Together they stand alone.

That’s the new tagline for the second season of Aaron Sorkin’s political drama The Newsroom returning to HBO July 14. Playing in front of Tom Odell’s mesmerizing track “Can’t Pretend” is this new promo revealing the tagline and starring the core members of Atlantic Cable News. Jeff Daniels’ Will McAvoy leads his cable news team into a barren desert where relationships are tested and a TV stuck in static remains. What does it mean? The comment section is yours.

Update: A new clip with actual footage from season 2 is live: watch after the break. (Click here for more…)

Whatever you’re doing right now, STOP IT. Stop it at once and click play to catch your very first glimpse into the new batch of Arrested Development episodes coming to Netflix just two weeks from today. The Bluths are back, and it is so guaranteed their long-awaited return will put the biggest smile on your face.

Arrested Development premires on Netflix with 15 brand new installments all at once on May 26. It’s the final countdown.

Following Lillyhammer and House of Cards, Netflix’s next foray into original programming is here. Hemlock Grove, from Eli Roth (Hostel) and based on Brian McGreevy’s 2012 novel of the same name, is a horror mystery series involving murder and monsters. On April 19 all thirteen episodes were made available on Netflix and if you’re a subscriber you can binge-watch ‘em all at anytime. Eye the freakishly awesome poster above, and then get a taste of what’s in store with a red-band trailer, a teaser, and arguably the most “realistic” looking werwolf transformation sequence you have ever seen. (Click here for more…)

If you were intrigued by the platter of trailers that premiered in February promoting NBC’s upcoming serial killer thriller Hannibal, let this serve as a friendly reminder: the televised adaptation prequel to the classic 1991 horror film Silence of the Lambs premieres next week on Thursday, April 4 at 10PM. Hannibal comes from the visionary producer behind Pushing Daisies Bryan Fuller and stars Hugh Dancy as gifted criminal profiler Will Graham, Laurence Fishburne as Agent Jack Crawford, Caroline Dhavernas as Dr. Alana Bloom, and Mads Mikkelsen plays the infamous serial killer who eats his prey Dr. Hannibal Lector. Click after the break to watch two new trailers plus get an inside first look at the show with commentary from the cast, Fuller, and pilot director David Slade. (Click here for more…)

In exactly two weeks time Game of Thrones will back, and if these next round of trailers have anything to prove it’s that the show is ready to elevate to entirely new level of epic. Today HBO released the second full-length trailer hyping the third season of the network’s fantasy series; and if you thought the first trailer was unbelievable, you just wait. Trailer numero dos is thirty seconds longer and manages to pack in more action, more dragons, and a freakin’ bear! The score behind it all, of course, is Daft Punk’s “The Game Has Changed” (how appropriate a title here) as made famous in Tron: Legacy. The marketing gurus behind Thrones sure know how to ignite a fire under a fanboy’s flittering heart.

Game of Thrones returns Sunday, March 31 at 9PM on HBO. After the break, catch two new teasers titled “War” and “The Beast.” (Click here for more…)

Call it a miracle: October 19th February 7 has finally arrived!! After an excruciatingly long wait, Community is back in session tonight at 8PM on NBC. Creator Dan Harmon is out, Chevy Chase’s character will have exited the show by the end of the 13 episode fourth season, and so a waft of change is in the air as the Greendale gang return for another year of mind-blowing metatastic insanity. Tonight’s premiere is titled “History 101″ and in it everyone’s favorite Dean Pelton will take charge of a school-wide competition he calls “The Hunger Deans.” You can get a taste for what’s in store tonight and beyond by watching the “Epic Trailer” that’s embedded above. (Chang is back and his name is Kevin?!)

Do you consider yourself a true Community fan? Well you better tune in tonight at 8 and show the show some love. If you want six seasons and a movie……..

In three days the final episode of Fringe will come and go. What better way to anticipate and celebrate the final installment of the FOX cult sci-fi series than with a brand new promotional poster and one last epic trailer. Similar in design to the one that came before it, this poster features an Observer with a bad nose bleed but that’s the least of his worries. With Walter and Donald’s plan set in motion, it’s only a matter of time before the baldies go down. Last week anomaly Michael gave himself up to the Observers to ensure the safety of Olivia, Peter, and Walter, so now we’re stuck asking ourselves how will the plan proceed without its most important piece? After the break you’ll discover the final Fringe trailer that sheds some light on what we can expect this Friday. The most intriguing bit? Cortexiphan is back and Olivia is going to harness it to travel back to the other side! The incomparable John Noble narrates.

Exec producer J.J. Abrams describes “An Enemy of Fate,” episode number 100, written and directed by showrunner Joel Wyman, as “highly unexpected, incredibly emotional and a fitting conclusion to the series.” He added, “I mean, the script is unbelievable. [The episode is] beautifully done by Joel and the writers. “If it’s not satisfying, I don’t know what satisfying is.”

John Noble, who plays fan favorite Walter Bishop (and who better not bite the dust), also shared his admiration for the last hurrah. “I can honestly say that it was everything I had hoped it could possibly be,” he told TVLine. “It tied up our character lines, it tied up the great story arc… I was extremely elated. It’s certainly going [out] with a bang. I hope history will judge it as one of the great finales of all time. I really believe they will.” On his character’s fate he continued, “If you had asked me in Season 1 where I thought Walter should finish up, it would have been exactly where he does. That’s the remarkable thing — it’s the perfect arc for Walter.”

Fringe airs two back-to-back episodes (“Liberty” and then “An Enemy of Fate”) this Friday, January 18 starting at 8PM. (Click here for more…)

The (mis)adventures of Hannah, Marnie, Jessa, and Shoshanna continue when the critically acclaimed HBO series Girls from creator/executive producer/writer/star Lena Dunham returns for its second season tonight (1/13) at 9PM. The season 2 poster features Dunham up-close-and-personal with the perfect tagline “Almost getting it kind of together.” In an interview with EW Dumham said, “If you loved what we were doing last season, then we’re speaking right to you. If you hated it, then I’m afraid things aren’t going to change.”

After the break, get a taste of what’s in store and watch two trailers containing new material from the upcoming season. There you’ll also find a “Girls on Guys” featurette, or a primped Dunham conducting a fun conversation with Girls guys Adam Driver, Alex Karpovsky, Christopher Abbott, and Andrew Rannells (who is performing double duty this year working on this show and Ryan Murphy’s The New Normal).
(Click here for more…)

FX has an intriguing drama up their sleeves ready to premiere at the end of the month. The Americans stars Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys as Russian KGB spies undercover living in Washington, D.C. married with two children set in ’80s during the Cold War. During a TCA gathering, creator Joe Weisberg said that his new series is inspired by the fairly recent real-life story about the sleeper Russian agents living in America that were exposed in 2010. “That was absolutely the inspiration for the show,” he said. “I got a call from DreamWorks TV about trying to create a TV show from that event.” The show really started coming together when Weisberg made the decision to plant the KGB spies not in modern day but rather in the 1980s, “a time when we were really enemies with that nation.”

Then executive producer Joe Fields landed this one on the audience: ”It might be a little different to believe and get used to, but we want you to root for the KGB,” he said. ”They’re going to try to get the Soviets to win the Cold War.” Can U.S. audiences sympathize with the KGB? ”If you tried to tell a story like this about al-Qaeda now, it would be impossible no one would want to hear it,” Fields added. “I feel even the same could have been said up to ten years after the cold war ended.” The producers believe that “Enough time has passed where people are willing to look with their hearts and try to understand.”

Weisberg, a former CIA agent, will work in some of the most emotionally delicate experiences he faced during his years working for the government. “One specific thing that I never really got over in a way, is how CIA officers can’t tell their kids what they do,” he said. Even if they live abroad, they can’t tell their kid because the kid would go and blab it to all of his friends and blow their cover. Then maybe when they’re teenagers and old enough to know what mom and dad do for a living, it’s like this big day where they get sat down and told, ‘This is what we’ve kept from you your whole life: We work for the CIA.’ Sometimes, the kids are fine with finding out. Sometimes, it turns their lives into a big mess. But I’d always just found the whole idea incredibly powerful and made me want to go tell the story about the impact this has on a family.” He went on to say that ”The show is about marriage, and that marriage in an allegory for international relations. And international relations are an allegory for marriage.”

The Americans will have you rooting for the KGB spies, but at the same time Weisberg and Fields do want viewers to take into consideration both sides of the coin. ”These were these really competing value systems,” said Weisberg. “And there’s no question that repressive socialism failed, but unbridled consumption hasn’t exactly led to great satisfaction — and one problem is how do we express that dramatically.”

The Americans premieres Wednesday, January 30 at 10PM. Watch a trailer embedded above.

[Via THR; Deadline]

Arrested Development isn’t the only Netflix original programming heading to the streaming service this year. In addition to David Fincher’s House of Cards which debuts the first of next month, a supernatural series from horror master Eli Roth is on tap for spring. Hemlock Grove, based on the 2012 novel of the same name written by Brian McGreevy, revolves around the murder of a young high school girl in Hemlock Grove, a former steel community, and centers on the bizarre collection of characters connected to it — who each have varying reasons for getting caught up in it. Roth, McGreevy, Lee Shipman, and Mark Verheiden (Battlestar Galactica) serve as executive producers. Famke Janssen, Bill Skarsgård, Landon Liboiron, Penelope Mitchell, Freya Tingley, and Dougray Scott star.

At the TCAs McGreevy hyped his new series by saying that the emotional violence will play just as big a role as the physical violence on screen. ”There’s no shortage of monsters on the show and they tend to fall on different varieties — like what separates a human from a monster,” he expanded. ”The short answer to how supernatural the show is, is very.” He went on to describe the show like this: “This is like Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? with more people getting mauled, actually.”

Working with Netflix to bring the adaptation to life ultimately ended up being the perfect decision, McGreevy shared. He admitted that he and his team originally pitched the series to the “more conventional premium networks, but we were holding out for Netflix because they were the most exciting partners.” The levels of violence, nudity, and other risque material featured in Hemlock Grove is comparable to what viewers come to expect on premium networks like Showtime and HBO, he said.

“The architecture of Netflix’s model, when you’re writing a pilot and trying to get that sold, you approach story different than when you’re looking at essentially a 13-hour movie,” McGreevy said. ”It’s novel for TV to have a beginning, middle and end when you start out and we really embraced that. It’s like a long 13-hour movie as opposed to episodic television,” Verheiden added. Shipman later revealed that the 13 episode first season deals with most everything that goes down in McGreevy’s book and that there are plans to expand on the story in additional seasons if Netflix approves.

Hemlock Grove premieres on Netflix with all the episodes available for streaming simultaneously as is the Netflix way starting April 19. Watch the trailer embedded above.

[Via THR; Deadline]

When Smash returns for its second season this February, it won’t feel all that different but you should know that the musical drama has undergone significant behind-the-scenes changes in the interim. Right off the bat, Smash creator and Broadway vet Theresa Rebeck has stepped away as showrunner and taking her place is former Gossip Girl executive producer Josh Safran. Also, you will surely notice the absence of many season one characters including Raza Jaffrey (Karen’s boyfriend Dev), Jaime Cepero (Eileen’s annoying assistant Ellis), Brian d’Arcy James (Julia’s husband Frank), and Will Chase (Julia’s old-time crush Michael). But even with all of these players out of the picture, the show won’t deviate from its roots.

“I don’t think its changed that much,” said Safran. “It’s still the same Smash, just bigger with more music and younger in regard to some cast members.” New additions include Andy Mientus (from Broadway’s Carrie) who plays a poor kid from Brooklyn with dreams of writing for Broadway; Jeremy Jordan (from Broadway’s Newsies) plays a Brooklyn-born singer with a self-destructive streak, Krysta Rodriguez (from Broadway’s The Addams Family) plays Karen’s fun and spunky new roommate who is looking for her big break on Broadway; and Julian Ovenden (from TV’s Foyle’s War) will be Bombshell‘s John F. Kennedy. The season will also welcome many talented and musically-inclined stars including Jennifer Hudson (as Veronica Moore, a threat to Karen and Ivy), Liza Minnelli (as herself), Sean Hayes (can you say Will & Grace reunion!?), Nikki Blonsky (Hairspray), Jesse L. Martin (Law & Order), and Daniel Sunjata (Rescue Me). Also, Bernadette Peters returns as Ivy’s mom.

“There’s more than one original song per episode: bigger [and] more is something we played with,” added Safran. “We have more original songs [per episode] and diverse musical styles. I kind of wanted to represent the bigger theatrical worldview on the show this season.”

Executive producer Neil Meron admitted that the first season had its ups and its downs. “First seasons of shows need time to find themselves, to lock into what they are, especially with a show like Smash,” he said. “There are so many moving parts to figure out the mechanism. It’s a fantastic machine. When certain moments worked in season one, I dare anybody to say what could be better.” Then: ”There were certain story lines that were pinpointed that you’d say, ‘Yeah, they’re right it could be a little bit more impactful.” Confirmed at a previous junction: Debra Messing’s hideous scarf collection has been tossed in the garage (and the crowd went wild). Now only if they’d get rid of her depressing son… at least Ellis the terrible has made an exit stage right.

Will Smash‘s Broadway musical Bombshell actually inspire a real show in New York City? “When we watch Bombshell moments, we think wouldn’t that be great on Broadway? But that’s where we leave it,” Meron said. “Our first priority is to make the show. It will inspire more conversation, but have we done anything about it? No.” Take that as a maybe! Announced at TCA panel was a soundtrack featuring 22 cast-recorded songs from Bombshell that will release February 12.

Smash returns Tuesday, February 5 with a two-hour installment. The space after the break is home to a brand new season 2 preview and a behind-the-scenes clip. (Click here for more…)

Revolution is on break until March and executive producers J.J. Abrams and Eric Kripke accept the extended with a positive attitude and they think viewers should as well. “When we were doing Lost, that [scheduling] helped us enormously,” Abrams said. “So when the idea came up for Revolution I was really relieved. I thought, and still think, that it will get us to a place where it will be the best possible way for the viewer to watch the show.” Added Kripke: “The little break has afforded us the ability to take a breath, look at what we’ve done, really analyze it, and make adjustments. It also supplied us a natural break point between the season’s first half and second half, and the second half sort of lives as its own continuous piece.” While Kripke maintained that “we learned that we did a lot of things right,” he also admitted that “the pace of the shocking surprises were a little too slow.” So what can viewers expect next?  The “second [half will be] bigger, better, more exciting and [with] more revelations–at the same time maintaining the format.” The shock factor will increase as well.

What else? When Revolution returns this spring, the action will continue “exactly” where we left off. “Giving [Monroe] power was more about making him an unstoppable force,” said Kripke. “We start to deliver on the promise of the title. The revolution begins.” Kripke fed the questions, “Can [the Matheson family] stick together in the face of these overwhelming odds and danger? And can you maintain your soul when you’re a warrior?”

Kripke went on to say that he’s definitely planning ahead for upcoming seasons of the show, but they’re at the “cocktail napkin sketches” state at the moment. “Because [the world is] so expansive, there’s no end to the stories we can tell,” he said.

Revolution returns March 25. Get a glimpse of what’s to come in a new trailer after the break. (Click here for more…)

Do No Harm is a high-concept show coming to NBC later this month that can be viewed as a modern take on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In short, it follows protagonist Dr. Jason Cole (say it fast: “Doctor J. Cole”–get it?) who has a mysterious dual-personality. Every day at 8:25PM his dangerous, adventure seeking alter ego Ian Price consumes his body; 12 hours later he returns to his “normal” self. At the TCAs today, executive producer David Schulner talked about his new series which he originally pitched as “Dexter meets House.”

“I think ultimately you can only write the show that you want to watch, and this was a show that I wanted to see on TV,” Schulner said. “I wanted it to be fun. I wanted it to be thrilling. I wanted it to be a roller-coaster ride. And I wanted it to have stakes. I also wanted there to be a love story at the center of it. Hopefully those ingredients will make it different than what has come before.”

What has come before are NBC shows that ring similar to Do No Harm and they are last season’s fantastic but short lived Awake and before that there was My Own Worst Enemy with Christian Slater. “I took lessons from those shows, and this is a show you’re going to want to watch. It’s thrilling and fun. That’s the big difference.” I’d say that Awake was all of those things as well, so you’ll have to tune into Schulner’s take on the fractured personality theme to see how it really compares.

How will Steven Pasquale’s Jason Cole/Ian Price interact with one another? “Ian’s a little bit like a cat,” Schulner proposed. “The cat wants to play with the mouse. It’s a constant cat-and-mouse and chess match.”

Determine if Do No Harm is a show you want to watch when it premieres January 31. Click after the break to watch a new trailer.

Update (1/7): Today David Schulner announced that actor James Cromwell (who is coming off his stint as American Horror Story: Asylum‘s Dr. Arthur Adren) will be joining the cast of Do No Harm as “Jason’s mentor, who may or may not have his best interests at heart.” Just another reason to tune in. (Click here for more…)

As the holiday season approaches, many of your favorite shows go on hiatus so you can spend time with your loved ones. Most will return to the airwaves in early January and with them comes some new programming–some of which are worth checking out. In this year’s midseason TV preview posts, I will recommend which new shows are worth watching as well as offer schedules provided by the networks themselves. Midseason is on the horizon; out your calendars and let’s do this thing!

This midseason FOX is adding six series to its schedule, two of which include a new drama and a new comedy. The buzziest new midseason drama is The Following, a psychological thriller from Kevin Williamson (The Vampire Diaries, Scream) starring Kevin Bacon and James Purefoy. When a serial killer (Purefoy) escapes from death row, he embarks on a new killing spree and forms a cult of believers and a former FBI agent (Bacon) is tasked with putting a stop to the madness. Bacon’s character has a unique connection to Purefoy’s–he is the one who was responsible for locking him up before in 2003. Critics who have seen the pilot describe it as a terrifying thrill ride. Some say it’s the scariest pilot ever aired on network TV. We’ll see how it compares to the likes of cable offerings such as American Horror Story and The Walking Dead when The Following premieres Monday, January 21 at 9PM. Watch an extended trailer after the break.

The new FOX comedy waiting to enter the fold is The Goodwin Games from the executive producers of How I Met Your Mother Carter Bays, Craig Thomas, and Chris Harris starring Scott Foley, Becki Newton, Felisha Terrell, and Melissa Tang. The wacky single camera sitcom follows three estranged siblings forced to reconnect after their father’s death while competing against each other to inherit his vast fortune. Now because FOX’s Tuesday night comedy lineup is packed with shows that all received back orders this fall (namely Raising Hope, Ben And Kate, New Girl, The Mindy Project), the network has not decided when it will add The Goodwin Games into the mix. Since Ben And Kate has the smallest episode count this season at 19, FOX will likely replace it with The Goodwin Games after its finale airs. Speaking of episode count, FOX cut Games‘ original 13 episode order to 7, also due to there being little wiggle room in the schedule. With the HIMYM auspices behind it, I wouldn’t count it out just yet. When a premiere date is announced, you’ll know it.

My recommendation: Do not miss The Following. If you’ve only got room for one new drama, this is it. And even if you don’t, make room. And whenever The Goodwin Games airs, I’d say give it a go. Though if it doesn’t perform well out of the gate, it probably won’t last long.

Shows that are returning to FOX’s schedule include Tim Kring’s Touch starring Kiefer Sutherland, David Mazouz, and Mario Bello (premiering Friday, February 8 at 8PM), American Idol is back with a new judges panel including Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj, and Keith Urban (Wednesday, January 16 at 8PM), Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen, and Cops.

Jump after the break to view the full schedule.

Look in the gallery below for key art (aka TV promotional posters).

(Click here for more…)

As the holiday season approaches, many of your favorite shows go on hiatus so you can spend time with your loved ones. Most will return to the airwaves in early January and with them comes some new programming–some of which are worth checking out. In this year’s midseason TV preview posts, I will recommend which new shows are worth watching as well as offer schedules provided by the networks themselves. Midseason is on the horizon; out your calendars and let’s do this thing!

This midseason ABC is adding eight series to its schedule, six of which include two new dramas, comedies, and reality shows. The network’s two freshmen drama series both look intriguing. First there’s Zero Hour, a conspiracy thriller executive produced and written by Paul T. Scheuring (Prison Break) starring Anthony Edwards, Scott Michael Foster, Michael Nyqvist, Jacinda Barrett, Addison Timlin, and Carmen Ejogo. The plot involves a treasure map, deciphering symbols, saving humanity. Though the Declaration of Indepenence isn’t at stake here, Zero Hour sure sounds like its borrowing a bit from National Treasure. Whether or not this is a good thing… The trailer, posted after the break, comes off as more corny than cool but for all you conspiracy theorists out there this is one worth checking out. Zero Hour premieres Thursday, February 14 at 8PM.

Next up is Red Widow. It’s from creator Melissa Rosenberg (Dexter, the Twilight saga) and stars Radha Mitchell, a stay-at-home mom who gets tangled up in a bloody and dangerous tale involving her husband’s death, organized crime, and the criminal underworld. Though it might sound complicated, the trailer (posted after the break) is quite good and it looks like Mitchell will find herself on a distinct yet similar path to Emily Van Camp’s over on ABC’s soap Revenge. Red Widow premieres Sunday, March 3 at 9PM.

A new comedy starring Sarah Chalke has a very long title: How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life). It’s about a recently divorced single mom (Chalke) who moves back in with her parents (Elizabeth Perkins and Brad Garrett). It premieres Wednesday, April 3 at 9:30PM.

The other new comedy is Family Tools, a show based on the British sitcom White Van Man from Adrian Poynton. It stars the very funny Kyle Bornheimer, J.K. Simmons, and Leah Remini and it follows the mishaps of what happens when you mix family with business. It premieres Wednesday, May 1 at 8PM. Due to scheduling concerns, the show’s original 13 episode order was reduced to 10.

If you’re into reality shows, ABC has a cooking competition show The Taste and Celebrity Diving on tap. They premiere Tuesday, January 22 at 8PM and Tuesday, March 26 at 9PM, respectively.

My recommendation: Definitely check out Red Widow and give Zero Hour a try. In terms of new comedy, I’d take Family Tools over How To Live With Your Parents, but maybe that’s just because I’m a big supporter of Bornheimer (Perfect Couples) and J.K. Simmons.

Shows that are returning to ABC’s schedule include Body of Proof (premiering Tuesday, February 5 at 10PM) and Dancing with the Stars (Monday, March 18 at 8PM).

Jump after the break to view the full schedule. (Click here for more…)

As the holiday season approaches, many of your favorite shows go on hiatus so you can spend time with your loved ones. Most will return to the airwaves in early January and with them comes some new programming–some of which are worth checking out. In this year’s midseason TV preview posts, I will recommend which new shows are worth watching as well as offer schedules provided by the networks themselves. Midseason is on the horizon; out your calendars and let’s do this thing!

This midseason NBC is adding thirteen series to its schedule, three of which include two new dramas, a comedy, and a reality series. Though the four of them combined do not carry the same amount of buzz that FOX’s The Following is getting, you still might want to tune into them as their premises are tantalizing enough. Do No Harm, from executive producer David Schulner (The Event) stars Steven Pasquale as a respected neurosurgeon with a deep, dark secret–every night at the same hour, something inside [Pasquale's] changes, leaving him almost unrecognizable – seductive, devious, borderline sociopathic. Some are calling it a modern day tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. To me it sounds sort of like the premise of NBC’s promising but cancelled series Awake. Do No Harm premieres Thursday, January 31 at 10PM, the same night 30 Rock airs its series finale. Watch a trailer after the break.

The other new drama coming to the Peacock is Deception (formally called Infamous). It hails from Liz Heldens (Prime Suspect, Friday Night Lights) and stars Meagan Good, Victor Garber, Tate Donovan, Katherine LaNasa, and Laz Alonso. It’s a soap wrapped in a family murder mystery and it premieres Monday, January 7 at 8PM. Trailer after the break.

NBC’s latest sitcom 1600 Penn follows a typical American family who just happen to live in the White House. Actor Josh Gad stars, and he also co-created the show with Jon Lovett. Jason Weiner (Modern Family) directed the pilot. It also stars Bill Pullman and Jenna Elfman. It premieres Thursday, January 10 at 9:30PM. Trailer after the break.

The new reality series Ready for Love is a “relationship show about making real connections” from executive producer Eva Longoria. It premieres Sunday, March 31 at 8PM.

My recommendation: Skip Deception (unless you want another soap on your schedule–but Revenge already fills that void magnificently) and try out Do No Harm and 1600 Penn. Take note, however, that Do No Harm is in the Thursday at 10PM timeslot and that’s a very tough place on the sked to achieve success.

Shows that are returning to NBC’s schedule include The Biggest Loser (premiering Sunday, January 6 at 9PM), Betty White’s Off Their Rockers (Tuesday, January 8 at 8PM), Smash (Tuesday, February 5 at 9PM), Community (Thursday, February 7 at 8PM), The Celebrity Apprentice (Sunday, March 3 at 9PM), Fashion Star (Friday, March 8 at 8PM), Grimm (Friday, March 8 at 9PM), The Voice (Monday, March 25 at 8PM), and Revolution (Monday, March 25 at 10PM).

Jump after the break to view the full schedule. (NBC isn’t providing a tidy midseason schedule so we’ll have to do with what we got.)

Look in the gallery below for key art (aka TV promotional posters).

(Click here for more…)

As the holiday season approaches, many of your favorite shows go on hiatus so you can spend time with your loved ones. Most will return to the airwaves in early January and with them comes some new programming–some of which are worth checking out. In this year’s midseason TV preview posts, I will recommend which new shows are worth watching as well as offer schedules provided by the networks themselves. Midseason is on the horizon; out your calendars and let’s do this thing!

This midseason The CW is adding two new series to its schedule: mystery Cult and Sex and the City prequel The Carrie Diaries. Cult follows an investigative journalist (played by Matt Davis) who teams with a research assistant (Jessica Lucas) to find his brother and unravel the mystery behind the TV series called “Cult” whose hardcore fans would literally kill to see what happens next. It also stars Alona Tal and Robert Knepper. It premieres Tuesday, February 19 at 9PM.

The Carrie Diaries is all about Carrie Bradshaw before she met Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda. Nineteen-year-old AnnaSophia Robb plays young Carrie and the show takes place in the ’80s so you can expect the glitz and glam from that exciting era. It premieres Monday, January 14 at 8PM.

My recommendation: It’s always hard for me to recommend anyone to invest their time in a show that airs on The CW. (The last time I did was for Ringer and how did that turn out? Not good.) Not that the network’s programming is particularly bad all the time; it just caters to a very young audience mostly. As much as I want Cult to be a fun, exciting, and suspenseful mystery, after watching a preview it just doesn’t reach me. It grabs and pulls at the things I really like to see in a drama, but it contains the glaze that most CW dramas have (it comes off as bizarre and corny, honestly) and it’s hard for me to tell you to invest your time in such an intriguing mess. I tried Ringer, I really did, but the pilot was too horrendous for me to ever get hooked. Cult, unfortunately, might follow the same fate. The Carrie Diaries, however, is easier to recommend because it sits in the shadow of one of the most successful shows of all time (HBO’s Sex and the City). Obviously the prequel can’t be as edgy and risque, but if the preview has anything to offer its that young Carrie isn’t so different from her future self. This show opens up the world of Carrie Bradshaw to a whole new generation of girls and likely they’ll bite. And if you’re older with kids and remember the wild adventures of Carrie and company, perhaps The Carrie Diaries is a new guilty pleasure for you.

Jump after the break to watch previews for both shows.

Look in the gallery below for key art (aka TV promotional posters).

(Click here for more…)

If those two teasers got your blood pumping for A&E’s upcoming Psycho prequel series Bates Motel, then you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. This newly released two-and-a-half minute expanded trailer features never-before-seen footage as well as talking segments from executive producers Carlton Cuse (Lost) and Kerry Ehrin (Friday Night Lights) and the main cast including Freddy Highmore, Vera Farmiga, Max Thieriot, Olivia Cooke, Nicola Peltz, Mike Vogel, and Nestor Carbonell. Some quotables…

Vera Farmiga: “We’re not remaking Psycho. We’re using it as an inspiration.” I’m in.

Carlton Cuse: “This town looks really beautiful on the outside. But underneath it is something very dark and malevolent.” Ah, sounds a bit like Lost (read: The Island)? Or maybe this reminds you of The Walking Dead (read: Woodbury).

After watching the trailer do you sense some incestuous tension between mother and son? Intriguing, if not a bit disturbing. The contemporary take on the story of Norman Bates, serial killer premieres this March.

Think you got what it takes to come up with the opening title sequence for the show? If you produce something that catches the creator’s eye it might end up at the start of every episode. ”We want to give fans the chance to participate in the show,” Cuse told THR. “We’re looking for an awesome 15-second title sequence that captures the feel of Bates Motel – not as a slasher/horror show, but as a complex, character-based thriller.” Participants can submit their video creations through January 3. For more information about the contest and to accept the challenge directly from Cuse, head over to the show’s Facebook page.

If you were anticipating the bold Munsters reboot from Bryan Fuller, I have some bad news to report. NBC has decided not to go ahead with making the series. However, the network will air the pilot that was shot. The Peacock did not specifically state why they ultimately decided to pass on the show; instead the network’s Entertainment President Jennifer Salke released the following statement:

“This exciting new take on a memorable series will definitely blow out conventional wisdom and create its own legacy. Teaming this new show with a terrifying episode of Grimm makes the perfect pre-Halloween fright-fest.”

Mockingbird Lane stars Jerry O’Connell as Herman Munster, Portia de Rossi as his wife Lily, Mason Cook as their son Eddie, Eddie Izzard as Grandpa, and Charity Wakefield as Marilyn.

Tune into tonight at 9PM to catch an hour-long glimpse into Bryan Fuller’s imaginative, contemporary take on the classic 1960s sitcom. Rumor has it that if it does well in the ratings NBC may opt to pick it up for next season, but by planting it on a Friday night (aka where most shows go to die) I don’t see that happening. With Mockingbird Lane off his plate, the Pushing Daisies creator is now focusing solely on his upcoming midseason drama for NBC Hannibal.

Watch a trailer after the break.

Update: The ratings are in and they look like this. The pilot Halloween special drew 5.4 million viewers and scored a 1.5/5 rating in adults 18-49. Not too shabby. But is it enough for NBC to continue production on more scripts that have already been written? Don’t hold your breath. (Click here for more…)

Fringe is not on the schedule tonight, but you can try to fill that void by watching this trailer poignantly peeking at what’s to come in the relentless battle against the baldies. Things are about to get, in a word, explosive. Screen the wonderfully scored one minute trailer now.

Fringe returns next Friday on October 26 at 9PM on FOX. The 13-episode saga continues in episode 4 titled “The Bullet That Saved the World.”