Fall TV’s six most exciting prospects

A look at the new and returning shows to distract you from studying

Image by: Josh Granovsky
Characters from TV shows coming this fall.

Fall is around the corner, all your friends are back in Kingston and your back is already aching from carrying excessively heavy textbooks. This could only mean one thing: TV’s summer break is over.

While the fall season reminds some of wilting trees, the start of the school year and pumpkin spice, what it really means is that your favourite shows are back after a brutal summer hiatus and some new ones are auditioning for a highly competitive slot in your Netflix queue. Here are some select picks of the shows returning this season:

American Horror Story: Cult, Sept. 5

Like many loyal viewers of this horror anthology, I have some trust issues with the AHS franchise. The show has been on a steady decline since its second seasonand promos for this season have involved cults, Trump and bees. Despite themes that appear to be picked out of a hat, this season is getting surprisingly great reviews from critics. If you gave up on the show or have never started, this season — which requires no prior viewing — might be the time to start watching.

The Good Place, Sept. 20

My favourite show of last year, that you unfortunately have most likely never seen, returns on NBC with a one-hour premiere this month. It’s essentially a cross between Parks & Recreation and Lost, which should make no sense but does anyway. You do need to watch the first season for the show to make sense but lucky for everyone, it will be on Netflix the day after the second season premiere, so you can burn through the first 14 and be caught up in time for the season’s new episodes.

Young Sheldon, Sept. 25

Are you one of the people who somehow gave The Big Bang Theory the largest Canadian sitcom audience since the Friends series finale? Well, you may have to extend your weekly TV watching by a half-hour because Sheldon, the show’s hit character, is getting his own spin-off series. Except things are a little different: Sheldon is 9 years old, entering high school and there’s no laugh track. Bazinga?

This Is Us, Sept. 26

TV’s breakout series of 2016 is coming back for another round. If you’re not one of the 15 million viewers who tuned in weekly last year, the show follows the Pearson family throughout numerous decades as they deal with racism, body image and tragedy. Season one comes to Netflix on September 20th, giving you exactly six days to catch up. Spoiler alert: you will cry the whole time and it will not be pretty.

Will & Grace, Sept. 28

Yes, I am talking about THAT Will & Grace. No, it’s not 1998. Your favourite fictional roommates are back. And somehow, they’re still roommates, despite being in their 50’s. After an 11-year hiatus, the show that Joe Biden claims “did more to educate the American public [on LBGT issues] than almost anything anybody has ever done so far” will return to continue our education for 16 episodes this year, and has already been renewed for a second season as well.

Riverdale, Oct. 11

You know, that TV show that you rushed home from the bar on Thursday nights to watch when the new weekly episode came out at midnight? Even though season one solved the Jason Bloom murder, there’s still a lot of questions left to answer. Will Varchie survive? More importantly, will Bughead? Will the town ever turn into the zombie apocalypse like online fan boards suggest?

Other returning favourites premiering this month include Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Empire and Transparent. If you watch everything listed, you will almost have enough shows to fill the wait for Game of Thrones to return in 2019. Winter is coming eventually, folks.

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fall TV, TV

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