Your Guide to the 14 Fall TV Shows You Need to Watch in 2017

From HBO's porn drama 'The Deuce' to Fox's sci-fi comedy 'Ghosted,' there's a lot of Fall TV Shows to look out for.

fall tv
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

fall tv

While the box office might have failed this summer the small and streaming screens dominated with more quality programming than we could even handle. From HBO triumphantly bringing back Game of Thrones with all of its dragons and incest to Issa Rae's wonderfully emotionally messy season two of InsecureShowtime's return of cult favorite Twin PeaksUSA's shockingly good The Sinner and that's just skimming the surface of amazing TV shows that we've been watching instead of venturing outside. 

The beginnings of fall tv aren't going to be keeping us off the couch either—all of our favorites are coming back in full force like FX's anti romcom You're The Worst, Pamela Adlon's grouchy, poignant Better Things, NBC's under the radar sitcom The Good Place, our newest fav teen murder drama Riverdale and even more. Wait, did we forget something? 

Netflix's Stranger Things

Since we can't really comprehend our already established TV schedules, we figured we should give some new shows a chance to get into our rotation. So here's 14 of our most anticipated new television shows hitting your small screens this fall. 

The Deuce (HBO)

View this video on YouTube

youtube.com

Release Date: September 10

Stars: Maggie Gyllenhaal, James Franco, Gary Carr, Margarita Levieva, Lawrence Gilliard Jr.

You'll Like If You Like: The Wire

David Simon, creator of The Wire, one of—if not the—best shows of all time, is back on HBO with The Deuce, a story of the porn industry after its legalization in New York City during the 1970s. New York in the 70s was a city in the midst of a violent drug epidemic, and the Mob practically ran the city. The Deuce will explore this seedy world with all the elements of a good Simon project: a sprawling cast, rich, dynamic characters, big issues like sex, drugs, and money illustrated with realism and tact in an attempt to explore human nature. — Julia Pimentel

Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)

View this video on YouTube

youtube.com

Release Date: October 1

Stars: Larry David, Jeff Garlin, Susie Essman, JB Smoove, Cheryl Hines

You'll Like If You Like: Seinfeld, Louie, Arrested Development

It’s FINALLY back. After six long years, Larry David is back with his distinct brand of dry, dark, curmudgeonly humor. And this often political show, so good at demonstrating just how pointless most social conventions are, will fit riiiiight in in 2017. Few details have been teased, but Jeff Garlin said back in May that “The storyline is rather insane. Like, people are gonna go, 'I can’t believe they’re doing this!’” Curb Your Enthusiasm was always funny, but it was hardly ever truly surprising from a plot perspective. Will this be a new incarnation of Curb? We’re open to anything. — Julia Pimentel

Ghosted (FOX)

View this video on YouTube

youtube.com

Release Date: October 1

Stars: Craig Robinson, Adam Scott

You'll Like If You Like: X-Files, Men in Black

If you—like me—are still salty about how rough the recent X-Files revival was, FOX has a chance to redeem itself with Ghosted. A slapstick, sitcom revamp of the UFO-heavy drama with a dash of tongue in cheek Men in Black starring Craig Robinson and Adam Scott (alums of two of the best network sitcoms of the last decade—The Office and Parks and Rec), Ghosted is no guaranteed slam-dunk of a series, but amidst a crop of freshman TV that looks dull at best, it’s a welcome dash of genre fun that doesn’t star Seth MacFarlane.—Aubrey Page

The Gifted (FOX)

View this video on YouTube

youtube.com

Release Date: October 2

Stars: Stephen Moyer, Amy Acker

You'll Like If You Like: The X-Men franchise, Heroes

Superhero TV—particularly Marvel extended universe superhero TV—is passé. Being asked to sit through projects that are more about identifying a dozen tiny connections to the more famous characters you truly care about than, you know, good storytelling, is exhausting. These emergent truths are working against Fox’s Gifted, the X-Men adjacent series, but the Bryan Singer-directed newbie smartly turns the focus inward to a family (led by Person of Interest’s Amy Acker and True Blood’s Stephen Moyer) with mutant members on the run from nefarious forces. That the X-Men universe timeline is an affront to continuity and coherency should help Gifted be selective in its broader franchise ties and generally focus on growing into the better Heroes it has the potential to be across its mercifully short 10-episode season. — Cory Barker

The Mayor (ABC)

View this video on YouTube

youtube.com

Release DateOctober 3

Stars: Brandon Micheal Hall, Lea Michele

You'll Like If You Like: The Hamilton cast recordings

In a fall season to forget, ABC’s The Mayor has perhaps the highest variance potential. The show centers on a subject we can’t get enough of—accidental politicians! It mixes the ABC sitcom style with musical elements, and Hamilton’s Daveed Diggs is here, sort of! Lea Michele is, in 2017, prominently involved! That’s a lot, and it could be disastrous—but in a bad fun way. But star Brandon Michael Hall is charming, Yvette Nicole Brown (Community) absolutely rules, and ABC has a knack for making these comedies work. If everything comes together, this could easily be the best sitcom by mid-fall—in a good fun way. — Cory Barker

Mindhunter (Netflix)

View this video on YouTube

youtube.com

Release Date: October 13

StarsJonathan Groff, Anna Torv

You'll Like If You Like: David Fincher movies, dark sh*t

David Fincher—the dude behind faves like Se7en, Fight Club and Gone Girl—is notoriously choosy about his projects, and it’s been three years since we’ve gotten anything substantial from the auteur. That’s why it’s huge that his next series, a gritty, true crime series set inside the FBI’s serial crime unit (think: serial killers) is hitting Netflix in just a few weeks. The trailer is disturbing and hypnotic, and Fincher will be rolling up to direct three of the series’ ten episodes. Based on a riveting book from an ex-FBI agent, there’s basically no way this series, in the hands of the director who made Zodiac, is gonna be anything other than compulsively watchable. No one try to talk to me on October 13—I’ll be busy binging this one. – Aubrey Page

The Last O.G. (TBS)

View this video on YouTube

youtube.com

Release DateOctober 24

StarsTracy Morgan, Tiffany Haddish, Ryan Gaul, Cedric the Entertainer

You'll Like If You Like: 30 Rock

In the series trailer, Tracy Morgan screams: “What the hell happened to Brooklyn!!?” A question many have asked, few have had to audacity to answer honestly, and even fewer have tried to seriously tackle in film or TV. Maybe that’s a good thing, because it feels like the wait has been worth it if it means we have Jordan Peele (Get Out) and John Carcieri (Vice Principals, Eastbound & Down) at the helm of such a project. Tracy Morgan (in his first role since his tragic car accident in 2014) plays an ex-felon adjusting to life outside of prison, realizing his ex-girlfriend (Tiffany Haddish, fresh off her Girls Trip success) is married to some white fancy dude who is raising his two twin sons whom he never met. Peele, Morgan, and Haddish working together? This promises to be one of fall’s most riotous comedies. — Julia Pimentel

Future Man (Hulu)

View this video on YouTube

youtube.com

Release Date: November 14

Stars: Josh Hutcherson, Eliza Coupe

You'll Like If You Like: The Last Starfighter, but wish it had more dick and weed jokes

The last gasps of the TV industry’s most recent thirst for time travel debuts on Hulu this November with the Josh Hutcherson vehicle Future Man. Not much is known about the Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg-produced sci-fi action comedy, which today feels like a blessing. Here’s what we do know, however: A.) Hutcherson’s character is reluctant time traveler and STD research lab janitor, B.) the show wants to mix Rogen/Goldberg R-rated humor, bloody action, and sci-fi tropes, and C.) Eliza Coupe is here with really dope purple hair. There’s no way this will be any worse than Time After Time or Frequency or Making History, right? — Cory Barker

Marvel's Runaways (Hulu)

marvel's runaways

She's Gotta Have It (Netflix)

View this video on YouTube

youtube.com

Release Date: November 23

Stars: DeWanda Wise, Cleo Anthony, Lyriq Bent, Chyna Lane, Anthony Ramos

You'll Like If You Like: Spike Lee movies

This new Netflix series is based on Spike Lee’s black-and-white 1986 film of the same name, the first of his career and a seminal moment in indie film history; the series is set to be a re-telling and continuation of Lee’s classic with all the effervescence that Lee lends to his projects. As the story goes, Nola Darling, a a beautiful young artist from Brooklyn, juggles her job, her friends and her three (!) boyfriends. The original movie was groundbreaking in its depiction of a sexually liberated and independent black woman and black men who were sophisticated and intelligent rather than criminals, so if the series retains the movie’s essence, this is a series to watch for. — Julia Pimentel

Marvel's The Punisher (Netflix)

View this video on YouTube

youtube.com

Release DateFall TBA

StarsJon Bernthal, Ben Barnes, Amber Rose Revah

You'll Like If You LikeDaredevil, guns

Castle is back. As of right now, it's hard to tell what's stirring The Punisher. His aim is to eradicate the bad element of the world, which is driven by losing his family during a violent gun battle. With Marvel being noticeably secretive on what this series will entail, we can only imagine that there will be tons of bloodshed and war to soak up.—khal

Latest in Pop Culture