The Fall Season Newbies I'm Recording and Watching

The cast of Conviction.

I'm not the kind of guy who watches TV to learn much of anything. I probably average six hours a day five or six days a week plopped in front of my PC monitors researching and writing. When I flip on the TV, I want to be entertained.

To put it another way: I'm fine with mindless escapism.

The new Riggs and Murtaugh.

Having established the rather loose parameters qualifying TV programming as worthy of my attention, here are some of the shows I'm currently watching. Keep in mind that I watch nothing in real time. Although I'm willing to invest two or three hours per day in inane, time-killing TV, I'm not willing to suffer through commercials. This attitude paid off handsomely during the recent election cycle.

Reinforcing my TV-as-simpleminded-entertainment approach is the fact that a surprising number of the shows I follow are on The CW. If you are any sort of TV historian, you will recall The CW began life as The WB. One of The WB's original hit series was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And, yes, I will admit it here once more that Buffy may be my all-time favorite television serial.

Glad I got that off my chest...again.

Arranged in the order I happen to think of them, the newly minted shows I am watching this season include....

1. Frequency: The CW – Based on the 2000 movie, this is a series about a grown daughter communicating with her father through a Ham radio. The hook, he's transmitting from 20 years earlier. They are both cops and help one another solve crimes, but change the present day in the process. Peyton List stars. Hey, I'd never heard of her either.
2. Timeless: NBC – In yet another monkeying-around-with time series, Abigail Spencer and Matt Lanter star. I didn't recognize either of their names, but recall
   

   

   Abigail Spencer from Timeless.

   seeing her in other projects. A college history professor is recruited by Homeland Security to travel back in time in pursuit of a bad guy intent on changing the future. The likable team always returns from these missions to a changed reality.
3. No Tomorrow: The CW – A cute, likable, but self-confidence-challenged quirky woman falls for a free-spirit guy convinced the world is ending in a few months. He shares his bucket list of crazy things he wants to do before the apocalypse and drags her along. It's The CW; so, once again the stars (Tori Anderson and Jesse Rath) playing the two main characters aren't well known. It's inoffensive, fun and worth a watch if you have nothing better to do.
4. Lethal Weapon: Fox – Yep, you guessed it: This show is based on the 30-year-old Lethal Weapon movie that starred Mel Gibson. Damon Wayans, reprises Danny Glover's role. He's been on TV since the early 1990s. Clayne Crawford – I recognized him, but not his name – plays Riggs. Originally I didn't include this among the shows I'm recording this season. I just didn't think it would measure up, but I finally got on board in week two. It captures much of the humor and buddy-movie feel of the movie.
5. Conviction: ABC – The acting-out adult daughter of a former U.S. president puts her attorney credentials to work heading a special team tasked with looking at old crime convictions to determine if the convicted felon was really guilty. The star of the sadly canceled Marvel series Agent Carter, Hayley Atwell plays the lead. For me, Atwell is easy to watch. This isn't edge-of-your-seat suspense, but it's a fun watch.
6. Designated Survivor: ABC – I've never been much of a Kiefer Sutherland fan, but I was able to still enjoy the series 24, and I'm knee-deep in his latest vehicle. The title refers to the actual practice of a cabinet member sitting out the annual State of the Union address with virtually the entire federal government in attendance to ensure there is someone left in the presidential pecking order in case of a calamity wiping out the government. That's exactly what happens in the opening episode of this series, catapulting Sutherland's character into the White House. There's plenty of intrigue on a weekly basis.
7. Bull: CBS – If you liked Michael Weatherly as DiNozzo on NCIS, you'll love him as Dr. Jason Bull, a psychologist specializing in choosing and reading juries on this show. It's loaded with likable characters and likable people playing them.
8. Notorious: ABC – Every season, it seems, I watch at least one show for little reason other than I have the capacity to record it. Notorious is such a series. A very recognizable Piper Perabo and Daniel Sunjata star. She plays a TV-show producer and he a high-profile defense attorney. There is nothing particularly compelling about it. I usually have three or four episodes stacked up in my recorder because I only watch it when I've exhausted everything else.

No Tomorrow.

I'm still following a number of returned shows like Blindspot, Blacklist, Lucifer, Rosewood, Scorpion, Quantico, Criminal Minds, Madam Secretary, Elementary, Modern Family and The Big Bang Theory.

Shows I watch on Netflix or Amazon Prime include The Walking Dead, NCIS, Arrow, The Flash, Once Upon a Time and Longmire.

And there you have it: How I waste away my leisure hours when I'm not on the road. Now where's the damn remote?