A Steinbeck adaptation, a new Slow Horses season, Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson playing (possible) brothers and more. Here's what NPR critics are looking forward to on TV this fall.
The Drop: A Snowfall Saga
Premieres Sept. 8, FX and Hulu
This spinoff from FX's fitful crime drama about the rise of crack cocaine in the 1980s takes a turn for the 1990s, depicting the rise of gangsta rap through the hustle of a fictionalized family. They're trying to survive gang wars and police brutality at a time when few thought raps about the dangers of South Central LA could produce platinum records and multi-million dollar fortunes. — Eric Deggans
Last Seen
Premieres Sept. 9, Apple TV
Patrick Brammall (Colin From Accounts) plays an emergency dispatcher and former police officer who has never recovered from the disappearance of his toddler daughter 11 years ago. And then one night, he takes a call that he's certain is from her. While it's got some well-worn beats of the troubled and traumatized cop, Last Seen makes good use of Brammall's ragged charisma, demonstrating it works well in drama as well as in comedy. — Linda Holmes
Have I Got News For You, Season 5
Premieres Sept. 12, CNN and HBO Max
This news satire adapted from a long-running British series has always felt like an under-the-radar gem, with host Roy Wood Jr. leading a deluge of jokes about the week's news cleverly formatted as a sort of quiz show. Any program that can give the criminally underseen Amber Ruffin a chance to crack wise about the ways of wacky white folks in power — along with similarly underrated "co-captain" Michael Ian Black — gets my attention. — Eric Deggans
Neagley
Season out Sept. 16, Prime Video
Maria Sten's standout work as sidekick/best buddy/ace investigator Frances Neagley on the hit action series Reacher has been rewarded with this spinoff series. On Reacher, she's a no-nonsense, mostly loner with sharp investigative and fighting skills. Here, Sten's Neagley (pronounced KNEE-lee) takes center stage — hopefully we'll also get a compelling origin story when she gets more narrative space. — Eric Deggans
Slow Horses, Season 6
Premieres Sept. 16, Apple TV
The wonder of this series is how they keep finding new ways for Gary Oldman's slovenly-yet-effective spy Jackson Lamb to save the day with a band of washout agents. The trailer for this new season promises the return of Hugo Weaving while Lamb and his band of incompetents unravel a conspiracy that may be connected to the deaths of former members of his motley crew. — Eric Deggans
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story
Season out on Sept. 17, Netflix
Until now, Netflix's high-profile anthology series focused on relatively modern male killers like Jeffrey Dahmer and Ed Gein. But this fourth installment's eight episodes feature Ella Beatty — daughter of Warren Beatty and Annette Bening — as Borden, accused of killing her parents with an axe in Victorian-era Massachusetts. — Eric Deggans
MobLand, Season 2
Premieres Sept. 18, Paramount+
Forget all the inaccurate early speculation about star Tom Hardy leaving the show; this Guy Ritchie-produced creation about a bonkers Irish family struggling to stay atop the crime scene in London still features Hardy, with a trailer for a second season that looks more focused and crazy. Hardy's job as a calm fixer for a powerful clan led by Pierce Brosnan and the exquisitely pathological Helen Mirren stands in contrast to his bosses' off-the-chain bloodlust and violent impulses. — Eric Deggans
Line of Fire
Premieres Sept. 21, NBC, streams next day on Peacock
It's a concept that feels grown in a lab run by Dick Wolf and Taylor Sheridan: A family that includes two Secret Service agents, a U.S. Marshal, and an FBI agent finds itself the target of someone who is killing off government agents. Fortunately, TV vets like Peter Krause, Hope Davis and guest star Sam Waterston are around to keep it compelling. — Eric Deggans
Brothers
Premieres Sept. 23, Apple TV
There is something odd about a buddy comedy where free spirit Matthew McConaughey plays the sensible one. Thespian/notorious stoner Woody Harrelson may be the only guy who could play his more eccentric pal in this goofy series, spoofing their real-life friendship with a fictional story in which they might be siblings. (Their real-life school pictures in the show's credits look so similar, you'll wonder how fictional the story really is.) — Eric Deggans
A Different World
Season out Sept. 24, Netflix
Honestly: I'm less "excited" about this revival of the groundbreaking sitcom than I am cautiously curious about it. (There are just too many reboots!) Some 30+ years after the original ended, college sweethearts Whitley and Dwayne (Jasmine Guy and Kadeem Hardison) are sending their own kid to their beloved alma mater Hillman College. Many familiar faces are back, including Debbie Allen and Darryl M. Bell — but can this show become more than just a rehash of well-trod nostalgia? We'll see! — Aisha Harris
War
Premieres Oct. 1, HBO, streaming on HBO Max
Fans of war movies will be disappointed that War is about combat between two London law firms. Fans of legal dramas will perhaps be thrilled. The first season of the joint HBO/Sky offering features Dominic West and Sienna Miller as a feuding couple represented by the two firms. The plan is for the show to be an anthology, with the firms clashing in a different case in each season. (The second season is already being made, and will star Marisa Tomei.) Nothing to object to about that. — Linda Holmes
East of Eden
Season out on Oct. 1, Netflix
Florence Pugh stars in this seven-episode miniseries based on John Steinbeck's 1952 opus about two families at the dawn of the 20th century. Created by Zoe Kazan, whose grandfather Elia Kazan directed the 1955 film, this streaming series features Pugh as scheming striver Cathy Ames, offering a classic tale filtered through a modern lens. — Eric Deggans
Carrie
Season out Oct. 7, Prime Video
This eight-episode adaptation of Stephen King's 1974 debut novel takes place in the modern world of conspiracy theories, social media and school shooter drills. But its larger story of a girl who grew up isolated in an extremist home and eventually wreaks vengeance on the classmates who bullied her — courtesy of awesome telekinetic powers, of course — has a timeless appeal. — Eric Deggans
Cupertino
Premieres Oct. 8, CBS
It can seem like there's not much going on in scripted broadcast TV that's interesting, but the creators of The Good Wife have a new CBS legal procedural coming. Called Cupertino, it stars Mike Colter as an attorney determined to help people harmed by big tech. Perhaps lightning can strike twice? — Linda Holmes
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Season 3
Premieres Nov. 11, Prime Video
Look: I know the first two seasons have been rough. Nerds like me don't love the series' determination to smush thousands of years of Tolkien's history into the span of, like, a few months. But what can I say? This season, Sauron forges the One Ring! Gandalf finally knows who the hell he is! The cloyingly cute Harfoot characters are MIA! I'm aware that my relationship to this show is less "enthusiastic viewership" and more "extended act of hostage negotiation," but I've come to terms with that. — Glen Weldon
Dig
Premieres Nov. 23, Peacock
Honestly, I would show up daily for a TV comedy featuring Amy Poehler and Hugh Laurie watching paint dry. But to hear they're starring in a 10-episode series about archeologists who make a world-changing discovery? In a series co-created by The Good Place's Mike Schur? I'm just leaving my Peacock app open until November. — Eric Deggans
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