Fall 2011 TV Preview
This season is full of old favorites and new blood
“Sons of Anarchy” (Currently airing on FX): FX’s acclaimed series about the internecine struggles of the Sons of Anarchy biker gang continues, starring Charlie Hunnam, Ron Perlman and Katey Sagal.
“Fringe” (Sept. 23 on Fox): Initially a straight-up “X-Files” imitator, this transdimensional adventure drama has evolved into a compelling, imaginative series. Will the fourth season resolve the mystery of Joshua Jackson ceasing to exist? Will Anna Torv revive her Leonard Nimoy impression?
“Boardwalk Empire” (Sept. 25 on HBO): Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi) struggles to keep his hold over Prohibition-era Atlantic City in the face of a conspiracy from former friends and family members. Most excitingly, Jack Huston joins the main cast as half-faced sniper Richard Harrow.
“Dexter” (Oct. 2 on Showtime): America’s favorite blood-spatter analyst/serial killer returns for more Miami-based shenanigans. The season six trailer hints at Dan Brown-style religious imagery, with Colin Hanks and Edward James Olmos as guest stars, at least one of whom is bound to be a crazed killer.
“The Walking Dead” (Oct. 16 on AMC): Despite accounts of behind-the-scenes strife, including the ousting of show creator Frank Darabont, the popular zombie series returns following its six-episode first season, with our ragtag band of survivors from the deathtrap that is the Atlanta Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
New shows that just might be worth watching. Maybe:
“Free Agents” (Sept. 14 on NBC): In probably the most acclaimed new sitcom of the fall, Hank Azaria and Kathryn Hahn play a divorced guy and a widow who wonder if their fling has staying power.
“New Girl” (Sept. 20 on Fox): Actress/musician Zooey Deschanel charmingly portrays an eccentric single gal who moves in with three dudes.
“Pan Am” (Sept. 25 on ABC): ABC invites you to fly the friendly skies with the stewardesses of the defunct airline in this glossy drama starring Christina Ricci. It’s supposedly more entertaining and substantial than “The Playboy Club,” the fall’s other throwback to the sexist 1960s.
“Terra Nova” (Sept. 26 on Fox): Facing an environmental collapse in the 22nd century, mankind establishes a colony back in the Cretaceous period, despite the abundance of big, hungry dinosaurs. “Jurassic Lost” describes the ambitions of this expensive, delayed series starring Avatar’s Stephen Lang.
“Homeland” (Oct. 2 on Showtime): Critics have been kind to this domestic espionage drama based on the pilot episode, in which Claire Danes plays a CIA operative who suspects a returned Iraqi POW (Damian Lewis) of being a sleeper agent.
“American Horror Story” (Oct. 6 on FX): A troubled married couple (Dermot Mulroney, Connie Britton) and their teenage daughter move into a spooky old house in the most ambitious of the season’s countless new shows involving the supernatural. From “Glee” co-creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk.
“Beavis and Butt-Head” (Oct. 27 on MTV): Mike Judge’s beloved cartoon morons from the 1990s return to mock pop culture and bumble into awkward situations.
“Hell on Wheels” (Nov. 6 on AMC): AMC continues its bid to be the next HBO with this “Deadwood”-looking Western about the clashing cultures and lawlessness surrounding the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1860s Nebraska.
And in case you were wondering, other newcomers such as Fox’s “Alcatraz” and Nickelodeon’s “Avatar: The Legend of Korra,” as well as the second seasons of the insanely great “Downton Abbey” and “Sherlock,” are scheduled for early 2012.
For CL’s weekly recaps of “Sons of Anarchy,” Boardwalk Empire,” “The Walking Dead” and more, visit Screen Grab.