It's that time of year again!
And this year, I'm not late! (Okay, so Saturday Night Live had its season premiere this weekend, but many other returning shows haven't started yet.)
Continuing the tradition started by Doctor Hmmm? back in 2010, and followed inconsistently since (2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025), here's a catchall thread about any and all shows debuting or returning this fall, with an emphasis on the shows that don't generate their own threads.
Replies
Since I regularly watch Beyond the Gates, I've seen numerous promos for new and returning CBS shows. New are Cupertino, from the creators/producers of The Good Wife, The Good Fight and Elsbeth. Starring Mike Colter and co-starring Renée Elise Goldsberry (frequent guest stars on The Good Wife), Cupertino is about a scrappy boutique law firm that sets its sights on representing small businessess against giant Silicon Valley tech firms. Could be interesting. I've certainly liked these actors in other projects.
Eternally Yours is a sitcom from the producers of the American version of Ghosts. The premise here is about a vampire and a woman who were star-crossed lovers 500 years ago, so he turned her ... and in modern times, the marriage has turnted sour but the're sill bound to each other. Seems like a one-joke show to me.
NCIS: New York extends the franchise with L.L. Cool J reprising his Sam Hanna character, which he essayed in NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: Hawaii. He is partnered with Scott Caan, playing the loose-cannon, doesn't follow the rules type character found in half the iterations of your typical buddy-cop show. Pass, if only because Caan is not playing Danny Williams from the revival of Hawaii Five-O.
Returning on CBS are Fire Country, Ghosts, and Georgie and Mandy's First Marriage. Also, the network's slew of LEO shows: Boston Blue (and it isn't even filmed in Boston ... *yawn*), Sheriff Country, NCIS, NCIS: Origins, FBI, CIA, Marshals, More here from TV Guide: "CBS Fall TV Shows 2026: The Complete Schedule and Premiere Dat
I know we'll be watching Elsbeth and Ghosts. I bailed on Tracker because every episode seemed like every other episode.
On ABC. we're waiting for Abbott Elementary to come back, and I'm watching out for Grey's Anatomy. TV Guide notes that the network has NO new shows this season: "ABC Fall TV Shows 2026: The Complete Schedule and Premiere Dates"
I'm hanging in there with Chicago Fire although the budget-cutting is starting to be way too obvious, with several characters not around for several episodes with very thin explanations. I bailed on the other One Chicago entries (and never took to Chicago Med) long ago. And I'm still enjoying Saturday Night Live. (I think a lot of the carping that it's always terrible or "I haven't watched it in years" is just lazy criticism.)
I may give a try to the reboot of The Rockford Files (or not), but R.J. Decker on ABC basically got there first -- rumpled ex-con turned private investigator in a sunny clime, in this case Florida instead of California.TV Guide has the full lineup: "NBC Fall TV Shows 2026: The Complete Schedule and Premiere Dates"
I even found something to like on Fox: Best Medicine, yet another American remake of a British dramedy. It's basically a carbon copy of Northern Exposure, featuring Josh Charles, whom we liked from The Good Wife. Here, he is a high-powered Boston surgeon who moves to the small fishing village where he spent his summers when he was a kid to be the town general practitioner. Why? Because he develops a phobia where he gets squeamish at the sight of blood. Even his own; a simple nosebleed freaks him out.
This, as you might expect, is a great impediment to being a surgeon, and it's not so easy for a small-town doctor, either. Fortunately, among the many quirky denizens of this small town is the young lady who was the receptionist for his predecessor. She is willing to draw blood, clean wounds and put on and wrap bandages, and will keep secret his problem.
Doctor Martin Best is a classic fish out of water; he always wears a blue suit, white shirt and red necktie (like the Silver Age Clark Kent) as if its a suit of armor. He has a terrible bedside manner, often brusque with people. He is, on the other hand, a brilliant diagnostician and his heart is ever-so-graduallly thawing as he gets to know the townspeople, including the potenital love interest -- the elementary school principal who, as the series begins, recently broke her engagement to the sheriff.
I discovered this show late, so I've only seen a couple episodes from the first season, but I look forward to seeing the run and Season 2.
TV Guide tells all about what Fox is up to: "Fox Fall TV Shows 2026: The Complete Schedule and Premiere Dates"
Baseball is occupying most of my viewing time at the moment, at least as long as the Boston Red Sox are in the playoffs.
America's Funniest Home Videos has already started it's new season and the NCIS franchise returns October 6. From what I heard, Scott Caan allegedly suggested reprising Danny Williams for New York, but it was a rights issue preventing it.
Saturday Night Live and all the late night talk shows are dependent upon that episode's guests, but I do follow Jimmy Kimmell until after the monologue since Stephen Colbert is gone.
Meanwhile, NBC's Law and Orders are scheduled to return October 8, but I haven't heard anything about when the CW will start airing the second season of Law and Order Toronto: Criminal Intent, although Canada has already completed filming Season 3 up there.
And the only NEW show I have any interest in is The Rockford Files reboot this coming January. Am I missing anything?