Oh happy day! The television season kicks off Thursday night with TV's top-rated show, Sunday Night Football, with its annual Thursday night NFL opener and with a new partner for Cris Collinsworth, one of the dozens of changes coming for viewers this month.
After 13 seasons with Al Michaels — including the current unprecedented streak of 11 consecutive years as TV's No. 1 primetime show — Collinsworth will be paired with Mike Tirico, the ESPN Monday Night Football veteran who has hosted NBC's Olympics, golf, horse racing and auto racing telecasts.
For fans of NBC's Days Of Our Lives, the big change comes after the last episode at 1 p.m. Friday on NBC, after 57 seasons. Starting Monday, Sept. 12, Days Of Our Lives moves to Peacock streaming as NBCUniversal executives hope to entice the soap's predominantly older audience over to the streaming service. Disney executives pull the same stunt later this month when Dancing With The Stars, after 30 seasons on ABC, moves to Disney+ streaming on Sept. 19.
On Sunday, Sept. 11, the AFC champion Bengals defend their title hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers at 1 p.m. on CBS (Channels 12, 7).
Sunday night, the first over-the-air network series premiere takes place: Fox's country music-based Monarch soap opera starring Susan Sarandon and Trace Adkins, which was announced more than a year ago and abruptly pulled from January's lineup. The second episode airs in its regular time period, 9 p.m. Tuesdays, on Sept. 20.
Monday things get crazy.
The 74th Primetime Emmy Awards, which usually air on the third Sunday night in September, gets pushed up to Monday, Sept. 12, due to NBC's top-rated Sunday Night Football. Keenen Thompson from Saturday Night Live hosts the telecast (8 p.m., Channel 5) , which likely will be dominated by HBO/HBO Max (which won 74 Creative Arts Emmys last weekend) and Netflix (which won 23 awards).
WLWT-TV: Jennifer Hudson celebrates her 41st birthday by debuting her daytime talk show at 3 p.m., replacing Ellen. Her first guest is Simon Cowell, who was a judge on American Idol 18 years ago when Hudson finished seventh in the third season.
Rachael Ray jumps from WXIX-TV to 11 a.m. on WLWT-TV Monday. Replacing Days Of Our Lives Monday will be NBC News Daily, anchored by Kate Snow, Aaron Gilchrist, Vicky Nguyen and Morgan Radford with local news breaks similar to NBC's Today show.
WXIX-TV: The big news is more news. Rachael Ray will be replaced Monday with Fox News Now at 11 a.m., giving the station seven-and-a-half hours of local news from 4:30 a.m. to noon. Morning co-anchor Andrea Finney and Stefano DiPietrantonio will co-anchor at 11 a.m., with weather reports from Catherine Bodak and Ethan Emery.
WCPO-TV: Pawn Stars moved into the 10:30 a.m. weekday slot last week, following Cincy Lifestyles. It replaces Right This Minute, which was canceled.
Sherri Shepherd's Sherri syndicated talk show premiers at 1:05 a.m. early Tuesday/late Monday on WCPO-TV after Nightline. It will be followed by Impractical Jokers at 2:05 a.m.
WKRC-TV: No daytime changes are expected, from what I can tell.
WSTR-TV: Two new series premiere Monday on Channel 64: Karamo, a daytime talk show hosted by actor/producer/reality TV personality Karamo Brown (Queer Eye) at 2 p.m., and iCRIME, a half-hour series featuring videos of crimes shot by people on their smartphones hosted by former ABC anchor Elizabeth Vargas weeknights at midnight and 12:23 a.m.
Most of the new and returning series arrive the week of Sept. 18, the third full week of September. Nielsen's TV year begins Monday, Sept. 18.
Fox: After Monarch's premiere Sept. 11, the rest of Fox's returning shows kick in Monday, Sept. 19, starting with 9-1-1 (8 p.m.) and The Cleaning Lady (9 p.m.).
NBC: NBC's season starts Sept. 19 with The Voice at 8 p.m. NBC has only two new series: A Quantum Leap revival starring Raymond Lee (10 p.m. Monday Sept. 19) and George Lopez's Lopez vs. Lopez sitcom (8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4). Most of NBC's returning series resume the week of Sept. 19.
CBS: 60 Minutes returns for a 55th season after NFL games on Sunday, Sept. 18, at 7:30 p.m. Most CBS series also return that week, too. CBS' four new fall series are So Help Me Todd (9 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29); East New York (9:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 2); The Real Love Boat (9 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 5); and Fire Country (9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7).
ABC: Opting for a mid-week open, ABC rolls out its first returning shows Wednesday, Sept. 21, with The Conners, The Goldbergs, Abbott Elementary, Home Economics and Big Sky. Starting Sept. 25, Sundays will be filled with Celebrity Jeopardy!, Celebrity Wheel of Fortune and The Rookie.
ABC adds only two new series for fall: The Rookie: Feds (10 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27) and Alaska Daily (10 p.m. Thursday).
CW: As usual, CW waits until October to return series. On Sunday, Oct., 2, Family Law (8 p.m.) and Coroner (9 p.m.) start a week of new shows which brings the first new series, Walker: Independence (9 p.m.) following the Season 3 premiere of Walker (8 p.m.) Oct. 6.
CW's other two new series are The Winchesters (Tuesday, Oct. 11, at 8 p.m.) and Criss Angel's Magic with the Stars (Saturday, Oct. 22, at 8 p.m.).
For a network-by-network listing of new and returning over-the air primetime series, check out TV Guide's Broadcast TV Premiere Dates for New and Returning Shows.
For comprehensive listings of all new and returning shows on the broadcast networks and all streaming services through December, I recommend Entertainment Weekly's Guide To The 2022 TV Premiere Dates.
