Innholdsfortegnelse for September 28, 2020 i TV Guide Magazine

The wait is over! Fall TV is finally here. And there’s no better sign that the new season has arrived than our annual Fall Preview issue in your hands, whether you just pulled it from your mailbox or picked it up off the newsstand. If it feels like this year’s Fall Preview is coming to you later than usual, you’re right. We’ve all spent an extra-long summer indoors, which has been great for catching up on TV classics or finally bingeing those shows your friends have been insisting you try. But social distancing also meant that shooting schedules were delayed and planned shows were pushed to air even later. Now, we’ve got you covered. We’re previewing 54 brand-new shows: dramas, comedies, sci-fi, reality and animation. You’ll get to see favorite…

Watched Live 1 Thursday Night Football: Houston Texans vs. Kansas City Chiefs NBC 21.0 2 Sunday Night Football: Dallas Cowboys vs. Los Angeles Rams NBC 19.0 The Rams won 20–17, but the broadcast fumbled from last year’s opening matchup (Patriots vs. Steelers), which drew 22 million. 3 60 Minutes CBS 8.0 4 America’s Got Talent (Tuesday) NBC 6.0 5 The Masked Singer Season 4 Preview Fox5.6 6 America’s Got Talent (Wednesday) NBC 5.5 7 NCIS CBS 5.0 8 Big Brother (Sunday) CBS 4.1 Big Brother (Wednesday) CBS 4.1 Big Brother (Thursday) CBS 4.1 11 Transplant NBC 3.7 20/20 ABC 3.7 The two-hour edition investigating the April murder of Fort Hood soldier Vanessa Guillen in Texas topped Friday night in total viewers and with adults age 25–54. American Ninja Warrior NBC 3.7 14 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 3.5 Saturday Night Football: Clemson vs. Wake Forest ABC 3.5 16 The Neighborhood CBS 3.3 17 Holey Moley ABC 3.0 Celebrity…

Available now, Netflix A CUCKOO’S NEST would be child’s play to the lunatics running the asylum in Ratched, a lurid concoction of gruesomely campy Grand Guignol excess. Closer in tone to Ryan Murphy’s Nip/Tuck and American Horror Story than the Ken Kesey classic that inspired the Oscar-winning One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, this purported origin story for the infamously rigid Nurse Ratched is, in a word, nuts. When it’s not being too gross to watch or too ridiculous to matter, this series is a treat for the eyes. A Technicolor palette of late-1940s costumes and cars is accompanied by a lush score echoing the best of Bernard Herrmann in his Hitchcock period. Ratched clearly owes a debt to the famed director’s masterpiece Psycho, comparatively a model of restraint. Norman…

CONTESTANTS ON THE cutthroat trivia series Weakest Link come armed for intellectual battle—against their fellow players, the ticking clock and even the challenging questions. But the most formidable foe is Link’s sharp-witted host. The first time around, the churlish Anne Robinson delivered the cracking put-downs. For NBC’s reboot, five-time Emmy winner Jane Lynch (right) assumes the role of ringleader, though her zingers are more zesty and playful. And Lynch’s eyes still sparkle with mischief as she banishes contestants with the signature send-off: “You are the weakest link. Goodbye.” Here’s what else to expect. 1 The host’s barbed commentary won’t change too much. Robinson said goodbye herself in 2012 after a dozen years as emcee of the U.K. edition and a season on the 2001–02 American version. Lynch, who also helms…

Katheryn Winnick, Ryan Phillippe and Kylie Bunbury in Big Sky In a thriller based on the novels of C.J. Box, two sisters go missing on a remote Montana highway, sending an unlikely trio on a highstakes hunt. Can PIs Cassie Dewell and Cody Hoyt (Bunbury and Phillippe)—plus his estranged wife Jenny (Winnick), an ex-cop—find the truck driver responsible before he claims more victims? PREMIERES FALL, ABC Anne-Marie Duff in The Salisbury Poisonings For Tracy Daszkiewicz, the nearly unflappable director of public health in the English city of Salisbury, the killer she seeks is not human but a deadly toxin: Russia has used a nerve agent to try to assassinate a former spy in the community—now other lives are in jeopardy. The series is based on a real-life 2018 chemical attack.…

Lesser-known activists get their turn in the spotlight Slain politico Harvey Milk and late agitator Larry Kramer are a few familiar names from the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement. However, other unsung yet influential heroes helped lead the charge. This four-episode docuseries (with scripted reenactments) from executive producers Greg Berlanti (You) and Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory) aims to “round out characters in order to expand into uncharted places,” says director Stephen Kijak. He helmed three of the four installments, which dig into early advocacy organizations, transgender history, the Black community’s involvement in the movement and the 1969 Stonewall Riots’ impact. Since archival footage for some people and events is scarce, the reenactments help fill in the gaps. Included in the starstudded cast: The Handmaid’s Tale’s Samira Wiley (right) as…

WHERE YOU’VE SEEN HER She was sassy receptionist Betty Dimello to midcentury sex researchers William Masters and Virginia Johnson on Showtime’s Masters of Sex (2013–16). The Broadway vet (Kinky Boots, Sunday in the Park With George) also won the 2015 Featured Actress in a Play Tony Award for her portrayal of endearingly childish candymaker Essie Carmichael in You Can’t Take It With You. PREMIERES FALL, CBS WHO SHE PLAYS HERE Party girl Gina Dabrowski, who offers her kidney to old high school friend Drew Dunbar (Silicon Valley’s Thomas Middleditch) when she learns he’s in need of a transplant. “She has a huge heart,” Ashford says, “but unfortunately, she’s much better at taking care of others than she’s been at taking care of herself.” Is romance also part of the diagnosis…

A collection of small-town-America nightmares Personal horrors run amok in this eight-episode anthology based on the short story collection North American Lake Monsters, from Nathan Ballingrud. Each installment features a different cast playing folks in various locales. Expect diverse protagonists such as “blue-collar workers, complicated women and people who have made monstrous, complex decisions,” executive producer Mary Laws notes. We highlight some of the notable stops on this twisted map. “Port Fourchon, LA” The series opens with Unbelievable’s Kaitlyn Dever as a desperate mom who takes in a mysterious drifter (Jonathan Tucker, Kingdom). “I love the big reveal,” teases Laws. “Eugene, OR” Keep the lights on. A teen (Ozark’s Charlie Tahan) dares to take on a specter lurking in his house. “Iron River, MI” Many episodes explore “trauma and what…

A riveting look at Adolf Hitler’s ascent to Führer of the Third Reich How, in less than four years, did Germany turn from a liberal state into a murderous dictatorship that would soon set the world ablaze? Focused on the pivotal period between 1930 and 1934, this three-part documentary—as gripping as any fictional thriller—aims “to show how a democracy can unravel,” says executive producer Julian Jones, and “to help viewers understand what may have motivated the key players’ actions and beliefs.” This cautionary tale is told via astute historians (one notes that a general’s name aptly translates as “to sneak” or “to creep”), telling re-creations (above) and a judicious use of chilling archival footage. In the opener, backroom deals among politicians of the Reich, including WWI hero President Paul von…

Reboots of old favorites Animaniacs The Warner siblings are still zany to the max! In this familyfriendly reboot, Yakko, Wakko (above) and Dot are again wreaking havoc on the WB lot—for the first time since 1998! Also back: Acme lab mice, dim-witted Pinky and the Brain. That wannabe world conqueror, say coexec producers Wellesley Wild and Gabe Swarr, struggles to “come up with global domination plots that aren’t already in progress somewhere in the real world.” Narf! PREMIERES FRIDAY, NOV. 20, HULU The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse This short-form series (episodes run about seven minutes) showcases all-new tongue-in-cheek musical tales starring Mickey himself. In “Cheese Wranglers,” when Minnie hires him to transport a mass of cheese wheels, she calls him “the greatest wrangler in the West.” That’s before bandits…

BLACKBIRD AVAILABLE NOW NEW MOVIE! Family gatherings can be a powder keg, with secret animosities hidden just beneath the smiles. All it takes is one comment to set things off. In the case of Connecticut matriarch Lily (Susan Sarandon), dire news lights the match: After a battle with ALS, she has decided to end her life and wants one last weekend with husband Paul (Sam Neill), daughters Jennifer (Kate Winslet) and Anna (Mia Wasikowska), their respective partners Michael (Rainn Wilson) and Chris (Bex Taylor-Klaus), her grandson and an old friend. “Can we all behave as normally as possible?” Lily asks them. Fat chance. Her resolute decision affects the attendees differently, leading to shouting matches and so-wrong-they’re-funny moments. (Lily urges them to spend their inheritance on “hookers and blow.”) Director Roger…

@damianholbrook LOVE IT! Cheers to Drew Barrymore for a divinely inspired launch to her new talk show, The Drew Barrymore Show. The most delightful addition to daytime since Kelly Clarkson, Barrymore (left) made a heavenly debut by kicking things off with Charlie’s Angels costars Lucy Liu and Cameron Diaz for an LOL-filled reunion we’re still flying high over. Cheers to A.P. Bio for delivering the chemistry. Saved by Peacock after NBC’s cancellation, the sitcom about a grumpy genius (Glenn Howerton) stuck teaching at an Ohio high school has matriculated into a Parks and Recreation–like comedy for public education thanks to a grade-A ensemble with Patton Oswalt (left), Paula Pell, Jean Villepique, Mary Sohn and Lyric Lewis Cheers to Woke for opening folks’ eyes to Lamorne Morris’ acting range. We always…

@TVGMMattRoush I saw the news that Anna Faris is leaving CBS’s Mom, one of my favorite comedies. I’ll be curious how this affects the show, seeing as how she was one of the main characters. What are your thoughts on her exit and the show’s fate? —Nikki MATT ROUSH: As a fan of the show and of Anna Faris, I’m sorry she won’t be around for the eighth season. But Mom has evolved over the years, successfully expanding beyond the premise of the rocky relationship between Bonnie (Allison Janney) and daughter Christy (Faris), both single moms. It’s now a true ensemble comedy featuring their friends in a support group. I figure Bonnie and husband Adam (the terrific William Fichtner) will remain the primary focus, but with a supporting cast including…

There was no one like this Dame. It’s a rare talent who can inspire cult obsessions nearly a half century apart. Dame Diana Rigg, who died September 10 of cancer at 82, was the epitome of slinky cool as the karate-kicking, jumpsuitsporting Mrs. Emma Peel (right) in the 1960s British spy parody The Avengers. In 2013, when she joined HBO’s blockbuster Game of Thrones in its third season, she stole every scene as the indomitable Olenna Tyrell—better known as the “Queen of Thorns” for her waspish wit. “Dame Diana keeps everyone on their toes,” Thrones’ awed executive producer Dan Weiss told TV GUIDE MAGAZINE in 2013. Not unlike how the Queen of Thorns could put all of Westeros in its place. In one of her most memorable burns, she faced…

Editors' Pick PREMIERES SUNDAY, OCT. 25, 9/8c, HBO Grace Fraser Nicole Kidman The soft-spoken therapist buzzes with empathy, patience and love. She’s passionate with her husband, adores her only child and gently tolerates the superficial “school moms.” Although she grew up in a penthouse overlooking Central Park, “she was looking for more out of life [than wealth], so she married out of her inner circle,” says Bier. “With Grace, you think you know her…or maybe you don’t.” Jonathan Fraser Hugh Grant Jonathan is a pediatric oncologist who will do anything for his patients, and is seen as selflessly heroic by his family as well. He’s warm, witty and cultured, a mischievous flirt with Grace and his son Henry’s biggest booster. “Hugh Grant has always been incredibly charming, but in this…

A married high school English instructor has an affair with her teen student The sordid topic has fueled all too many headlines: An attractive young teacher gets way too close to one of her underage pupils. In this case, it’s fictional Texas high school English instructor Claire Wilson and 17-year-old Eric Walker (House of Cards’ Kate Mara and Love, Simon’s Nick Robinson, above). While Mara describes the story as “very intense and juicy and unique,” the 10-episode limited series promises to be more thoughtful than any salacious Lifetime movie tackling the same subject. “The biggest draw for me was that it was not just from the woman’s point of view, but also from the male victim’s,” she explains. “He’s not just a so-called fling that you can write off as…

Change comes in stirring stories of social justice PREMIERES FRIDAY, NOV. 20, PRIME VIDEO “Individually it’s very difficult, but in the collective you can be heard,” says director Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) about the power of people coming together. He weaves that theme through this weekly anthology series of five inspiring films, set in the late 1960s to mid-’80s, which tell important stories of London’s West Indian community facing—and overcoming—discrimination. The first of those films, Mangrove, starring Black Panther’s Letitia Wright (center left, beside Malachi Kirby holding the bullhorn), recounts the landmark 1971 court case against the Mangrove 9. After a dozen police raids on the Mangrove, a Caribbean restaurant in Notting Hill, a series of peaceful protests began. When one turned violent, nine Black activists were charged…

A natural disaster has turned all the lights out—and the British government is reeling Stoic prime minister Robert Sutherland (Robert Carlyle, Once Upon a Time) certainly has his hands full in this intense six-episode import. He and his Cabinet Office Briefing Room A committee (COBRA) are up against a ticking clock to figure out how to handle an impending solar storm—one that will literally cloak the country in darkness. “While the show starts with a catastrophe, we are more interested in the social consequences,” says executive producer Ben Richards. “How far should a government go to prevent a descent into anarchy?” Before you can say blackout, planes are down, fires are raging—and looters, vigilantes and prison escapees are running wild. Even among those trying to restore order, some opportunistic officials…

SEPTEMBER 24 Haute Dog (HBO Max) India From Above (Nat Geo Wild) The Murders at White House Farm (HBO Max) 25 The Amber Ruffin Show (Peacock) Country-ish (Netflix) Magic of Disney’s Animal Kingdom (Disney+) The School Nurse Files (Netflix) Sneakerheads (Netflix) Tehran (Apple TV+) Utopia (Prime Video) A Wilderness of Error (FX) 26 Magical Girl Friendship Squad (Syfy) Wild Life (Syfy) 27 The Comey Rule (Showtime) Joe Exotic: Tigers, Lies and Cover-Up (Investigation Discovery) 28 Emergency Call (ABC) Joe Exotic: Before He Was King (Investigation Discovery) 29 Weakest Link (NBC) 30 The Boys in the Band (Netflix) OCTOBER 1 Code 404 (Peacock) Connecting… (NBC) Gangs of London (AMC+) Oktoberfest: Beer & Blood (Netflix) The Salisbury Poisonings (AMC+) A World of Calm (HBO Max) 2 Emily in Paris (Netflix) Monsterland (Hulu)…

The Lighter Side of Campaign Season Election Day is approaching fast! If you need a break from all the news, cast your vote for these sitcom episodes, where it’s anything but politics as usual.… —Eric Andersson THE GOLDEN GIRLS “The President’s Coming! The President’s Coming!” Parts 1 & 2 Season 5, Episodes 25 & 26 Picture it: Miami, 1990… Ahead of POTUS’s Florida visit, George Bush’s advance team asks senior roommates Rose (Betty White), Blanche (Rue McClanahan), Dorothy (Bea Arthur) and Sophia (Estelle Getty) to do a photo op at their home. One snafu? Native Sicilian Sophia fails the security check. “I can’t believe it,” she says. “I spend one lousy night with Mussolini!” PARKS AND RECREATION “Bus Tour” Season 4, Episode 21 Pawnee, Indiana, city council candidate Leslie Knope…

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) Don’t be surprised if a relationship soon comes to an end. Assume it’s for the best. As personal issues arise through the end of 2020, your challenge is to learn how to be easier to get along with. Use your abundant Libran charm and you can only win! CAPRICORN (Dec. 22–Jan. 19) Issues you need to deal with between now and January surface. If you’re feeling under siege, breathe deep. You are made of tough stuff. Whatever you’re facing, you already know what to do to sort things out. ARIES (March 21–April 19) This could be an emotional time, but it’s also a great opportunity to think about your image. Could you use a makeover? Pandemic hairdo needing attention? Don’t neglect those who depend on you,…

If not for Kevin Dobson, Kojak might have become known for apples instead of lollipops. The rugged actor, who died September 6 at age 77 of heart failure, recalled in a Kojak DVD featurette that he spotted a Tootsie Pop on the set of the iconic crime drama (1973–78) and flipped Telly Savalas the candy to replace the apple he’d been handed. That’s how legends are born. Dobson was an Army MP in the 1960s and a Long Island Rail Road conductor before taking up acting. His big break came when he was cast as Kojak’s eager sidekick, Det. Bobby Crocker. “We were looking for a certain street quality, and Kevin had it,” Kojak supervising producer Jim McAdams told TV GUIDE MAGAZINE in 1977. That authenticity also served him well…

@TVGMMattRoush Sundays, 10/9c, FX “YOU KNOW WHY America loves a crime story? Because America is a crime story,” opines a Kansas City gangster midway through the thrillingly unpredictable fourth installment of Fargo. In a medium overrun with formulaic franchises of law and order, Noah Hawley’s brilliant anthology of bizarre morality tales rises above, on a dark tide of inventive quirkiness. Observing much of the racially charged mayhem with cool curiosity is teenage student Ethelrida Pearl Smutny (an impressive E’myri Crutchfield), the only child of mixed-race undertakers who are in hock to Black organized-crime boss Loy Cannon (Chris Rock in a career-high performance of controlled cockiness). Fargo opens in 1950, as Ethelrida presents a dazzling report on the Missouri city’s long and violent history of ethnic outsiders in a criminal underworld—first…

SERIES PREMIERE Sunday, Oct. 4, 9/8c, Showtime IF A RAPPING musical Hamilton can bring new life to the Founding Fathers, why not use a fictional slave boy disguised as a girl to tell the rousing story of pre–Civil War abolitionist zealot John Brown? This irreverent and audacious approach won author James McBride a 2013 National Book Award, and in adapting the novel into a boldly entertaining and ultimately moving seven-part limited series, producer and star Ethan Hawke does justice to the legend, and to history. Eyes blazing with biblical fervor, quoting scripture amid slaughter, Hawke is transfixing as a savage 19th-century Moses who devotes—and gives—his life to the cause of emancipation. Brown is at times terrifying, comic, delusional, even deranged as he embarks on a mad crusade. Along the way,…

Ethan Hawke brings the award-winning book to life Actor-producer Ethan Hawke gives a powerful performance as fabled abolitionist John Brown in The Good Lord Bird—but don’t expect a reverent biography of the volatile and zealous anti-slaver best remembered for his failed 1859 raid on the Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, armory. Based on James McBride’s 2013 comic novel about Brown’s last years, the seven-part series “follows a lineage similar to Mark Twain, Quentin Tarantino and the Coen Brothers,” says Hawke. Meaning there’s plenty of violence and mockery of prominent characters, including the Black hero Frederick Douglass (Daveed Diggs). The rollicking story is amusingly narrated by the fictional Henry Shackleford (Joshua Caleb Johnson, left, with Hawke), known as Onion, whom Brown frees from bondage. “John Brown is so out to lunch, he…

WHERE YOU’VE SEEN HER BEFORE As tough-as-nails Rosita Espinosa, Christian Serratos has made slaying zombies look like child’s play for the past six seasons on AMC’s The Walking Dead. “I had grown to love having no makeup on, [being] sweaty, dirty and covered in fake blood,” Serratos says. WHO SHE PLAYS HERE Mexican-American singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez was on the brink of mainstream stardom thanks to hits like “Dreaming of You” and “I Could Fall in Love” when she was murdered by a former employee in 1995. Selena: The Series shows us the years of hard work that went into making her a Latin music icon (also memorably portrayed by Jennifer Lopez in the 1997 biopic Selena). “It’s pushing through barriers. It’s the long tours with her family in a small…

Powerful sibs face down literal—and figurative—demons together Sibling rivalry has never been scarier! Supernaturally gifted brother and sister Daimon and Ana Helstrom (Tom Austen and Sydney Lemmon) lead this Marvel comic book–based 10-episode thriller as demon hunters with some serious psychological damage. “At the start of our story, they’re estranged over baggage from their childhood,” previews showrunner Paul Zbyszewski. They had better work through all their familial issues—which include a possessed mom (Elizabeth Marvel, Manifest) and a very evil serial killer father—because they’re also in for hellacious trouble: According to Zbyszewski, their enemies were “born into this world as flesh and blood, [just like] Daimon and Ana, but are even more monstrous.” PREMIERES FRIDAY, OCT. 16, HULU…

AMERICAN MURDER: THE FAMILY NEXT DOOR DOCUMENTARY PREMIERE WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30 American Murder is a true-crime documentary unlike any you’ve ever seen. The 2018 disappearance of Colorado mom Shanann Watts and her two daughters made headlines, but kept largely from public view were home videos that the 34-year-old posted on social media—and the bodycam footage that police recorded as they pursued what became a murder investigation. Director Jenny Popplewell’s film consists almost entirely of this footage, as well as Watts’ own text messages and video of police interrogations. At the center of the film is Watts’ husband, Chris, the prime suspect. But Popplewell wanted to give the victim a voice as well. “We understand the lead-up to the tragedy from her perspective,” Popplewell explains. “It’s her turn to tell her…

Newly Available Adrift (2018) While sailing from Tahiti to San Diego, lovers Tami and Richard (Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin) get caught in a massive storm and struggle to survive. Back to the Future Part II (1989) Hop back into the timetraveling DeLorean with Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) as he tries to stop bully Biff (Thomas F. Wilson) from changing the course of history. Barbershop (2002) A Chicago haircutter (Ice Cube) has second thoughts about selling his business to a loan shark (Keith David). The hit dramedy costars Anthony Anderson. Magic Mike (2012) Can a movie about male strippers be any good? In the hands of director Steven Soderbergh, the answer is yes! The Producers (2005) Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick reprise their roles from the smash Broadway musical…

SEPTEMBER 28, 2020 | PUZZLE #1398 ACROSS 1 Family Guy star West 5 Cincinnati team 9 Doorway rug 12 Composer Bartók 13 ____ the Terrible 14 People ____ Funny 15 Throw out water 16 Lima’s country 17 Actor Harrison 18 Rashida Jones series (2 wds.) 21 Assassin on Lexx 22 Butterfield of Sex Education 23 Inquire 26 Football scores (abbr.) 28 Comedian Ollie’s pal 32 Former E! talk show (2 wds.) 36 Daly of Cagney & Lacey 37 Designate 38 Funny or ____ Presents 39 Atlanta airport (abbr.) 42 Company’s boss 44 1960–62 game show (2 wds.) 50 Comedian Caesar of Your Show of Shows 51 Disappearance sound 52 Wooden strip 53 ____ of Me 54 Survivor setting 55 The Simpsons’ Ms. Krabappel 56 Good Girls actress Whitman 57 Venison source 58 Henpecks DOWN 1 Dancing Queen…