Ars TV Guide: All the new shows you’ll want to check out this fall

Killer robots, dork rappers, time traveling terrorists, jerks in heaven, and more!

Read the whole story

 

[MightyPez]

I'm looking forward to Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency not because I'm a Douglas Adams fan (I read 3 of the Hitchhiker's Guide books and fell off after that) but because I always want to see Max Landis succeed.

Not everything of his is great (and some of it downright stinks) but he's just a flat out interesting guy with something to say.

I still watch his Regarding Clark video from time to time to capture the disappointment of Man of Steel and reverence for Superman.

 

[Deleted member 192806]

Ars TV Guide: All the new shows you’ll want to check out this fall

Time to fish the TV out of the trash.

 

[anonArs]

Spoiler Alert!

"Eldon Chance" is actually the new identity Gregory House conjured up for himself after he faked his own death.

 

[Annalee]

MightyPez[/url]":2msz6esz]I'm looking forward to Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency not because I'm a Douglas Adams fan (I read 3 of the Hitchhiker's Guide books and fell off after that) but because I always want to see Max Landis succeed.

Not everything of his is great (and some of it downright stinks) but he's just a flat out interesting guy with something to say.

I still watch his Regarding Clark video from time to time to capture the disappointment of Man of Steel and reverence for Superman.

I thought American Ultra was fantastic. I'm less of a fan of his personal opinions about various things, which he seems all too eager to share.

 

[Justin Credible]

Ostracus[/url]":268we2yn]

Ars TV Guide: All the new shows you’ll want to check out this fall

Time to fish the TV out of the trash.

well there are other alternatives.

 

[calson33]

Dirk Gently!! I hadn't heard they were making a series out of it.. Loved the books.

I didn't like Van Helsing at all though.

 

[chaos215bar2]

What an amazing lineup! Thanks for rounding it all up in one place.

 

[potato44819]

Read my short commentary of Macfailer here: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1328343

Actually, my first post sums it up:

Modern Major General Thanatos[/url]":3qeau6dx]A hacker breaks into an encrypted hard drive by... breaking into the hard drive... literally. WITH A HAMMER.

I...

No.

God damn you Hollywood.

:facepalm:

 

[Lonyo]

calson33[/url]":315tmupk]
I didn't like Van Helsing at all though.

Yeah, the first couple of eps haven't been that great, but I'm going to give it some more time because I've enjoyed... The Expanse, Dark Matter, 12 Monkeys, Killjoys and Z Nation, so they have earned some points to spend on a show that's had two slow episodes so far.

 

[Tijger]

Luke Cage and Westworld are the ones I'm looking forward to, might give one or two of the others mentioned a shot as well although the McGyver series is going to be a no go for me, just the premise alone makes me go bleh.

 

[BEIGE]

wrong thread.

 

[Drex2234]

No love for Designated Survivor?

First episode aired last week. Wasn't floored, but then, it was the introductory episode. I feel like it has potential.

 

[DoomHamster]

My TV backlog is starting to look like my Steam backlog...

 

[Annalee]

Another series that could be interesting is Incorporated, coming in late November to Syfy. It's sort of a take on GATTACA, with corporate enclaves that refuse to allow you in unless you've been born there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cxDOZwRTbw

 

[Annalee]

Drex2234[/url]":7z2gbh34]No love for Designated Survivor?

First episode aired last week. Wasn't floored, but then, it was the introductory episode. I feel like it has potential.

I've been hearing good things about it.

 

[macemoneta]

Modern Major General Thanatos[/url]":33xiwx9t]Read my short commentary of Macfailer here: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1328343

Actually, my first post sums it up:

Modern Major General Thanatos[/url]":33xiwx9t]A hacker breaks into an encrypted hard drive by... breaking into the hard drive... literally. WITH A HAMMER.

I...

No.

God damn you Hollywood.

:facepalm:

After shows like Mr. Robot set the bar, I'm having a really hard time even watching the pilots for awful shows like this. We did watch it, and I was just "nope, nope, nope" all through the episode. There's absolutely no reason for making crap up when reality is so much better.

 

[mr_dee]

MightyPez[/url]":1h4d4c83]I'm looking forward to Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency not because I'm a Douglas Adams fan (I read 3 of the Hitchhiker's Guide books and fell off after that)

Adams was a superb script-writer but a poor novelist. I'd highly recommend the original radio series of HHGTTG over the novels.

That's my opinion, but I think Quantum of Solace is the only decent Craig Bond film, so what do I know?

 

[JonSlade]

calson33[/url]":25zqeyew]Dirk Gently!! I hadn't heard they were making a series out of it.. Loved the books.

If you haven't, you might want to check out http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2303367/

 

[NMITGuy]

I'm loving me some Atlanta. Great show, IMO.

 

[meat]

Modern Major General Thanatos[/url]":1ukrsjmy]Read my short commentary of Macfailer here: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1328343

Actually, my first post sums it up:

Modern Major General Thanatos[/url]":1ukrsjmy]A hacker breaks into an encrypted hard drive by... breaking into the hard drive... literally. WITH A HAMMER.

I...

No.

God damn you Hollywood.

:facepalm:

Were you really expecting MacGyver to be realistic?

 

[Drex2234]

I also really hope Dirk Gently will be really good. Loved the books. I'm surprised they're trying it again so quickly. The last Dirk Gently TV series was only like 5 years ago, and it was kinda meh. If I recall correctly, I watched the first couple episodes and then lost interest. Then I picked up the books again to make sure I wasn't looking at the show through nostalgia-tinted glasses, and... nope. Still liked the books a lot, the show was blah.

Where's the justice in a world where Dirk Gently gets two tries in 5 years, but Dresden Files only gets 1 in 10 years? Dresden Files would be an amazing show if they adapted the books to multiple episodes (maybe even like one 6-episode mini-series per book), instead of trying to cram a Dresden plot into 45 minutes. Any fan of the books could've told you straight off that that wouldn't work well.

 

[potato44819]

meat[/url]":1pfq48x5]

Modern Major General Thanatos[/url]":1pfq48x5]Read my short commentary of Macfailer here: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1328343

Actually, my first post sums it up:

Modern Major General Thanatos[/url]":1pfq48x5]A hacker breaks into an encrypted hard drive by... breaking into the hard drive... literally. WITH A HAMMER.

I...

No.

God damn you Hollywood.

:facepalm:

Were you really expecting MacGyver to be realistic?

Honestly? I could suspend my disbelief on a lot of shit. Decrypting a hard drive by SMASHING IT OPEN WITH A HAMMER TO READ THE DATA kicks me right out of the universe they are trying to install. Had she just randomly typed on the keyboard and unlocked the machine, I could have swallowed that BS and continued on. Showing off the platters of a hard drive with a shit-eating grin that says "I SOLVED IT" made me want to drop that "hacker" back in the supermax she came out of.

 

[v3rlon]

The Exorcist pilot was quite good, surprisingly. Yes it's a rehash of a 70's movie, but it was more entertaining than others on this list. The pilot is free but n iTunes.

 

[bobthe]

Having seen the MacGyver pilot I can say that if you want anything MacGyver related, do not watch this new remake. It is MacGyver in name only and definitely not in any other respect.

One thing I always liked about MacGyver is that he wasn't an action-loving playboy dipshit. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Bond fumbling his way through whatever mess he finds himself in, but I liked that MacGyver wasn't that. He was down to earth, smart, clever, and an all-around gentleman. The new MacGyver is nothing like the old character though. It's pretty terrible. Worse, it's trying to mimic all the other action films/shows with this type of lead character but in a much less interesting way.

Just skip the new MacGyver.

 

[caeldan]

Drex2234[/url]":1nhcyx2v][snip]

Where's the justice in a world where Dirk Gently gets two tries in 5 years, but Dresden Files only gets 1 in 10 years? Dresden Files would be an amazing show if they adapted the books to multiple episodes (maybe even like one 6-episode mini-series per book), instead of trying to cram a Dresden plot into 45 minutes. Any fan of the books could've told you straight off that that wouldn't work well.

The sad thing is, at the time - it was the highest rated show SyFy had outside of its core demographic. At a time when supposedly it was trying to expand its audience. Then Bonnie Hammer happened (with her definition of sci-fi: "It's anything outside of what we know to be true. Sci-fi is speculative fiction. 'Field of Dreams' is sci-fi [...] It's a place for reverie. Fantastical. The magical. Very different." "), and we got more Ghost Hunters and Wrestling

I actually enjoyed Dresden when it aired without ever having read the books. Followed up with reading them many years later, and I agree they'd work better as multi-episode tales. You could probably find some clear delineations in the overarching story plot to mark out season breaks and still have some room for a bit of poetic license and original plots so it's not a straight re-hash of the novels.

 

[sirflashback]

I seriously hope the newest dirk gently is as charming and entertaining as the British show a couple of years ago.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ToGEn86u93g

 

[calson33]

Drex2234[/url]":209qy6eh]No love for Designated Survivor?

First episode aired last week. Wasn't floored, but then, it was the introductory episode. I feel like it has potential.

I enjoyed it. It will be interesting to see where they take it.

Another one I really liked, despite convincing myself I would hate it with a passion, is Lethal Weapon.

I couldn't get through 5 minutes of MacGyver though.

 

[WXW]

Modern Major General Thanatos[/url]":3csxuw4h]Read my short commentary of Macfailer here: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1328343

Actually, my first post sums it up:

Modern Major General Thanatos[/url]":3csxuw4h]A hacker breaks into an encrypted hard drive by... breaking into the hard drive... literally. WITH A HAMMER.

I...

No.

God damn you Hollywood.

:facepalm:

I couldn't believe that, so I searched for it on YouTube... and... god... I actually thought the video was a joke... maybe it'd have been fine when my age was a single digit, like when I watched the original...

Nope...

Really... nope.......

 

[siliconaddict]

It will be a cold day in hell when I watch this new MacGyver. Other than the fact that there is only one Mac. The trailer and the previous teaser for this new character displays the following behavior: Arrogant as fuck, pretentious, not having issues with hurting people, liking the limelight, pretty much not giving a shit about anyone.
I mean take all the qualities of RDA's character and reverse it and you have this new wanna be Bond character. No. Not one episode will I watch. I get that society doesn't like the same things that were in the 80's. But if you can't do MacGyver the way it was, then don't use his name and build a new character under the Phoenix Foundation.....even though this sounds like he's working for the military this time around?

 

[siliconaddict]

WXW[/url]":3dw3gshl]

Modern Major General Thanatos[/url]":3dw3gshl]Read my short commentary of Macfailer here: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1328343

Actually, my first post sums it up:

Modern Major General Thanatos[/url]":3dw3gshl]A hacker breaks into an encrypted hard drive by... breaking into the hard drive... literally. WITH A HAMMER.

I...

No.

God damn you Hollywood.

:facepalm:

I couldn't believe that, so I searched for it on YouTube... and... god... I actually thought the video was a joke... maybe it'd have been fine when my age was a single digit, like when I watched the original...

Nope...

Really... nope.......

I'm going with they extracted the hard drive to somehow bypass the hardware encryption someway? I don't know. I don't care. Its a crap show is all I've read from online reviews.

 

[calson33]

JonSlade[/url]":1v0fuift]

calson33[/url]":1v0fuift]Dirk Gently!! I hadn't heard they were making a series out of it.. Loved the books.

If you haven't, you might want to check out http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2303367/

I haven't and I will! Thanks for the tip.. Now just got to find where I can watch it.

 

[Fatesrider]

Interesting lineups from various sources.

I can't say that it's interesting enough to make me consider being tied to the cable cord treadmill again, but it's nice to see innovation (for the most part) being offered here and there that is, for the most part, abandoning the horribly over-used Superhero-spinoff trench that not even the Man of Steel could have dug.

Cutting the cable is why them debuting yet another angst-ridden, millennial-centric, self-obsessed, life sucks, superhero-based show (or god, forbid, more werewolves, vampires or Zombies) never made me cut my wrists.

In the case of these shows, imagination is good.

 

[Aerrin]

'Son of Zorn' was just cringy and unfunny, IMO. I'd really have liked to be a fly on the wall during the pitch meeting.

 

[ScifiGeek]

JonSlade[/url]":ey8pchzo]

calson33[/url]":ey8pchzo]Dirk Gently!! I hadn't heard they were making a series out of it.. Loved the books.

If you haven't, you might want to check out http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2303367/

I watched that British Version and liked it. Sadly it's only 4 episodes.

The trailer linked in this story doesn't seem anywhere near as good.

There are a couple of decent streaming shows but this is one of the worse Fall Network outings I remember.

Streaming and wirecutting FTW.

 

[Cap'nAwesome]

I'm so sick and tired of enjoying new shows only to have them unceremoniously cancelled that I pretty much refuse to watch shows during their first season anymore. If they still have buzz when they get renewed for season 3 I'll catch up on Netflix and possibly add them to my DVR, but until then it just isn't worth investing any of my time. I'll make an exception for Westworld this year - that just looks too good. And Luke Cage is pretty much just an extension of the DD/JJ franchise so I'll watch that one too. The rest? Maybe I'll check them out in a couple years.

 

[anonArs]

Cap'nAwesome[/url]":2618982y]I'm so sick and tired of enjoying new shows only to have them unceremoniously cancelled that I pretty much refuse to watch shows during their first season anymore. If they still have buzz when they get renewed for season 3 I'll catch up on Netflix and possibly add them to my DVR, but until then it just isn't worth investing any of my time. I'll make an exception for Westworld this year - that just looks too good. And Luke Cage is pretty much just an extension of the DD/JJ franchise so I'll watch that one too. The rest? Maybe I'll check them out in a couple years.

New shows from Netflix are a pretty safe bet. So far there hasn't been a single scripted original series that hasn't gotten a second season yet* and the two shows that have ended/will end have gotten three seasons each and with proper conclusions.

*pending "Easy" which came out only three days ago and "The Get Down" which is in the middle of its first season

 

[siliconaddict]

Cap'nAwesome[/url]":10tsdy0s]I'm so sick and tired of enjoying new shows only to have them unceremoniously cancelled that I pretty much refuse to watch shows during their first season anymore. If they still have buzz when they get renewed for season 3 I'll catch up on Netflix and possibly add them to my DVR, but until then it just isn't worth investing any of my time. I'll make an exception for Westworld this year - that just looks too good. And Luke Cage is pretty much just an extension of the DD/JJ franchise so I'll watch that one too. The rest? Maybe I'll check them out in a couple years.

I'm the same way. Until at minimum a series is on season 2, if not 3, I won't watch it. Sick of Fox and co axing a series until it's had a chance to mature.

 

[Deleted member 174040]

Ars TV Guide: All the new shows you’ll want to check out this fall

Only...a couple weeks late on few of them...

 

[Cap'nAwesome]

anonArs[/url]":3dodukrf]

Cap'nAwesome[/url]":3dodukrf]I'm so sick and tired of enjoying new shows only to have them unceremoniously cancelled that I pretty much refuse to watch shows during their first season anymore. If they still have buzz when they get renewed for season 3 I'll catch up on Netflix and possibly add them to my DVR, but until then it just isn't worth investing any of my time. I'll make an exception for Westworld this year - that just looks too good. And Luke Cage is pretty much just an extension of the DD/JJ franchise so I'll watch that one too. The rest? Maybe I'll check them out in a couple years.

New shows from Netflix are a pretty safe bet. So far there hasn't been a single scripted original series that hasn't gotten a second season yet* and the two shows that have ended/will end have gotten three seasons each and with proper conclusions.

*pending "Easy" which came out only three days ago and "The Get Down" which is in the middle of its first season

Good add - "with proper conclusions." Shows that hang around too long are also irritating. It is much more satisfying to see them stage a planned retirement before they jump the shark.

I would be far more open to trying new shows if the networks would commit to the audience a policy of gracefully ending shows rather than giving them the axe. Not just an episode or two either. If I knew that, for example, Dirk Gently was already renewed for season 2, and that the network was committed to a 1 season advance notice that a show was being cancelled to allow the writers to wrap up the major story lines and/or shop the series around I would be much more willing to commit my time to watching the show.