Fall TV's Must Watch New Shows

EW's TV critic singles out the promising series worth a season pass.

Brandon Micheal Hall is breakout terrific as an aspiring hip-hop artist with firecracker wit who runs for mayor of his California town as a promotional stunt. When his real-talk takedown of the status quo makes a mark, guess what happens! Sprightly storytelling and a great supporting cast (including Community's Yvette Nicole Brown and Glee's Lea Michele) further animate this resonant comedy sure to test what we want from politically minded Trump-era TV. (Oct. 3, 9:30 pm. on ABC)

The fall's best superhero show has no tights or world-shattering fights. Creators Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters (Reaper) brilliantly assimilate a broad swath of influences — religion, mythology, comic books — to craft a new-age Touched by an Angel that interrogates what being "super" means in a culture of badly broken mad men with much to redeem. As a prodigal made magical by a radioactive meteor, Jason Ritter soars in a showcase long overdue. (Oct. 3, 10 p.m. on ABC)

Sitcom czar Chuck Lorre breaks form to winsome effect on this single-cam prequel to The Big Bang Theory focusing on the wonder years of Jim Parsons' genius man-child. Iain Armitage owns egghead Sheldon, Zoe Perry is lovely as Sheldon's mom, and Parsons' narration is a perfectly measured sweetener. What moves you most is the portrait of a family trying to connect and love each other better. (Sept. 25, 8:30 p.m. on CBS)

The Wire's David Simon and George Pelacanos return with an absorbing tragicomedy creation story about porn that shatters all of its illusions. James Franco as twins sucked into skin-trade exploitation and Maggie Gyllenhaal as a prostitute--turned--XXX auteur headline a sprawling saga that turns the '70s scuzzland of Times Square into a vibrant underworld. Truly mature entertainment about the human cost of "adult entertainment" worth your peeping. (Sept. 10, 9 p.m. on HBO)

Seth MacFarlane boldly goes where he's never gone before: sincerity. His latest meta-pop chuckler isn't an irreverent Star Trek spoof but a slick, affectionate homage spiked with light irony and occasional lewdness. Playing a fallen starship captain given a last-chance command, MacFarlane is an appealing leading man. His vision is retro optimism with slightly warped drive. (Sept. 10, 8 p.m. on Fox)

A gripping mystery on ABC about a cop-show writer (Kyra Sedgwick) searching for her abducted daughter. (Oct. 1, 10 p.m. on ABC)

Jack Dylan Grazer, Bobby Moynihan, and John Larroquette shine as the same lovelorn nerd on CBS' time-flitting charmer. (Sept. 25, 9:30 p.m. on CBS)

Fox brings the X-Men to TV on an action-packed family drama tailored to our fraught resistance moment. (Oct. 2, 9 p.m. on Fox)