season will also further prove that the American Horror Story franchise is TV's strongest supplier of robust female roles. Amongst this year's cast: Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Gabourey "Precious" Sidibe, and multiple Tony Award winner Patti LuPone. They'll all go up against AHS' patron saint of scene-stealing, Jessica Lange. The results will be epic. —MB