It’s hard to settle on any one trend for the 2015-2016 TV season. Pick one:
SUPER HEROES: Get ready for more super heroes: NBC’s “Heroes Reborn” and CBS’ “Supergirl” join “Gotham,” “Arrow,” “The Flash” and “Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” By next spring you’ll also see “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow” on the CW, and more of ABC’s “Marvel's Agent Carter.”
REVIVALS: Prepare for more revivals: “The Muppets” (ABC) and “Heroes Reborn” (NBC) this fall, and reboots of “The X-Files,” (Fox), “Fuller House” (Netflix), “Twin Peaks” (Showtime) and more of “The Odd Couple” (CBS) early next year.
MOVIE ADAPTATIONS: Watch how big-screen movies get revamped for the big screen in your home: CBS’ “Limitless,” from the 2011 Bradley Cooper film about the pill which enhances brain power, and a new version of Stephen Spielberg’s “Minority Report” (Fox). Coming to TV at midseason are “Rush Hour” (CBS) and “Uncle Buck” (ABC).
SPIN-OFFS: You’ve got to have a spin-off, and NBC has one.
NBC’s “Chicago Med” hospital drama goes with its “Chicago Fire” and “Chicago P.D.” series. Imagine the crossovers! (NBC has.)
CBS opens the season killing off one if its most successful franchises, with the series finale of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” (Sept. 27), then adds a spin-off to another franchise at midseason with “Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders.”
LOCAL FACES: I’ve spotted two: Vanessa Lachey (Nick’s wife) in “Truth Be Told,” NBC’s couples comedy, and Cincinnati native Gabrielle Dennis (“The Game”) in Morris Chestnut’s “Rosewood” medical drama (Fox).
FAMILIAR FACES: There are plenty just from the 1980s: John Stamos (“Grandfathered,” Fox); Fred Savage (“The Grinder,” Fox); former “Miami Vice” star Don Johnson, (“Blood & Oil,” ABC); James Brolin (“Life in Pieces,” CBS); and Jamie Lee Curtis (“Scream Queens,” Fox).
Also back for more are S. Epatha Merkerson and Oliver Platt (“Chicago Med,” NBC); Rob Lowe (“The Grinder,” Fox); Calista Flockhart (“Supergirl,” CBS); Colin Hanks and Dianne West (“Life in Pieces,” CBS); Marcia Gay Harden (“Code Black,” CBS); Neil Patrick Harris (“Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris,” NBC); and Lea Michele, Nasim Pedrad, Oliver Hudson and Niecy Nash (“Scream Queens,” Fox).
The “Scream Queens” cast also includes pop stars Nick Jonas and Ariana Grande, while Lady Gaga is the proprietor on “American Horror Story: Hotel” (FX).
MY TOP 1O: Here are the Top 10 news shows I’ll be watching this fall. (Warning: I’m not a big sci-fi, crime or horror fan.) When I post blurbs about all the new fall shows, I’ll add it here.
“Late Show with Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m. CBS): Will the real Stephen Colbert be as funny as that pompous character Stephen Colbert played so well on Comedy Central? I’ll be watching every night.
“American Experience: Walt Disney” (9-11 p.m., Sept. 14-15, PBS): The first comprehensive look at the life and legacy of the man who gave us Mickey Mouse, Bambi, Mary Poppins, Disneyland and Disney World. Sounds super… califragilisticexpialidocious.
“Blindspot,” (10 p.m. Monday, Sept. 21, NBC): The detailed tattoos on an amnesiac woman (Jaimie Alexander, “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”) provide the FBI with clues to investigate a large crime conspiracy.
“The Muppets” (8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22, ABC): They’ve saved a theater, conquered aliens, battled pirates, given Scrooge the Dickens, so now the Muppets are putting on a late-night talk show for Miss Piggy. To be honest, I don’t really care what they do. I just want to see Kermit, Fozzie Bear, The Great Gonzo, Rowlf, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beaker, Dr. Teeth, Animal and the gang back on TV every week.
“The Player” (10 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24, NBC): Maybe this drama from “The Blacklist” producers will be the Las Vegas drama which can last several seasons: Wesley Snipes as a Vegas pit boss who helps his security expert fight crime.
“Grandfathered” (8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 29, Fox): John Stamos will never be confused with a Shakespearean actor, but this role seems perfect for him: As a confirmed bachelor discovering he has an adult son with an infant daughter.
“Code Black” (10 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30, CBS): I call it Gay’s anatomy, another TV medical series about first-year residents (Bonnie Somerville, Melanie Kannokada, Benjamin Hollingsworth and Harry M. Ford) reporting to Oscar-winner Marcia Gay Harden (“Trophy Wife”).
“Dr. Ken” (8:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 2, ABC): OK, I’m a sitcom guy. And I have high hopes for Ken Jeong (“Community,” “The Hangover”), since this comedy is loosely based on his life. He was an internal medicine resident in New Orleans before going into stand-up comedy and acting.
Supergirl (8:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 26, CBS): The buzz from my TV critic friends say Melissa Benoist (“Glee”) as Superman’s cousin is just, well, super. She plays Kara Zol-El, who hides her identity working for National City’s demanding media mogul (Calista Flockhart, “Ally McBeal,” “Brothers and Sisters”) and her art director Jimmy Olsen (Mehcad Brooks,“Desperate Housewives,” “Necessary Roughness”).
Angel From Hell (9:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5, CBS): Louisville native Maggie Lawson (“Psych,” “Two And A Half Men,” The Game”) plays a successful doctor whose life is disrupted by a pushy weird new friend who claims to be her guardian angel (Jane Lynch, “Glee”). Or is she crazy? Only Jane Lynch could pull this off.
