Fox’s unexpected hit “Sleepy Hollow” stars Tom Mison as the 18th century character Ichabod Crane and Nicole Beharie as police lieutenant Abbey Mills.
The fall television season has kicked off with a bang, with a number of new dramas and sitcoms creating buzz. Some far-fetched series have attracted fans and won over some critics. Let’s take a look at some of the shows heating up the small screen this season. For the purposes of this piece, we’ll only look at new shows on the broadcast networks.
Some comedies featuring well-known TV and movie figures have emerged as early hits. “The Crazy Ones” on CBS marks Robin Williams’ return to television and also brings Sarah Michelle Gellar back to TV. “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” features “Saturday Night Live” alum Andy Samberg as the lead character in this cop sitcom. Michael J. Fox also returns to network television with the well-received “Michael J. Fox Show” on NBC.
Some intriguing dramas have hit the small screen this fall, with more set to debut later this TV season. For example, Fox has scored a surprise hit with “Sleepy Hollow,” which brings some of the characters from Washington Irving’s 19th century short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” into the 21st century, namely its protagonist, Ichabod Crane, and its villain, the Headless Horseman. Another involves superheroes and villains from the world of comic books, as ABC’s “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” has turned into an early hit. NBC also has an early hit with its suspense thriller “The Blacklist,” starring James Spader. Another drama to check out later this fall stars John Malkovich as the infamous pirate Blackbeard in NBC’s drama series “Crossbones.”
The TV networks have gone outside of the box this fall, trying to bring viewers back to network television, which has lost considerable numbers of viewers to basic cable programming as well as the premium cable channels like HBO and Showtime. Some of the most-hyped shows in recent memory have run on basic cable channels, some of which air informative programming like the In View series. AMC, in particular, has enjoyed a great run of success with original series like “Breaking Bad,” “The Walking Dead” and “Mad Men.”
