Despite being just the weirdest year ever, it’s also been a super-strong, solid one for television. Maybe it’s because movies got kneecapped during the pandemic or maybe it’s because we’re all stuck at home more than ever, but there’s definitely lots of good TV to watch, including our picks for the 20 best shows of 2020 at the halfway point, which didn’t even include August’s acclaimed “Lovecraft Country.”
READ MORE: Fall Film Preview: 40 Most Anticipated Films To Watch
However, the Fall has always been the big season for television. Kids go back to school (OK, maybe not this year, who knows?), and everyone is looking for something new to watch every night after their homework is done. For years, September was always the month for TV, and some of that remains in the system as this year sees the return of major TV voices like Scott Frank, David E. Kelley, Mike Flanagan, and Ryan Murphy in the coming months. What will people be talking about between now and New Year’s Day? These are the 45 shows we expect to make the biggest waves.
SEPTEMBER
“A.P. Bio” (Peacock) – September 3
Glenn Howerton (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”) stars in this clever NBC comedy about a disgraced Harvard professor forced to return to his hometown in Toledo, Ohio, and teach a group of students arguably smarter than him while planning his revenge on those he thinks have slighted him. Patton Oswalt plays the Principal on a show that had a nice loyal following but very low ratings, and so NBC canceled it in May 2019 after two seasons…and then changed their minds, announcing a third season for their new streaming service, Peacock. The tiered streamer from NBCUniversal has struggled a bit to find a new series worth watching—maybe an old one will do the trick?
“Raised by Wolves” (HBO Max) – September 3
Earth has been destroyed and a distant planet holds the only chance for humanity to thrive again in the universe. Sound familiar? Ridley Scott, a man who knows a thing or two about science fiction and journeys across the stars to save the fate of humankind, returns to the form in TV this time, directing the pilot of this series created by Aaron Guzikowski (“Prisoners”). Not a lot is known about “Raised by Wolves” other than the very notable presence of its Oscar-winning director and that it’s about two androids named Father (Abubakar Salim) and Mother (Amanda Collin) who raise human children on terra firma far from the planet Earth. Issues of anthropomorphized technology will certainly be of interest to the man who directed “Blade Runner,” but this is also about how new communities form through division and often violence.
“Away” (Netflix) – September 4
The pedigree in front of and behind the camera on this Netflix sci-fi drama is undeniably impressive, making it one of the streaming king’s biggest fall projects. “Cloverfield” director Matt Reeves and TV legend Jason Katims (“Friday Night Lights”) executive produce the series from playwright Andrew Hinderaker (“The Path”), while Edward Zwick (“Glory”) directed the pilot. That’s some star power. (Sorry, not sorry.) Oscar-winner Hilary Swank stars as Emma Green, an American astronaut grappling with the emotional cost of leaving her family behind to embark on an international space mission. This feels likely to be more “Contact” than “Men in Black,” something designed to address the human toll of true exploration. Josh Charles, Vivian Wu, and Ato Essandoh co-star.
“The Boys” (Amazon) – September 4
One of Amazon’s most-buzzed shows was the 2019 launch of this adaptation of the Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson graphic novels about superheroes who aren’t such super people after all. The title refers to a group of vigilantes who know the truth about the superheroes in this world, and the true evil they hide underneath their carefully manicured public personas. Karl Urban plays Billy Butcher, the leader of the Boys and the nemesis of the most famous hero in the world, Homelander (the series-stealing Antony Starr), who looks like Captain America but acts like Patrick Bateman behind the scenes. Turning the pop confection imagery of superhero culture back on itself in grisly, violent ways, “The Boys” is unlike anything else on TV right now, which is saying something in the overcrowded world of superhero culture.
“Woke” (Hulu) – September 9
Based on the work of artist Keith Knight, Hulu’s next dramedy stars Lamorne Morris (“The New Girl”) as a cartoonist who is about to make it big on a platform of ruffling as few feathers as possible with his purposefully non-controversial takes. After an encounter with the San Francisco police, Keef ends up confronted by animated inanimate objects in the world around him in this live-action/animation hybrid, which forces the artist out of his comfort zone to incorporate social issues into his art. Hence the title. Morris can be very funny in the right material, and the concept certainly sounds like an interesting way to approach modern social issues.
“Julie and the Phantoms” (Netflix) – September 10
Director/choreographer Kenny Ortega is a legend. Not only did he gift a generation the addictive “High School Musical” but he choreographed a lot of your favorite ‘80s films like “Pretty in Pink,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” and “Dirty Dancing,” as well as concert tours for major stars of the era like Cher and Michael Jackson. The superstar turns to TV with this musical dramedy aimed at a young adult crowd but hoping to catch a few parents too. Madison Reyes plays Julie, haunted by not just the grief of losing her mother last year but three literal ghosts in the form of a trio of musicians (Charlie Gillespie, Jeremy Shada, Owen Patrick Joyner), who inspire her to sing and write again. Looking for hits the size of “HSM” or the “Descendants” films that Ortega made, Netflix signed a multiyear deal with him in 2019. This is the first product of that deal.
“The Duchess” (Netflix) – September 11
Fresh off her Netflix special “In Trouble,” Canadian/U.K.-based comedian Katherine Ryan came to the streaming service with an idea based on her life as a fabulous single mom living in London. Season 1 does just that and follows her as she debates if she should have a second child with her estranged and troubled baby daddy. Said to be “Catastrophe“-esque single-cam comedy set in London, “The Duchess” is about a struggling single mom juggling her career, her tween daughter, her relationship with her boyfriend and of course, the complicated idea of getting pregnant again with her ex. Rory Keenan and Katy Byrne co-star.
“The Third Day” (HBO) – September 14
An HBO and Sky Atlantic production, this television experiment is divided into three parts, which make it sound structurally fascinating. The first part, “Summer,” stars Jude Law as a man who finds himself on a mysterious island just off the coast of England and details the people he finds there. The third part, “Winter,” stars Naomie Harris as another woman who comes to the island and hopefully doesn’t find smoke monsters there. The middle part is the weird one. Called “Autumn,” it will reportedly be a “live theatrical event”—probably somewhere other than HBO—that mirrors a broadcast from the island itself. According to the official site, “Featuring members of The Third Day cast including Jude Law, viewers will follow the events of a single day in real-time broadcast live from the island. In one continuous and cinematic take, the rituals and traditions of the islanders are further revealed as the line between what is real and what is not increasingly blurs.” Sounds fascinating.
“We Are Who We Are” (HBO) – September 14
Beloved filmmaker Luca Guadagnino created, co-wrote, and directed this drama for HBO and Sky Atlantic that returns viewers to the setting of his most popular film “Call My by Your Name” by following the story of two teen Americans growing up in Italy. Near an army base in that country, 14-year-old Fraser Wilson (Jack Dylan Grazer) meets Caitlin Harper (Jordan Kristine Seamon), who changes his life. He has just moved there from New York, while she has been in the country for several years. A coming-of-age story that only Guadagnino could create, this project features performances from Chloe Sevigny, Alice Braga, and Kid Cudi.
“Archer” (FXX) – September 16
Sterling Archer is back! And for real this time! Not only was this fall launch delayed from May 2020 after the pandemic, but it finally wakes the title character up from a coma that he entered at the end of season seven. In the three years since then, “Archer” has used the dream state of its title character to spin off into genre-based spoofs like “Dreamland,” “Danger Island,” and “1999.” So fans are excited by the 11th season that promises to return “Archer” back to its 007 roots, something that should be particularly interesting given the way comedy has changed in the years since this spoof premiered way back in 2009.
“PEN15” (Hulu) – September 18
One of Hulu’s most critical darlings of 2019 was a coming-of-age comedy with a twist. Created by Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle, “PEN15” recalls those horrible days of acne and social drama but it features the two co-creators in the starring roles without really commenting on the fact that they’re, well, adults acting as if they’re 13. And the rest of the cast is played by teen actors, adding to the bizarre rhythm of the show, one that plays out almost like a memory or a dream about long-gone high school days. Most importantly, Erskine and Konkle are fearlessly hysterical, and they’re ready to do their hysterically original and defiantly weird thing again for season two of this Lonely Island hit.
“Ratched” (Netflix) – September 18
Ryan Murphy can’t be stopped! His third Netflix series of the year after “Hollywood” and the second chapter of “The Politician,” this one is the most intriguing, and not only because it reunites the divisive creator with his muse, Sarah Paulson, who won an Emmy for her work on Murphy’s “American Crime Story: The People v. OJ Simpson” and has appeared in multiple iterations of “American Horror Story.” This is closer to the latter as Paulson will play Mildred Ratched, a character who won Louise Fletcher an Oscar for “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” over four decades ago. This prequel promises to offer a window into the creation of a monster as Ratched finetunes her authoritarian sociopathic behavior at a hospital in California. Murphy has gathered an amazing group around Paulson, including Judy Davis, Sharon Stone, Rosanna Arquette, Amanda Plummer, Corey Stoll, Sophie Okonedo, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Cynthia Nixon. No one knows how to cast like Murphy. Whether he wrote something worthy of their talents is yet to be determined.
“Filthy Rich” (FOX) – September 21
One of the few new fall network shows that seems done enough to have a premiere date, this soap opera was created by Tate Taylor (“The Help”) and stars TV legends Kim Cattrall and Gerald McRaney in something that sounds perfect for people who miss the salad days of primetime soaps like “Dynasty” and “Falcon Crest”. Based on the New Zealand series of the same name, it’s yet another “Gothic family drama in which wealth, power, and religion collide.” This one centers on a southern family who made their money through a Christian television network as they struggle after the death of their founder reveals three family members that no one knew about. While there’s a lot of high concept premises floating around the streaming services this Fall, this could be the kind of old-fashioned escapism that soap opera fans really need in fall 2020.
“Utopia” (Amazon) – September 25
One of Amazon’s most high-profile upcoming projects used to be one of HBO’s most high-profile upcoming projects…in 2015. That was when director David Fincher and writer Gillian Flynn were planning to quickly reunite after the success of “Gone Girl” to produce this tech-driven thriller for the cable network, but it fell apart before too long. Fincher is gone but the writer of “Widows” remains, working here with Dennis Kelly to adapt his U.K. series of the same name and with a cast that includes young talents like Dan Byrd, Jessica Rothe, Desmin Borges, and Sasha Lane as members of an online group who stumble upon a rare graphic novel that seems to hold the key to the truth about the power structures that control society. Rainn Wilson and John Cusack co-star in a thriller with a promising concept.
“A Wilderness of Error” (FX) – September 25
Based on the excellent Errol Morris non-fiction book of the same name, this docuseries recounts the case of Jeffrey MacDonald, a Green Beret accused of killing his wife and two daughters in 1970. MacDonald blamed the murders on a group of Manson Family-esque lunatics but was convicted of the crimes in one of the most high-profile cases of its era. FX will air the first three episodes on one night and the last two the next week, revealing how much the network is switching to more of a streaming model than a broadcast one. All the episodes will be available on Hulu the day after they premiere on FX.
“The Comey Rule” (Showtime) – September 27
Moved around the schedule several times, this Showtime miniseries from Billy Ray (“Shattered Glass”) has finally landed on a prime spot five weeks before the 2020 Presidential election. Will this adaptation of James Comey’s “A Higher Loyalty” have any impact on undecided voters in the days before the election or merely preach to the choir? Only time will tell, but it is the most high-profile piece in which a major actor plays Donald J. Trump to date. Jeff Daniels may play the titular character, James Comey, but it’s going to be a heavily made-up Brendan Gleeson as DJT that has everyone talking. The supporting cast around these two is fire as well with Peter Coyote taking on Robert Mueller, William Sadler as Michael Flynn, Michael Kelly as Andrew McCabe, Holly Hunter as Sally Yates, and Scoot McNairy as Rod Rosenstein. There are going to be literally dozens of high-profile dramas about the last four years before long. Might as well get it started now.
“Fargo” (FX) – September 27
Shut down with only two episodes to be filmed when the pandemic hit, Noah Hawley’s critical darling is picking up where it left off and launching the new season with fingers crossed that production can actually finish this time. Set in 1950s Kansas City, the fourth season of the FX hit based in the universe of the films of Joel & Ethan Coen stars Chris Rock as Loy Cannon, the head of a Black crime family who has to negotiate with members of the Italian mafia to find peace. Expect a lot of criminal behavior offset by that deadpan Hawley/Coen sense of humor. The first season of “Fargo” since June 2017 also stars Jason Schwartzman, Ben Whishaw, Jessie Buckley, Jack Huston, and Timothy Olyphant.