After sitting through pilot after pilot after pilot, TV critic extraordinaire Ken Tucker has locked in his picks for the five best new shows of the fall season, and his bold selections lead off Entertainment Weekly‘s new Fall TV Preview issue. What made the cut? Here’s a hint for each: one’s a remake, one deals with prohibition, one’s a cop show, one’s a comedy, and one may have simply conned its way on to the list. (Post your guesses as to the five shows in the comments below.)
But Ken’s list is merely the appetizer before a main course that delivers juicy nuggets of info on every single network show (both new and returning), as well as several of your cable favorites. Among the scoop we’ll be serving:
• All the new twists, turns, and tunes you’ll be seeing and hearing this season on Glee. (Rachel and Finn, together again?)
• The skinny on Jennifer Aniston reuniting with former Friend Courteney Cox on Cougar Town.
• It turns out Julie Benz isn’t completely done on Dexter after all. And what is Julia Stiles doing hanging out with everyone’s favorite serial killer?
• Tina Fey talks all about 30 Rock‘s upcoming live episode!
• A high-profile guest-star checks into Modern Family. And we go one-on-one with Magnificent Manny (a.k.a. Rico Rodriguez).
• The remarkable resurgence of NBC’s Parenthood, which has quietly become one of TV’s best family dramas.
In all, there is exclusive intel from the producers and stars of 86 different shows — way too many to list here. But enough about all that. What are Ken’s Top 5 new shows? Post your guesses below!
To see Ken’s list, and for our full Fall TV preview, check out the newest issue of Entertainment Weekly, on stands September 10.
Now I can plan my fall tv schedule
This is my Bible when it comes to planning what to watch every fall!! I am soooo excited for this issue. YAY!
Obviously the remake is Hawaii Five0.
not so obvious to me, I was thinking Nikita!
Just watched Nikita and it wasn’t that good. The remake is Hawaii 5-0.
great cover
even though I am sick of Glee
Here here… Agreed!
The phrase is actually “hear, hear”
Here, there, and everywhere.
me, too.
Dont like Glee one little bit.
I never liked any TV show where the characters break out into song, for that matter
Oh Glee is great and you know it! lol
GAWD! SO SICK OF SEEING SUE SYLVESTER PLASTERED EVERYWHERE! WORSE THAN TWILIGHT FOR ME IF YOU CAN BELIEVE IT!
Dexter is the only worthwhile show featured on that cover.
…except what is going on with Michael C. Hall’s Spock eyebrows?
I didn’t mind it so much on “Fame” back in the 80s because of the type of high school it was but on “Glee” it’s just silly. Regular public high school with a bunch of Broadway caliber singers? Unbelievable and not my cup of tea.
Glee works on 100 diff levels, older people like it and kids like it. Ryan Murphy is a genious, and can write forth the long haul. Can’t wait for season 2. I hope he signed them all up for at least 6 years.
I don’t care for glee either but have always loved the music shows-Eli Stone (Gawd I miss that one)and even back to the Cop Rock days!
But you’re gonna watch anyway, admit it.
Glee is a show that appeals to a lot of people I watch it because it makes me smile.
I LOVED Glee at the beginning. The first half of the first season (ending with Sectionals) was completely entertaining, and kind of genius. Then it’s like someone else took over for the second half…the quality nosedived so hard. What happened to the clever writing? The smart songs choices that reflected the story? Now it’s just a “who’s the songbook of the week” celebrity schlock-fest. Such a shame – it was easily my favorite new show and now I can’t stomach it at all.
NCIS is the #1 show on tv and it doesn’t show up on the cover? burned!!!
And you’re surprised? I’m not. Yes, EW grudgingly acknowledges the show but shout out by making a cover? Probably never.
Ditto. The only way NCIS could be further below EW’s Radar is if it was on USA.
Ya I know!
I like Glee but even I’m sick of it.
Lonestar, Hawaii 5-0, and Boardwalk Empire are 3 of them but ‘a comedy’ and ‘a cop show’ are too general to guess. Detroit 1-8-7?
I’m thinking the remake he’s talking about may be Nikita. The show is getting good reviews. Wish I wanted to watch it, but alas…can’t work up even an ounce of enthusiasm. Because that’s how enthusiasm is measured. In ounces.
I don’t think Nikita is remake. It’s more of a continuation of the original. H50 is an actual remake.
My guesses:
Remake – Hawaii 5-0
Prohibition – Boardwalk Empire
Cop show – Detroit 1-8-7
Comedy – ????
Con show – Lonestar
Yeah, the prohibition one was waaaay too easy.
the remake could be Nikita though
gee, I thought Boardwalk Empire was about a gang of skateboarders in Myrle Beach
If ONE is a cop show and ONE is a remake Hawaii 5-0 can’t be the remake because that would make 2 on the list cop shows. So my guess for the remake is Nikita and then Detroit 1-8-7 would still work for the cop show. My guess for the comedy has got to be Raising Hope, the trailer for this show makes it look like a huge winner!
Don’t know what the comedy is but
do know what it isn’t That is
Outsourced. Every early review for
this show says it’s a stinker.
that is a shame. I loved the movie: Outsourced.
Every Fall I look forward to seeing which show will grace the cover of EW’s Annual TV Preview. This year’s Generic overly-photoshopped collage = FAIL
I’f they’d also featured the cast of “Undercovers,” already a groundbreaking show in terms of bold casting, this would be a perfect and perfectly more PC cover.
at moviemartin
ITA with you. On top of the bold casting, the show looks like a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to it.
Just took a second look.That’s Tina Fey! I thought it was Emily Deschannel (Bones), But showing off her cleavage is totally out of character for her (and her character on Bones), so I am relieved to be wrong.
Conned, has to be the ” Event ” .
conned would be lonestar
awesome man. i’m thinking hawaii five o, the event, blue bloods, no ordinary family and lonestar
The 5 shows:
Hawaii 5-0
Boardwalk Empire
Lonestar
Blue Bloods
Mike and Molly?
Remake – Nikita
Prohibition – Boardwalk Empire
Cop show – Hawaii 5-0
Comedy – …?
Con show – Lonestar
Parenthood is great and so is Cougar town!
I love those two shows as well. Parenthood a little more than Cougartown, though.
Alex O Loughlin shirtless with a lei around his neck…now that would have been a great cover for the fall tv preview issue
I agree!
I don’t like Michael C. Hall on this cover. He looks like a vampire. :s Can’t waaaaait for season 5, though. So many good TV shows every september <33
My first thought was, “What’s with the hair?!” But I guess that’s post-cancer hair for you.
Why guess, they will probably be cancelled after 2 or 3 episodes!?
Raising Hope is the comedy
Could also be Running Wilde…I know I’m excited about it!!!
I wish it was Raising Hope…it looks good.
Plus one of the stars has a bit of a pedigree (connected to Dexter, no less!)
I was going to say the same – I’ve heard great things about Raising Hope – can’t wait (Martha Plimpton!!!). The reviews for Wilde Kingdom have been a bit more mixed, but with Keri Russell, Will Arnett and David Cross I’ll definitely be watching.