These days, trying to take friends up on all their recommendations for TV to watch can leave us feeling like Sisyphus; every time we finish a season, another eight to 10 episodes of can’t-miss plot twists spring up. With the fall slate upon us, we’re here to help you choose the new series to keep on your radar, plus all the reasons we can’t wait to watch.
“Camping” (HBO)
To understand why I’m experiencing losing-my-mind, shortness-of-breath excitement in anticipation of HBO’s new half-hour “Camping,” debuting Oct. 14, you only need to examine a few of its components: airing on the aforementioned HBO; created by Jenni Konner and Lena Dunham (their first follow-up project to the late and great “Girls”); starring Jennifer Garner, who is returning to episodic television for the first time since her quadruple-Emmy-nominated role on ABC’s espionage thriller “Alias.” There’s a lot to unpack here. Based on the 2016 British series of the same name, the eight-episode comedy will play out over the course of what was meant to be a relaxing couples’ camping weekend that—you guessed it!—goes very awry. The delightful David Tennant will play Garner’s husband, starring alongside Juliette Lewis (!), with a recurring role for Bridget Everett (!!) and appearances by Nicole Richie and Busy Philipps (!!!).
Each detail of the series is enough to secure a captive audience of at least one (me). However, its most thrilling prospect is, hands down, Garner, whose influence loomed large in the rise of early aughts episodics but hasn’t been seen on television’s screens since the dawn of its golden age. This will, additionally, be her first series regular gig in a comedy, which, if you’ve seen her endless charm in the 2004 feature film “13 Going on 30,” you know has been years in the making.
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” Now, thanks to Garner and her October return to scripted series, finally, I think I know what he meant. —Casey Mink
“Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” (Netflix)
As an Archie Comics superfan and never-missed-a-week viewer of ABC’s original TGIF lineup, it’s fair to say I’ve seen every episode of the Melissa Joan Hart–led “Sabrina the Teenage Witch.” (And, yes, I followed the show to the CW, but let’s not talk about that.) So imagine my delight when it was announced earlier this year that your friendly neighborhood witch was getting a semireboot thanks to the kind folks at Netflix.
Source materials aside, I’m particularly psyched for this reimagining for a few reasons. One, Kiernan Shipka stars as Sabrina, and she can do no wrong in my book. Two, if it’s anything like “Riverdale,” the other current Archie universe series, it’s bound to be a “Twin Peaks”–esque fever dream. Three, the few official images that have so far been released and the series’ trailer are as dark and moody and saturated as I’d hoped they’d be and are giving off some serious “Buffy” vibes. Four, teenage witches! —Allie White
READ: How to Audition for Netflix
“Forever” (Amazon Prime)
Do you have experience with long-term love and are seeking a show to make you utter, “Damn, how did they know?” Amazon’s new dark comedy “Forever” might be for you. It also might be for you if you’re a fan of comedy or Fred Armisen, or Maya Rudolph, or all of the above. The “Saturday Night Live” vets star as a couple well into their going-through-the-motions marriage years and the mind-numbing routines that come with it: annual fishing trips, many games of shuffleboard, another serving of that special fish recipe. June (Rudolph) is ready to shake things up, while Oscar (Armisen) seems perfectly content in their predictably dull bubble of a life.
The eight-episode series from “Master of None” co-creator Alan Yang and Matt Hubbard (“30 Rock”) premiered Sept. 14, and explores the different levels of suburban despondency before turning it all on its head. If Rudolph’s criminally underrated comedic chops aren’t reason enough to watch, tune in for the wonderful chemistry she’s built with her co-star and stay for what’s sure to be one hell of a ride. —Briana Rodriguez
“Homecoming” (Amazon Prime)
Other than the obligatory episode of “Law & Order” and TV movies like “The Normal Heart,” Julia Fiona Roberts has rarely deigned to grace our televisions. With that smile and those soul-piercing eyes, maybe it’s no surprise—the bigger the screen, the better. But that’s about to change with Roberts’ first leading TV role on Amazon’s “Homecoming,” which begins streaming its first season Nov. 2 with a second already on the horizon. Are we, Roberts fans and couch potatoes together, ready?
What sets “Homecoming” apart from today’s typical dramas is its source material; the Gimlet podcast of the same name from writers Eli Horowitz and Micah Bloomberg is the first scripted audio podcast story to spawn its own TV show. The psychological thriller—following a young military vet (Stephan James) looking to rejoin civilian life and his case worker (Roberts) at a secret government facility—comes from creator, director, and executive producer Sam Esmail, best known for USA’s Emmy-winning “Mr. Robot.”
This means not only that Esmail, Roberts (who is also executive producing), and Horowitz and Bloomberg themselves (as the TV series’ writers) must turn a narrative designed for the ears into a narrative for the ears and eyes, it also means the characters played by Roberts, James, Bobby Cannavale, Alex Karpovsky, and Sissy Spacek have already been given life by other actors. Catherine Keener, David Schwimmer, Amy Sedaris, and Oscar Isaac star on the podcast, and its second season was just released. The technology-inflected paranoia of Esmail’s visuals and the creepily mysterious tone of Horowitz and Bloomberg’s sound design feel like a match made in heaven. All it needs is a star of Roberts’ magnitude to make this new fall series a hit. —Jack Smart
“I Feel Bad” (NBC)
If social media and its tendency to depict a user’s “perfect” life is giving you an ulcer, remember that that staunch social contest was preceded by a whole other real-world arena and player: the working housewife of Suburbia, USA. With nosy neighbors and unspoken competitiveness, the pressures that be have long incited a host of neuroses. The intersection of them all is where we meet Indian-American mother and wife Emet of NBC’s new single-cam comedy “I Feel Bad,” created by Aseem Batra, starring Sarayu Blue, and executive produced by Batra, Dave Becky, Joshua D. Maurer, and Amy Poehler—yes, that one.
From the outside, it may seem Emet lives the perfect life as a thriving wife, mother, and boss—but she knows better. Steamy dreams of a man who is not her husband, practices in parenting that are unconventional (if not questionable), and her habit of tapping employees to help her through personal strife is just the tip of the iceberg. To say the least, she’s living up to the series’ guilt-driven title. But it’s all done with a quick wit and incisive humor, playing to Emmy nominee Batra’s strengths. Plus, again—Poehler. Anything with the “Parks and Recreation” and “Saturday Night Live” vet’s seal of approval is going to be worth checking out. Better yet, anything with her creative direction is promoted to must-watch fall TV. Add to the mix a diverse cast and little-represented perspective, and it checks all our boxes for a newbie but goodie. —Benjamin Lindsay
“Maniac” (Netflix)
The teasers and trailer for “Maniac” have left us with more questions than answers.
While I can’t resist a project that brings past co-stars together again, that isn’t the only reason I can’t wait for Netflix’s “Maniac.”
What we do know: Our leads, former “Superbad” co-stars Emma Stone and Jonah Hill, have entered an institution where they are participants in a trial test of a drug that induces dream-like experiences. Sally Field plays a celebrity therapist and Justin Theroux plays a doctor. Hill and Stone seem to have a connection despite the problems that landed them in the trial, and they travel through time and space together within their drug-induced hallucinations. “True Detective” and “Beasts of No Nation” helmer Cary Joji Fukunaga directs the series based on a Norwegian series of the same name. Also starring are Julia Garner (“Ozark”), Jemima Kirke (“Girls”), and Sonoya Mizuno (“Ex Machina”).
What we don’t know: Why do Field’s Dr. Greta Mantleray and Theroux’s Dr. James K. Mantleray share a last name? How will our despondent leads deal with their altered states as the show progresses? What mind tricks will we have the twisted pleasure of witnessing? “This is some multireality brain magic shit,” says Stone in the trailer. That’s exactly what I’m hoping for when I inevitably go all in on a binge come Sept. 21. —Elyse Roth
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