Here are my picks for the better shows among the new fall crop and shows that seem to have a good chance for success. In some cases, they are the same show.
Shows are listed in no particular order. Yes, “American Horror Story: Coven” will be a hit, too, but let’s make some room for the new kids on the block.
The Michael J. Fox Show, NBC
You won’t love it because he’s battling Parkinson’s with such dignity. You’ll love it because he’s just that great and he belongs on weekly series TV.
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, ABC
If the original “Once Upon a Time” seemed to feel a little bland after a while, the spin-off is out to fix that by being darker and with much better special effects.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Fox
It’s a sitcom that reminds many of “Barney Miller,” not just because it’s set in a New York precinct but because, like the earlier show, it’s about the human side of being a cop. The presence of Andy Samberg and Andre Braugher seal the deal.
The Crazy Ones, CBS
Another returnee to series TV: Robin Williams teams with Sarah Michelle Gellar as father and daughter ad agency execs. Williams has to follow a script, kinda, but should play well against Buffy’s deadpan style.
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., ABC
Decent cast with a guaranteed fan base from the comic books and films already salivating over the drama about specially gifted agents battling alien forces.
Derek, Netflix
Ricky Gervais plays a sweet-natured loser who works at a retirement home. All of his friends are equally marginal people. We may never know how many people stream it, but it’s Ricky Gervais. And it’s Netflix.
Last Tango in Halifax, PBS
It almost feels like a “Saturday Night Live” spoof of PBS: Two senior citizens fall in love and decide to get married. But it’s modern, and funny, and no matter how cynical you are, it’ll getcha by the heartstrings. Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid: Sweethearts 4-Ever.
Dracula, NBC
Jonathan Rhys Meyers parts his puffy lips to reveal gleaming fangs in a retelling of Bram Stoker’s classic. Think the vampire thing will be over someday? Naw, it’ll live forever — haven’t you heard?
Sleepy Hollow, Fox
The show turns Washington Irving’s story inside out and throws in some other supernatural geegaws, but Ichabod Crane rising from the dead in our times and being pursued by a 7-foot headless guy works for me.
Hostages, CBS
Toni Collette and Dylan McDermott co-star in a tension-filled thriller about a surgeon whose family is held hostage by a rogue FBI agent, and she is told she has to kill the president of the United States if she wants her family to live.
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