- TV Review: Doctor Who – Oxygen - 13 May, 2017
- TV Review: Doctor Who – Knock Knock - 6 May, 2017
- TV Review: Doctor Who – The Pilot - 17 April, 2017
Autumn naturally evokes thoughts of pumpkins, cold weather, and Christmas, but to a TV buff like me it means one thing, and one thing only: an influx of new and returning television.
Yes, the autumn (or fall, if you’re in America) season of television often brings about new shows (most of which will likely never make it to a sophomore year, unfortunately) and returning shows that somehow survived the cull of yesteryear.
Below we bring you a preview of some of the autumn TV Vada will be covering over the coming months.
Scream Queens (FOX – September 22nd)
The latest brainchild from Ryan Murphey, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan looks to be just as came and overly ridiculous as their previous offerings, Glee and American Horror Story. But, it’ll probably be amazing too.
Like the latter show above, Scream Queens will be an anthology series that’ll explore a new concept each subsequent season; the first follows a series of murders on a college campus, and reportedly only four (yes FOUR) of the starring fifteen characters will survive the mass cull, so don’t get too fond of any one character.
The cast boasts some impressive names, including Emma Roberts (Scream 4, We’re The Millers, American Horror Story), Lea Michele (Glee), Nick Jones (soloist and former member of the Jonas Brothers, Kingdom) and Ariana Grande (who has one more problem with you, girl).
We’re expecting this show to be ridiculously camp, but we probably wouldn’t have it any other way. Billed as a comedy horror, you’ll be laughing out loud. Hopefully for all the right reasons.
Heroes Reborn (NBC – September 24th)
We’re currently in the middle of a Heroes re-watch in anticipation for Heroes Reborn, and I have to admit that I’m getting very excited to see this show return.
Set five years after the season 4 finale, and one year after an explosion decimated Texas (SPOILERS: the aforementioned explosion reportedly claimed the life of Claire Bennet, so don’t expect her to pop up anywhere along the line). The heroes are regarded as terrorists, and the harrowing future glimpsed in ‘Five Years Gone’ becomes a reality. The heroes will be hunted.
We’ll be greeted to a host of new faces, but right now we don’t care about that. All we care about are the returning characters. Namely Noah Bennet, who is in seclusion, a grown-up Micah Sanders, the ever-annoying Greg Grunberg as telepath Matt Parkman, the mysterious Haitian, the loveable badass Hiro Nakamura, the once great but now ruined Mohinder Suresh, and the ABSOLUTE BABE that is Angela Petrelli. Her return alone is whats making me excited for Heroes Reborn.
So yeah, only a handful of characters are returning, but I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see some other faces pop up. We can hope. The only necessary element I have for this miniseries is a satisfying conclusion. No cliffhangers this time round, please.
Doctor Who (BBC One – September 19th)
We recently broke down the two Doctor Who trailers (you can see trailer one here, and trailer two here) so we’re pretty damn excited for this show to return. Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman reprise their roles as The Doctor and Clara Oswald respectively, and their chemistry is sure to continue sizzling.
The ninth series will see see the TARDIS stop on Skaro, where the Doctor battles the nefarious Daleks (again!), only this time the story sounds very tantalising. Missy will pop up, and the Doctor may, or may not, encounter a younger Davros, and a very dark decision. Colour us intrigued.
Then we have the mysterious unnamed character played by Game of Thrones’ Maisie Williams, who teams up with a fire-breathing cat, a Zygon two-parter that poses the premise of aliens living amongst us, a found-footage episode penned by Mark Gaitiss (probably the only time we’ve been excited by an episode by Gaitiss, solely upon the found-footage genre of direction), and a one hander penultimate episode, that stars Capaldi and Capaldi alone. Yes, this is a companion-lite episode. Expect to see the Judoon and Hath crop up somewhere, too, along with the Sisterhood of Karn. The Tenth and Eighth Doctors may also appear, along with every other Doctor (via archive footage) as the Doctor is rumoured to ‘degenerate’…
Hmm.
American Horror Story (FX – October 7th)
All hail the Queen, who is checking into the latest series of American Horror Story, subtitled Hotel. Yes, Lady Gaga makes her formal debut in a starring role as Elizabeth, or the Countess. She’s the owner of Hotel Cortez, and will be involved in a love square with Finn Wittrock’s Tristan Duffy, Matt Bomer’s Donovan, and Angela Bassett’s Romana Royale. Yes, Gaga is going bi, and from the sounds of it, EXTREMELY promiscuous.
Joining her is American Horror Story alumni Kathy Bates, Denis O’Hare, Emma Roberts, Lily Rabe and Evan Peters, whilst newcomers Matt Bomer, Max Greenfield, Cheyenne Jackson, Darren Criss and Naomi Campbell also check in. It’s going to be another jampacked season, but for me, it’s all about the Queen.
The Leftovers (HBO – October 4th)
Bleak, brutal, and hard to watch, The Leftovers was my TV highlight of 2014, surprisingly. Why? Because it was exceptionally harrowing television which explored the plight of the world after 2% of its population mysteriously vanishes. This mystery isn’t important; what is is the journeys the characters go through in trying to deal with it. You can read my review of the first season here.
The second season will see the show uproots and travel from Mapleton to Texas, where an ordinary little town boasts no taken inhabitants. All of them somehow survived the Sudden Departure. Half of the shows cast will be remaining behind, but the most engaging ones will be coming with us, namely the Garveys, Nora Durst, the vicar and his wife, and, somehow, the deceased Patti. So basically, only the interesting characters will be sticking with the show. That means The Leftovers will surely only go from strength to strength.
If season two continues the bleak tones of season one, this show will excel.
