AILSA CHANG, HOST:
With actors and writers on strike in Hollywood and with no apparent end to those strikes in sight, you may be wondering what to watch next on TV or on streaming platforms, or if there's even going to be anything to watch this fall. Well, fear not. NPR's culture critics have come together to write a comprehensive guide to the top new shows, as well as shows you may have missed. And we have NPR TV critic Eric Deggans here with us today with some of his top picks. Hey, Eric.
ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: Hey.
CHANG: All right. So I'm looking at this streaming guide, and I have to be honest. I'm amazed that there's still quite a lot of new content to watch. I guess this was stuff that was finished before the strikes, right?
DEGGANS: Yeah.
CHANG: What are some of the new series that are worth checking out?
DEGGANS: Well, you know, everybody's talking about FX's "American Horror Story: Delicate" because it stars reality TV queen Kim Kardashian in her first major scripted TV series role. I mean, she is actually acting, and I think she's going to surprise people in this series. It also stars Emma Roberts in this story about a woman who can't convince people her pregnancy is going horribly wrong. It's going to debut on September 20.
But I am really drawn to new TV shows featuring characters of color in challenging new ways. NBC has this show called "Found." It's centered on a Black woman who has a special squad of investigators to look into tough missing persons cases, especially involving nonwhite people. This starts on October 3. And David Oyelowo is starring and executive producing in something he's tried to get made for years. It's a drama called "Lawmen: Bass Reeves," a former enslaved man who became one of the first Black deputy U.S. marshals.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "LAWMEN: BASS REEVES")
DAVID OYELOWO: (As Bass Reeves) I'm the law of this land. I'm Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
OYELOWO: (As Bass Reeves) And your wicked days are done.
DEGGANS: Oyelowo had to team with "Yellowstone" creator Taylor Sheridan to get this made. It debuts November 5 on Paramount+.
CHANG: Cool. OK, well, there's also some fantastic TV shows returning with new seasons this fall. Anything that you can recommend?
DEGGANS: OK. Well, I'm a huge fan of "Fargo" - FX's "Fargo" series - so I'm really psyched to see the return of this anthology series for its fifth season in November with "Ted Lasso" alum Juno Temple playing this Midwestern housewife with a mysterious past. And "Mad Men" star Jon Hamm is a sheriff from North Dakota who's tracking her down, (impersonating Midwestern accent) don't you know?
(LAUGHTER)
CHANG: Nice.
DEGGANS: And I'm also a serious superhero nerd, right? So I'm looking forward to the second season of Marvel's "Loki" on Disney+ and a return to the chemistry between the stars, Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson, even though this show is going to face the challenge of seeing co-star Jonathan Majors facing some serious harassment and assault charges in real life as the series rolls out.
CHANG: Yeah. Well, I also saw that this edition of the Fall Streaming Guide has a tab called Worth Revisiting, because there's just so much TV out there that you end up missing a lot of cool shows every year. So what might have people missed?
DEGGANS: Well, my pick here is "Beef"...
CHANG: Oh, yes.
DEGGANS: ...Which was this amazing limited series on Netflix. It features "Walking Dead" alum Steven Yeun and stand-up comic Ali Wong. And they're these two people involved in this road-rage incident that becomes an epic feud. And it references Asian family culture, capitalism, so much more. I'm also a huge fan of "Justified." Now, this series aired on FX and starred Timothy Olyphant as a U.S. deputy marshal, Raylan Givens, this character from an Elmore Leonard story who lives like a modern-day Western, policing the Kentucky holler where he grew up with a petty criminal as a dad. And there's six seasons of that on Hulu.
CHANG: Well, lately it also seems that people are gravitating towards shows that have, like, a lot of seasons, you know, 'cause it's just fun. It's candy. You can have it on in the background, like "Real Housewives," right? Do you have any recommendations that fit that criteria?
DEGGANS: Well, in our streaming guide, Aisha Harris had a wonderful write up of "Murder, She Wrote"...
CHANG: Aww.
DEGGANS: ...Which is the mystery series featuring Angela Lansbury as a mystery writer and amateur detective in the murderiest (ph)...
CHANG: (Laughter).
DEGGANS: ...Small town in TV, Cabot Cove, Maine. And there's 12 seasons of that on the Peacock streaming service.
CHANG: I love it.
DEGGANS: And I've grown addicted to these edited clips of "Law & Order" episodes on the NBC show's official YouTube channel. You can watch the cops find the murderer and settle on a suspect, or you can watch them prosecute the suspect in these 10-minute clips that are, like, televised potato chips once you start watching them.
CHANG: That is NPR TV critic Eric Deggans. Thank you, Eric.
DEGGANS: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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