There are many other Fall Preview guides out there this time of year. Some offer more depth, more insightful reviews. Few, however, can be read in under five minutes. Check back as shows will be added as screeners become available.

Ready, set, go!:

 

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American Housewife

ABC/CTV

Premieres: Tuesday, Oct. 11 at 8:30 PM (Saturdays at 8:30 p.m. on CTV)

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Good to see Katy Mixon (Mike & Molly) and Diedrich Bader (The Drew Carey Show) again, but this lame, insulting series about a mom who thinks she’s fat after moving to a tony Connecticut neighborhood will only make viewers hungry for cable sitcoms with bite and taste.

"The Woman in 8D"-- Dr. Bull and his Trial Analysis Corporation (TAC) team must formulate a new defense strategy when they discover the jury has a subconscious gender bias toward their client, a female pilot accused of negligence after one of her flights crashes, on BULL, Tuesday, Sept. 27 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT), on the CBS Television Network. Pictured L-R: Freddy Rodriguez as Benny Colón, Michael Weatherly as Dr. Jason Bull, and Trieste Kelly Dunn as Captain Taylor Mathison Photo: Jojo Whilden/CBS ©2016 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Bull

CBS/Global

Premieres: Tuesday, Sep. 20 at 9:00 PM

Michael Weatherly is always charming and funny in interviews and deserves a true comedy shot. CBS plays it safe by casting the “NCIS” second banana in this slick legal drama loosely based on the pumped up exploits of TV gasbag Phil McGraw.

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Conviction

ABC/CTV

Premieres: Monday, Oct. 3 at 10:00 PM

AKA what this show lacks. Idiotic premise finds former bad girl first daughter (Hayley Atwell) blackmailed into working for a New York District Attorney (Eddie Cahill). Wait, what…blackmailed…into working for the DA?! Shawn Ashmore and others are solid in support, but Atwell still seems to be on a comic book bender.

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Designated Survivor

ABC/CTV

Premieres: Wednesday, Sep. 21 at 10:00 PM

The newly-elected president and his next nine successors get blown to smithereens. This leaves Canadian Kiefer Sutherland to lead America out of this current election nightmare. This time, however, Kiefer can’t call Chloe to bail him out of a series of obvious clichés, such as butting heads with a top general. Solid Sutherland pairs nicely with Californication’s Natacha McElhone but can the series continue at this explosive, movie of the week pace?

THE EXORCIST: L-R: Alan Ruck and Geena Davis in THE EXORCIST premiering Friday, Sept. 23 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2016 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Chuck Hodes/FOX

The Exorcist

FOX/CTV

Premieres: Friday, Sep. 23 at 9:00 PM

Is it wise to cast Geena Davis – so Botoxed she can no longer register fright – in a re-make of The Exorcist? The pilot had its moments, and great care was taken to shoot on location, but this is one of those remakes no one asked for except studio lawyers sourcing expiry dates on Intellectual Property contracts.

 

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Frequency

The CW

Premieres: Wednesday, Oct. 5 at 9:00 PM

It’s the Frequency of time travel shows this fall that is startling. This daddy-daughter ghost detective series is also a movie makeover, so bonus points if you’re playing TV Bingo.

THE GOOD PLACE -- Pictured: "The Good Place" Horizontal Key Art -- (Photo by: NBCUniversal)

The Good Place

NBC/Global

Premieres: Monday, Sep. 19 at 10:00 PM

Kristen Bell is irresistible as ever, and Ted Danson never disappoints, but it’s just not a great place. There is fun at hearing everybody near-swear in The Good Place, but the comedy goes all to hell by the end of 22 minutes.

THE GREAT INDOORS stars Joel McHale (center) in a comedy about a renowned adventure reporter for an outdoor magazine who must adapt to the times when he's assigned by the magazine's founder (Stephen Fry, second from left) to be the desk-bound boss to a group of millennials (Christine Ko, second from right; Shaun Brown, far right; and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, far left) in the magazine's digital department. In his new role, Jack reports to Roland's daughter, Brooke (Susannah Fielding, third from left). This fall, THE GREAT INDOORS will be broadcast Thursdays (8:30-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Photo: Cliff Lipson/CBS ©2016 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Photo: Cliff Lipson/CBS

The Great Indoors

CBS

Premieres: Thursday, Oct. 27 at 8:30 PM

Fans of “Community” will weep openly as Joel McHale submits to this pedestrian sitcom. Or is it a fantasy? Imagine – people actually getting hired to work at a magazine. What is this, another time travel series? Stephen Fry sports interesting blazers as the token Brit.

"Pilot" -- Kevin James plays a newly retired police officer looking forward to spending more quality time with his wife and three kids, only to discover he faces much tougher challenges at home than he ever did on the streets, on the series premiere of KEVIN CAN WAIT, Monday, Sept. 19 (8:30-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Pictured: Erinn Hayes, Kevin James. Credit: Dave Giesbrecht/CBS ©2016 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Erinn Hayes, Kevin James. Credit: Dave Giesbrecht/CBS

Kevin Can Wait

CBS/Global

Premieres: Monday, Sep. 19 at 8:30 PM

He should have waited – for a better script! Comedian Kevin James plays a retired cop who finds out home life is tougher than anything he ever faced on the street—because he doesn’t have cable and is stuck watching dumb-ass network sitcoms like this.

LETHAL WEAPON: L-R: Damon Wayans and Clayne Crawford in LETHAL WEAPON coming soon to FOX. ©2016 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Richard Foreman/FOX

Lethal Weapon

FOX/City

Premieres: Wednesday, Sep. 21 at 8:00 PM

The inspired casting of Damon Wayans and Clayne Crawford as buddy cops elevates what is otherwise just another movie makeover. One of those, “Hey—that wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” hour-killers.

"The Rising" -- Angus "Mac" MacGyver (Lucas Till) and Jack Dalton (George Eads), special agents for the Department of External Services (DXS), join forces to recover a missing bioweapon that has the ability to destroy hundreds of thousands of people with one single drop, on the series premiere of the new drama MACGYVER, Friday, Sept. 23 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT), on the CBS Television Network. Lucas Till, George Eads, Sandrine Holt, Justin Hires and Tristin Mays star. Pictured: Lucas Till, George Eads Photo: Annette Brown/CBS ©2016 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Lucas Till, George Eads Photo: Annette Brown/CBS

MacGyver

CBS/Global

Premieres: Friday, Sep. 23 at 8:00 PM

CBS took a bunch of old MacGyver scripts, added a battery and some gum and MacGyvered them into a paint-by-numbers vehicle for Lucas Till. Watch with the sound off and pretend it’s “MaGruber.”

MAN WITH A PLAN stars Matt LeBlanc in a comedy about a contractor who starts spending more time with his kids when his wife returns to the work force and he discovers the truth every parent eventually realizes: their little angels(Grace Kaufman, right; Matthew McCann and Hala Finley) are maniacs. After football ends in October, MAN WITH A PLAN will be broadcast Mondays (8:30-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Photo: Darren Michaels/CBS ©2016 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Photo: Darren Michaels/CBS

Man With A Plan

CBS/Global

Premieres: Monday, Oct. 24 at 8:30 PM

This sitcom about another stupid stay-at-home dad is worse than “Pucks,” the fake sitcom Matt LeBlanc was supposedly headlining in the Showtime gem “Episodes.” Why prove you can ace self-effacing satire only to stoop to more “Joey”?

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No Tomorrow

The CW

Premieres: Monday, Oct. 10 at 9:00 PM

New drinking game: when this gets canceled, and it could take years since it is on The CW, take a drink for every headline which reads, “There’s ‘No Tomorrow’ for CW series.”

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Daniel Sunjata (Rescue Me), Piper Perabo (Covert Affairs)

Notorious

ABC/CTV

Premieres: Thursday, Sep. 22 at 9:00 PM

I forgot I watched this pilot, that’s how notorious it is. No one four miles outside of Hollywood wants to watch a drama about the relationship between the media and criminal law.

PITCH: Kylie Bunbury in the all-new “Pilot” series premiere episode of PITCH airing Thursday, Sept. 22 (8:59-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. CR: Tommy Garcia / FOX. © 2016 FOX Broadcasting Co.

Pitch

FOX/Global

Premieres: Thursday, Sep. 22 at 9:00 PM

Newcomer Kylie Bunbury is hard to resist as the first woman to crack a Major League Baseball lineup. She’s surrounded by a strong team, including Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Ali Larter, Mark Consuelos, Dan Lauria and Bob Balaban. The big twist in the pilot, however, kinda hung over the plate for me. The series should at least benefit from the eleventy-zillion promos that will choke Fox’s World Series coverage.

PURE GENIUS is a cutting-edgemedical drama about James Bell (Augustus Prew, left), a young Silicon Valley tech titan, who enlists Walter Wallace (Dermot Mulroney), a brilliant veteran surgeon with a controversial past, to run a state-of-the-art hospital with an ultramodern approach to medicine. After football ends in October, PURE GENIUS will be broadcast Thursdays (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS ©2015 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS

Pure Genius

CBS

Premieres: Thursday, Oct. 27 at 10:00 PM

Another pilot I completely forgot I had already watched. Forget surgeon, they should have hired a super smart script doctor. Three words which doom any show: show-killer Dermot Mulroney.

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Son of Zorn

FOX/City

Premieres: Sunday, Sep. 25 at 8:30 PM

There are plenty of chuckles in the swift-moving pilot. The blend of animation and live-action totally works. The cast is ‘toon-friendly, including Sudeikis as the voice of Zorn as well as flesh and blood players Cheryl Hines, Johnny Pemberton and Tim Meadows. So why does this feel like an extended SNL “Cartoon Funhouse” sketch?

SPEECHLESS- "Pilot" (ABC/Adam Taylor) JOHN ROSS BOWIE, MINNIE DRIVER, MASON COOK, KYLA KENEDY, MICAH FOWLER, DINA SPYBEY-WATERS

Speechless

ABC

Premieres: Wednesday, Sep. 21 at 8:30 PM

Not funny enough to be a comedy, not dramatic enough as a drama, it seems more like a tragedy—as in, it’s a tragedy nobody ever seems to know what to do with Minnie Driver on television.

THIS IS US -- Pictured: "This Is Us" Key Art -- (Photo by: NBCUniversal)

This Is Us

NBC/CTV

Premieres: Tuesday, Sep. 20 at 10:00 PM

Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown and always dependable Gerald MacRaney are all outstanding in the season’s most emotional and heartfelt new network series. If you miss “Parenthood,” this is better.

TIMELESS -- Pictured: "Timeless" Horizontal Key Art -- (Photo by: NBCUniversal)

Timeless

NBC/Global

Premieres: Monday, Oct. 3 at 10:00 PM

I was on the set of this in Vancouver when the cast jumped back to the Watergate era. Other stops include Nazi Germany, the Lincoln assassination and the explosion of the Hindenburg. Stars Abigail Spencer, Matt Lanter, Malcolm Barrett and Goran Visnjic are having fun wearing bell bottoms and other vintage duds in this breezy mix of “Mod Squad” meets “Quantum Leap.”

STILL STAR-CROSSED - ABC's "Still Star-Crossed" stars Wade Briggs as Benvolio, Lashana Lynch as Rosaline and Sterling Sulieman as Prince Escalus. (ABC/Ed Herrera)

Time After Time

ABC/CTV

Premieres: Sundays at 9/8c midseason

“Houdini & Doyle” went completely undetected this spring so good luck, H.G. Wells vs. Jack the Ripper. Another time travel series, another makeover of a decades-old movie. Take two drinks and move back four spaces.

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