Fall TV Preview Comedy gallery

Premieres: Wednesday, Sept. 4, at 10 p.m. on FXX
Stars: Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, Charlie Day, Kaitlin Olson
What to expect: They might be on a new network, but the gang will keep it old-school with some classic callbacks that diehard fans will appreciate. Expect visits from old acquaintances (Gail the Snail, Random Guy, even Charlie's landlord Wang) and an attempt to film yet another Lethal Weapon sequel.
McElhenney says: ''We'll have Seann William Scott, who plays my cousin from the country — Country Mac. I'm City Mac and he's Country Mac.'' —Ray Rahman

Premieres: Tuesday, Sept. 17, at 9 p.m. on Fox
Stars: Zooey Deschanel, Jake Johnson, Max Greenfield, Lamorne Morris
What to expect: Jess (Deschanel) and Nick (Johnson) officially enter the Couple Zone, and Schmidt (Greenfield) must make a decision between Cece (Hanna Simone) and Elizabeth (Merritt Wever).
Executive Producer Liz Meriwether says: ''[Nick and Jess being in a couple has] just added a lot of great things for Zooey and Jake to play and the way it changes the dynamic in the loft has been really funny.'' —Sandra Gonzalez

Premieres: Tuesday, Sept. 17, at 8 p.m. on Fox
Stars: Seth Green, Giovanni Ribisi, Peter Riegert, Martin Mull
What to expect: What happens when two fathers (Mull and Riegert) move in with their successful adult sons (Ribisi and Green)? According to this Seth MacFarlane-produced multi-cam, lots of provocative, taboo-based humor.
Green says: ''MacFarlane and I talked about what shows we'd grown up on, what things we'd loved as a kid, what kind of things were missing from television. And he really felt [Dads] is that kind of show?the same way that Norman Lear pioneered comedy that made people uncomfortable because it was talking about them.'' —Ray Rahman

Premieres: Tuesday, Sept. 17, at 8:30 p.m. on Fox
Stars: Andy Samberg, Andre Braugher, Chelsea Peretti, Terry Crews, Melissa Fumero, Joe Lo Truglio, Stephanie Beatriz
What to expect: A lot of laughs, given that this ensemble cop comedy comes from the producers of Parks and Recreation. Samberg plays Jake Peralta, a smart but smart-ass detective and Braugher is the straitlaced Captain Ray Holt that tries to teach him some law and order.
Executive Producer Dan Goor says of Jake: ''In some ways, we took inspiration from Hawkeye on M*A*S*H, where he's an incredibly capable surgeon. That's never in doubt. And in every episode, the choppers come in, and even if he's making fun of Frank Burns, he's at that table and he's saving a life and he's good at his job. We really felt like that was an important aspect to port over to Jake.'' —Dan Snierson

Premieres: Tuesday, Sept. 17, at 9:30 p.m. on Fox
Stars: Mindy Kaling, Chris Messina, Ed Weeks, Ike Barinholtz
What to expect: Mindy (Kaling) is still in Haiti with Pastor Casey (Anders Holm)?but their relationship (and her pixie cut) won't last long. Cue the line of guest-stars (including It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Glenn Howerton) who will play Mindy's men this season.
Executive Producer Jack Burditt says: ''Mindy and Danny [Messina] are the most important relationship on the show so we're pulling back from them a little. We'll touch on it at some point, but not early on.'' —Jessica Shaw

Premieres: Friday, Sept. 20, at 8 p.m. on ABC
Stars: Tim Allen, Nancy Travis, Hector Elizondo
What to expect: With one daughter moving on and out of the house, and the others growing up quickly, Mike (Allen) and Vanessa (Travis) will continue dispensing advice and jokes to all who come through their living room.
Executive Producer Tim Doyle says: ''We're not really doing big arcs per se. This might be a big year for Mandy [Molly Ephraim]...she's never been much of a student before and she's going to have to rejigger her identity if she's going to make college work. College is kind of put up or shut up,' he says. But ''the trick of this show is to put Mike Baxter in the center of everything.'' —Lindsey Bahr

Premieres: Friday, Sept. 20, at 8:30 p.m. on ABC
Stars: Jami Gertz, Lenny Venito, Simon Templeman, Toks Olagundoye
What to expect: Season 2 offers a cross-species teen romance (how very Twilight!) and a cultural commentary on wealth and unemployment, when the financially cut-off aliens have to find jobs. Also, human dad Marty Weaver (Venito) has a, um, hard time in the bedroom.
Venito says: ''He's going to have a little bit of performance issues in the bedroom area, which is going to be an interesting wrinkle. But it's all done tastefully. This is Disney.'' —Jessica Shaw

Premieres: Monday, Sept. 23, at 8 p.m. on CBS
Stars: Alyson Hannigan, Neil Patrick Harris, Josh Radnor, Cobie Smulders, Jason Segel
What to expect: We met the woman that the yellow umbrella has been covering all these years. She's Tony nominee Cristin Milioti. Soon the gang will meet The Mother, too — she'll even get a name! — all against the backdrop of Barney and Robin's (Harris and Smulders) wedding weekend.
Co-Creator Craig Thomas says: Sure, the action is technically taking place over one weekend, but this is HIMYM, so expect lots of time jumps. A week has transpired between the end of season 8 and the start of season 9 and ''it turns out that that week had a lot of important secrets and mysteries that we'll dole out in flashbacks,'' says Thomas. In flash-forwards we may get glimpses of Ted's (Radnor) relationship with The Mother, he teases. —Henry Goldblatt

Premieres: Monday, Sept. 23 at 9 p.m. on CBS
Stars: Kat Dennings, Beth Behrs, Garrett Morris
What to expect: Three years in, the girls are still broke — but their brand new cupcake walkup window may get them that much closer to the sweet smell of success. (Don't worry, creator Michael Patrick King clarifies — it'll be a ''realistic kind of success.'')
King says: ''With the cupcake window, they're vulnerable and open to the world. And that is exciting and sometimes disgusting. You never know who's going to walk up to your window at 3:00 in the morning in Williamsburg.'' —Hillary Busis

Premieres: Monday, Sept. 23, 9:30 p.m. on CBS
Stars: Allison Janney, Anna Faris, French Stewart
What to expect: Faris plays Christy, a recently sober mom of two kids who reunites with her estranged mom (Janney), who's also a former drunk.
Executive Producer Gemma Baker says: ''Christy is trying to become a better person. She is trying to say, 'This is my past, I've made these mistakes. Where do I go from here?' It's about second chances when you are dealing with family.'' —Lynette Rice

Premieres: Tuesday, Sept. 24, at 9 p.m. on ABC
Stars: Jeff Garlin, Wendy McClendon-Covey, Sean Giambrone, George Segal
What to expect: A Wonder Years-esque take on a dysfunctional Jewish family in the shoulder padded, big-haired, and roller skating-friendly 1980s.
Garlin says: ''My character really can't show his emotions, which is not me. I'm so affectionate with my own kids. I truly have absolutely no rage whatsoever, despite what's been written about me.'' —Jessica Shaw

Premieres: Tuesday, Sept. 24, at 9:30 p.m. on ABC
Stars: Malin Akerman, Bradley Whitford, Marcia Gay Harden
What to expect: This latest take on the modern family sitcom casts Akerman as a reformed party girl, Whitford as her much older hubby, and Harden and Michaela Watkins as his still-involved ex-wives. (Harden's an intimidating supermom; Watkins is a kooky free spirit.)
Akerman says: ''I said that I never wanted to play a trophy wife, because to me, what that meant was 'look pretty and shut up.' But when I read the first few pages I realized that the title is very tongue in cheek — she isn't actually a trophy wife. That's an outsider's point of view looking in?. The script wasn't what I expected at all.'' —Hillary Busis

Premieres: Wednesday, Sept. 25, at 8 p.m. on ABC
Stars: Patricia Heaton, Neil Flynn, Eden Sher, Charlie McDermott, Atticus Shaffer
What to expect: Brick (Shaffer) goes to middle school, Axl (McDermott) heads to college, and Frankie (Heaton) and Mike (Flynn) must deal with a slightly emptier nest.
Executive Producer Eileen Heisler says: ''There's a lot of change among the kids in a positive, story-getting way.'' —Sandra Gonzalez

Premieres: Wednesday, Sept. 25, at 8:30 p.m. on ABC
Stars: James Caan, Maggie Lawson, Griffen Gluck
What to expect: To say that Danny's (Gluck) Little League team is bad wouldn't be quite accurate. Terrible is more like it, but his mom, former pro Terry Jr. (Lawson), does her best to ease the pain — even as his foul-mouthed grandpa, Terry ''The Cannon'' Gannon (Caan), is busy creating more of it.
Caan says: ''They're never going to get better. I think if they just get a run, they'll celebrate.'' —Ray Rahman

Premieres: Wednesday, Sept. 25, at 9 p.m. on ABC
Stars: Ty Burrell, Julie Bowen, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Sofia Vergara
What to expect: The sitcom's fifth season won't waste any time addressing the elephant in the room: the first episode takes place on the day of the Supreme Court's recent DOMA ruling, which will result in a special season-long story arc for Mitchell (Ferguson) and Cam (Eric Stonestreet).
Ferguson says: ''Lily [Aubrey Anderson-Emmons] starts first grade this year, which is crazy. She consistently has the lines that I'm jealous of. She's a little machine of one-liners.'' —Ray Rahman

Premieres: Thursday, Sept. 26, at 8 p.m. on NBC
Stars: Amy Poehler, Adam Scott, Nick Offerman, Aziz Ansari
What to expect: Leslie (Poehler) heads to London, where she receives a Women In Government award, and then returns home to fight against her recall; Ron (Offerman) preps for fatherhood; and Chris (Rob Lowe) and Ann (Rashida Jones) will bid farewell in the 13th episode of the season.
Executive Producer Michael Schur says: ''We want to just put [Leslie] through the wringer. The reality for someone who is a striving, politically progressive person in small town Indiana is: It's not going to be an easy life. She's chosen a kind of thankless job in a tough place to have a thankless job.'' —Dan Snierson

Premieres: Thursday, Sept. 26, at 8 p.m. on CBS
Stars: Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco
What to expect: Leonard (Galecki) is still on his boating adventure as the season begins, leaving Sheldon (Parsons) and Penny (Cuoco) back on dry land together; Amy (Mayim Bialik) and Bernadette (Melissa Rauch) take a road trip together, and Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) encourages Raj (Kunal Nayyar) to use his newfound ability to talk to women
Executive Producer Steve Molaro says: ''Sheldon and Penny are spending quite a bit of time together [in the premiere], collectively missing Leonard, and they're doing some bonding of their own.'' —Sandra Gonzalez

Premieres: Thursday, Sept. 26, at 9 p.m. on Fox
Stars: Lea Michele, Darren Criss, Jane Lynch
What to expect: Season 5 begins with an elaborate two-part homage to the Beatles with covers of their most popular songs. But the third episode will be a much more somber outing: the hour will be a tribute to star Corey Monteith, who died of a drug overdose in July.
Criss says: ''The bottom line here is that [shooting the tribute to Monteith] is sad. It's a necessary thing for both the fans and for us. Although it's hard, it's something we all have to face together. Hopefully in the process, it gives us strength to move forward in some kind of positive way.'' —Tim Stack

Premieres: Thursday, Sept. 26, 9 p.m on CBS
Stars: Robin Williams, Sarah Michelle Gellar, James Wolk
What to expect: Williams plays a brilliant but slightly off-kilter Chicago ad man whose business partner and daughter (Gellar) worries that he may be going off the rails.
Executive Producer David E. Kelley says: ''This is a sweet and gentle show in my mind. It's not obviously a broad comedy.'' —Lynette Rice

Premieres: Thursday, Sept. 26, at 9:30 p.m. on NBC
Stars: Michael J. Fox, Betsy Brandt, Wendell Pierce
What to expect: A local news anchor with Parkinson's Disease (Fox) returns to work — much to the happiness of his family, who are tired of him playing Mr. Mom.
Fox says: ''Coming off of The Good Wife and Curb Your Enthusiasm, I just thought, 'Why am I not doing this?' I realized I could take on more. I could do a show.'' —Lynette Rice

Premieres: Thursday, Sept. 26, at 9:30 p.m. on CBS
Stars: Ashton Kutcher, Jon Cryer, Amber Tamblyn
What to expect: Charlie Harper's long-lost lesbian daughter (Tamblyn) moves into the beach house and is a chip off the old block: A hard-partying ultra-confident womanizer.
Executive Producer Jim Patterson says: ''We saw a ton of girls for this role and Amber blew us away. It's still the same show that's made it a top 10 hit all these years, but this year will add new stories.'' —James Hibberd

Premieres: Sunday, Sept. 29, at 8 p.m. on Fox
Stars: Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer
What to expect: Plots? Homer comes back from a nuclear workers convention acting strangely, Lisa befriends a portly boy who wants to become a competitive eater, Comic Book Guy heads to the altar with a Japanese woman, and Sideshow Bob returns as a food scientist. Guest stars? Elisabeth Moss, Kristen Wiig, Daniel Radcliffe are all confirmed.
Executive Producer Al Jean says: ''Homer delivers a baby in an elevator, and the woman (Moss) winds up naming the baby after Homer. Marge finds out and gets very upset that there's this Homer Jr. that she didn't know about.'' —Dan Snierson

Premieres: Sunday, Sept. 29, at 8:30 p.m. on Fox
Stars: H. Jon Benjamin, Dan Mintz, Eugene Mirman, Kristen Schaal
What to expect: The fourth season finds the burger-flipping Belchers getting into high jinks early and often: the kids get split up from Bob (Benjamin) and Linda (Mintz) during a camping trip in the premiere, while later episodes find the family getting mixed up with guests stars like Aziz Ansari, Molly Shannon, Hannibal Burress, and more.
Benjamin says: ''I like to think that even though they don't get older in animation years, the kids have matured brain-wise. Like, they just do more mature things, but in the same size and shape. But I don't know if that's officially how it works.'' —Ray Rahman

Premieres: Sunday, Sept. 29, at 9 p.m. on Fox
Stars: Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Seth Green, Mila Kunis, Mike Henry
What to expect: Peter discovers he has a vestigial twin and forms a folk duo with Quagmire, a member of the Griffin family will die(!), and guest voices will include Peter Dinklage, Adam Levine, Ashton Kutcher, Bryan Cranston, and Conan O'Brien.
Executive Producer Steve Callaghan says: ''Meg encounters a bully at school, and receives some tutoring and counseling on the issue from an unlikely source: Quagmire. It's a little bit Karate Kid-ish. He puts her through some intense training and has some tricks up his sleeve.'' —Dan Snierson

Premieres: Sunday, Sept. 29, at 9:30 p.m. on Fox
Stars: Seth MacFarlane, Wendy Schaal, Rachel MacFarlane, Scott Grimes, Dee Bradley Baker
What to expect: Steve and snot using a cloning machine to get dates for the prom and lose their virginity, Stan gets into a showdown with an insurance claims adjuster after he gets in accident while looking at a hot chick, Roger has a heart attack and is forced to sell his attic bar. Guest voices courtesy of Mariah Carey, Alison Brie, Zooey Deschanel, and Olivia Wilde.
Executive producer Mike Barker says: ''Steve goes on his first hunting trip, and, after shooting his first deer, he's so stricken by guilt, he decides go live in the wild and take care of the deer's two orphans.'' —Dan Snierson

Premieres: Sunday, Sept. 29, at 10 p.m. on HBO
Stars: Stephen Merchant, Christine Woods, Nate Torrence
What to expect: More black comedy from The Office and Extras co-creator Merchant, who stars as a British web designer looking for love (or at least sex) in all the wrong places — specifically, Los Angeles. Merchant co-created the show with U.S. Office scribes Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupinsky.
Merchant says: ''It's a Frankenstein of my failings at different times in my life fused with those of the other writers — who are also losers.'' —Clark Collis

Premieres: Sunday, Sept. 29, at 10:30 p.m. on HBO
Stars: Danny McBride
What to expect: After a third season that seemed to bring the saga of Kenny Powers to a close, McBride and co-creator Jody Hill return for another season (the final one...for now). We find Powers several years later, living a normal — and miserable — life in the suburbs. Once again trying for fame and fortune, he's flanked by a new supporting cast that includes Tim Heidecker, Jillian Bell, and Ken Marino as a successful ex-athlete who becomes Kenny's mentor.
Hill says: ''Kenny basically is gonna try to make it and get famous. But it's not in a baseball way. He's retired from baseball, so the season deals with the life of an ex-athlete. There are athletes that are really successful, and there are some that kind of flounder. Kenny's trying to become one of the successful retirees.'' —Darren Franich

Premieres: Monday, Sept. 30, at 8:30 p.m. on CBS
Stars: Jerry O'Connell, Kal Penn, Tony Shalhoub, Chris Smith
What to expect: After he's ditched at the altar, a sullen groom-to-be (Smith) moves in to a short-term housing complex where he befriends three older, divorced men.
Creator Rob Greenberg says: ''It's not just four guys going out. It's four guys with a lot of history, so the ex-wives and the kids and their own families will be a big part of this show.'' —Nuzhat Naoreen

Premieres: Wednesday, Oct. 2, at 9:30 p.m. on ABC
Stars: Rebel Wilson, Liza Lapira, Lauren Ash, Kevin Bishop, Kate Jenkinson
What to expect: Socially awkward lawyer Kimmie (Wilson) is used to hanging with her two socially awkward best friends at home. But when she gets promoted at work, Kimmie pushes them to open up their world and even hit the club, which may result in a wardrobe malfunction or two.
Wilson says: ''I thought of the concept from doing this thing with my sister called Friday Night Fun Night. We would just sit at home on Friday nights after work and eat and watch DVDs and just chill. And to us, that was really fun and then I started thinking, 'This is fun, it's very safe and comfortable, but maybe I'm young and I should be getting out there more.... I'm going to strategically go out and try to push myself into doing things and sociable things that don't feel so comfortable and I'm going to force myself to have more fun, to have, like, super fun. So this show kind of follows that journey. Instead of being with my sister, I made it with my two best friends, who are based on girlfriends from high school.'' —Dan Snierson

Premieres: Thursday, Oct. 3, at 8:30 p.m. on CBS
Stars: Will Arnett, Margo Martindale, Beau Bridges
What to expect: A multi-cam family comedy about a recently divorced news reporter (Arnett) whose overbearing mother (Martindale) moves in with him after separating from his father (Bridges), that has fart jokes and a Dirty Dancing sequence.
Executive Producer Greg Garcia says: ''As we go forward into the season we'll see more dating, we'll see these people getting out and experiencing a life that they haven't experienced. I think that Margo and Beau's [characters] will want to do things that they've never done. They've been in a cocoon for awhile in the marriage.'' —Nuzhat Naoreen

Premieres: Thursday, Oct. 3, at 8:30 p.m. on NBC
Stars: Mike O'Malley, Ricardo Chavira, Ella Rae Peck, Joseph Haro
What to expect: Two families (one Latino and the other Caucasian) who have different approaches to parenting must come together after their romantically involved teens announce they're expecting a child together.
Creator Mike Sikowitz says: ''These two families happen to be very different ethnically which doesn't necessarily put them in conflict but it makes them feel very different. There are so many things they line up differently on whether it's how to parent their kids, or education. Ricardo's character is more of a smothering dad and Mike's character is more of a laissez-faire dad. Hopefully the fact that it feels very modern and current will separate it from what's come before it.'' —Nuzhat Naoreen

Premieres: Thursday, Oct. 3, at 9 p.m. on NBC
Stars: Sean Hayes, Megan Hilty, Linda Lavin, Thomas Lennon
What to expect: A divorced, gay dad (Hayes) has to figure out how to balance work and his personal life after his teenage daughter (Sami Isler) moves in.
Hayes says: ''It has to be funny and it has to have relationships you haven't seen before and a fresh take or a fresh twist on these relationships, so I think that's why I'm excited to do [a multi-camera comedy]. As far as an audience goes, there's no bigger thrill than knowing the immediacy of your performance, whether a joke [did or] didn't work, because they will let you know right away.'' —Nuzhat Naoreen

Premieres: Monday, Oct. 7, at 8 p.m. on The CW
Stars: Rachel Bilson, Scott Porter, Wilson Bethel
What to expect: Star Rachel Bilson says there will be a slew of unexpected relationships in season three. In other words, don't expect a standard love triangle. ?It's going to be an octagon," jokes Bilson.
Bilson says: ''There's a carnival of new characters coming in so that's going to add some interesting elements.'' —Nuzhat Naoreen

Premieres: Friday, Nov. 8, at 9 p.m. on Fox
Stars: Martha Plimpton, Garret Dillahunt, Lucas Neff, Shannon Woodward
What to expect: Guest stars include Jeffrey Tambor, as a shadowy figure who interacts with the Chance family in the premiere, and Molly Shannon, who later recurs as Maxine, a shrewd businesswoman who buys the grocery store where her niece Sabrina (Woodward) and Jimmy (Neff) work. Virginia (Martha Plimpton) and Burt (Dillahunt) have time for their own adventures.
Executive Producer Mike Mariano says: ''We have a story where Burt and Virginia will try to go inside of a company to help find out and get evidence that their pollution is killing the bees, which are vital to Burt the landscaper's job. So they actually work in an office for the first time, which they, of course, then love.'' —Mandi Bierly