TV Shows to Watch the Week of Sept. 24, 2018: Broadcast Premiere Week Edition
Welcome back to Tune In: our weekly newsletter offering a guide to the best of the week’s TV.
Each week, Variety’s TV team combs through the week’s schedule, selecting our picks of what to watch and when/how to watch them. This week, the broadcast networks begin rolling out their new shows as well as returning shows. In addition, the documentary “Jane Fonda in Five Acts” debuts on HBO.
“Jane Fonda in Five Acts,” HBO, Monday, 8 p.m.
This new documentary draws on 21 hours of interviews with Fonda, who speaks candidly and frankly about her life and her missteps. She explores the pain of her mother’s suicide, her father’s emotional unavailability, 30 years of an eating disorder and three marriages to highly visible, yet diametrically opposed, men
“Magnum P.I.,” CBS, Monday, 9 p.m.
Jay Hernandez stars as Thomas Magnum in a modern take on the classic series about a decorated former Navy SEAL who, upon returning home from Afghanistan, repurposes his military skills to become a private investigator in Hawaii.
“Manifest,” NBC, Monday, 10 p.m. (CRITICS’ PICK)
Had it premiered during “Lost’s” run, “Manifest” would have seemed like more of the same, yet another show constructing a fictional supernatural crisis to afflict a band of good-looking unfortunates. But against a somewhat moribund fall network slate, it feels like the best kind of throwback: A show made with craft and attention to detail, even as its details are daffily indulgent. A true puzzle-box show of the sort that cable and streaming — with series like “Westworld” and the forthcoming “Maniac” — have lately made work so well ought to have a home on broadcast. The pilot of “Manifest” doesn’t pretend to have answers; it only poses questions. But its inquisitiveness and willingness to be bold and fairly uncynical given all the things it’s trying to be is more than welcome. (Read the full review here)
“FBI,” CBS, Tuesday, 9 p.m.
From Emmy Award winner Dick Wolf and the team behind the “Law & Order” franchise, this new drama series documents the inner workings of the New York office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“Single Parents,” ABC, Wednesday, 9:30 p.m.
This ensemble comedy follows a group of single parents as they lean on each other to help raise their 7-year-old kids and maintain some kind of personal lives outside of parenthood.
“A Million Little Things,” ABC, Wednesday, 10 p.m.
This new drama series follows a group of friends who were brought together years earlier under unexpected circumstances. Today, some have achieved success, others are struggling in their careers and relationships, but all of them feel stuck in life. After one of them dies by suicide, it’s just the wake-up call the others need to finally start living.
“Murphy Brown,” CBS, “Thursday, 9:30 p.m.
The groundbreaking sitcom about the eponymous broadcast news legend and her biting take on current events returns, now in a world of 24-hour cable, social media, “fake news” and a vastly different political climate.
“Last Man Standing,” Fox, Friday, 8 p.m.
The Tim Allen-led sitcom comes to Fox after its cancellation on ABC. Picking up a year after the sixth season finale, Mike and Vanessa eagerly await Eve’s visit home from the Air Force Academy. Meanwhile Ryan’s anxiety about current events leads to a shocking announcement.
“The Cool Kids,” Fox, Friday, 8:30 p.m.
This new multi-camera comedy follows a rowdy, rag-tag group of friends living in a retirement community.
“God Friended Me,” CBS, Sunday, 8:30 p.m.
An outspoken atheist podcaster, finds his life turned upside down when he receives a friend request from “God” on social media and unwittingly becomes an agent of change in the lives and destinies of others around him
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