There's a fair number of new shows and returning favorites coming out this fall. Let's start with the ones I have seen already.
Z NATION - Friday nights at 10pm on Syfy - Just your typical Zombie Apocalypse show, except for one thing. Murphy. As they tell it, Murphy is the only person to ever survive being bitten by a Zombie, and possibly the only hope of ever getting a cure to the Zombie Plague. Murphy is essentially a half-Zombie. The only problem is, they have to get Murphy to a functioning lab full of scientists in order to milk a cure out of him. Additional issues include, Murphy being able to control other zombies, and not actually wanting to become a guinea pig for a handful of desperate humans. Additional reasons to watch: Lots of gunfights, some of the baddest Zombie-killing slo-mo I have seen since Woody Harrelson in Zombieland, and the lead actress has a really nice rack. Seen every episode last season and I'm up for another round. Why do I like Z Nation and not the Walking Dead, you ask? The Walking Dead is a post-apocalyptic soap opera for women. Z Nation is a post-apocalyptic action movie for men. Dead simple.
GOTHAM - Monday nights at 8pm on Fox - Commissioner Gordon before he became Commissioner, Batman before he became Batman, the Riddler before he became the Riddler, The Penguin before he became The Penguin, Catwoman before she became Catwoman, and Alfred before he became... uh... old. Gothem, when it was still a city on the edge, and not a city where you didn't leave your house for fear of getting ensnared in one of the Joker's evil plots. Seriously, why does anyone still live in Gotham in Batman's Day? You've got one vigilante (Batman) and so many supervillains that the police barricade themselves into the police station and are afraid to come out. Why do any civilians stick around? And don't give me that "It's their home" shit. After the third time you've been blown up by the Joker, there comes a point when you just say Fuck It and move away. Bonus points for Gordon's Ex-partner. I don't know who the hell plays the guy but he's one of the best actors in the show. He's a bartender this season, so it doesn't look like he'll be in the show as much. Shame. Why do I watch Gotham? For Gordon. Batman's like a bad joke to me, an old rich guy with a lot of gadgets to throw at the bad guys, and he supposedly always comes out on top. If this show was all about Batman, I'd avoid it like the plague. Gordon is just a cop with a gun, making this a cop show with Supervillains, much like Marvel's Agents of SHIELD is a show about normal agents who have to stop a lot of supervillains. I've always liked the underdog.
SCORPION - Monday nights at 9pm on CBS - Scorpion returns for Season 2, ending the sexual tension between Walter and Paige by making them smooch. I hope they don't drag this out, because, being a geek, it's always nice to see a fellow geek getting some tail. The rest of the team are pretty much ending up in their own relationships, Toby probably getting back together with Happy, and Sylvester already in a relationship with Walter's sister. Even Gabe is back, and there's a new director of homeland security or whatever the hell her title is, and she actually seems like she's going to back Walter's team all the way. Hopefully this will make things easier for the team, who are still trying to recover from last season. Why do I watch Scorpion? It's a show about people using their intellect to outsmart the bad guys instead of out-shooting or outfighting them, like every OTHER show on TV. I'd watch it just for that reason alone. Although it lacks a bit in the gun-fight department, there's still a good amount of action and explosions, so that makes up for it.
MINORITY REPORT - Monday nights at 9pm on Fox - Based on the movie that came out years ago with Tom Cruise, Minority Report picks up where the movie left off. One of the "Precogs" from the movie (one of three children who can tell when a violent crime is about to occur) grows up and decides to re-enter society. Still subject to visions about violent crimes, he fails to get the full picture of the crime that's about to happen because he doesn't have the assistance of his fellow Precogs. Driven to help the people in his visions, he pairs up with a policewoman who tries to help him figure out when and where the next target will be. Think "Person of Interest" but without the rogue AI, none of the good acting, and some futuristic special effects. Honestly, since this show comes on at the same time as Scorpion, it's an easy choice to watch Scorpion. I didn't like the Minority Report movie, and I don't like the TV show. There's so little action in this show and way too much focus on trying to piece together a murder from odd snippets of visions. Just makes it seem a bit stupid, honestly. You'd think the police in 2065 would figure out how to track down criminals without people who can see the future, but I guess not. Skipping it unless Scorpion is a re-run.
BLINDSPOT - Monday nights at 10pm on NBC - A naked, tattooed woman shows up in Times Square. Turns out she's tattooed with clues leading to some dark criminal conspiracy, but no one can understand the clues and the woman has permanent amnesia. This show reminds me of the Whispers, where a guy was covered with tattoos that gave clues to upcoming crimes, but there's no aliens in Blindspot that I know of. Basically, Blindspot is a show about stopping terrorists as far as I can tell, but the tattoos give the show an excuse to reveal as much of the woman's body as possible on network TV without angering the Censors. Don't like the woman so far, but the action is decent and the show seems to have some decent money and special effects behind it, as well as a varied cast and good on-location shots. Might give it a watch since there's nothing competing with it in its time-slot at the moment.
MUPPETS - Tuesday nights at 8pm on ABC - Yes, it's the muppets, Miss Piggy now has her own late-night talk show (honestly, they should have just given her The Late Show, she probably would have done better than Stephen Colbert), Kermit is her executive producer, and the rest of the Muppets are helping to run the show. All your old favorites (yes, I watched this show when I was a kid) have returned to hang out with Miss Piggy. The show still has the same sense of humor, which is a good thing. It only lasts a half hour, which is a bad thing. There's only so much fun you can have when you're pressed for time, and I think trying to squeeze the muppets into a half-hour show is going to have a detrimental effect on the show's longevity. Why am I watching a show with hand puppets in it? It's funny. Where else can you see a frog with a pig fetish, or a woman with a fozzie bear fetish? Exactly. Nowhere else. Am I man enough to watch a show with puppets in it and talk about it openly on the internet? You're goddamn right I am.
LIMITLESS - Tuesday nights at 10pm on CBS - Another show based off a movie, this one about a pill that makes your brain work as efficiently as humanly possible, allowing you to do what seems impossible. Since I do that kind of thing every damn day, this is nothing new for me, but I can see where it would be a draw for normal folks. This particular show stars a relative nobody as the male lead, but the supporting cast includes Jennifer Carpenter, recently of Dexter fame, who I always thought was not only a decent actress, but cute in a girl-next-door kind of way. Also appearing in the show is the guy from the movie, Bradley Cooper, I guess? That would be like getting Tom Cruise to show up in the Minority Report TV series, and no, that wouldn't make me want to watch Minority Report any more. Probably less, in fact. Since Limitless is basically about a smart guy (granted, smart from pills) outwitting the bad guys once more, much like Scorpion, it would be silly to not watch this one as well. There's nothing on TV in its time slot to compete against it, so why not?
That's all for now. The Strain is finishing up its summer run on FX in another week or two, so I didn't see any point in listing it as a Fall series. I'll have another update later this week, if I can find some more season premieres to watch. If I got any of the times and channels wrong, sorry, did my best. I may be a genius, but I'm still human. Til next time.
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