Cue the laughter — or, at least, the laugh tracks! The U.S. broadcast networks are hoping to bring the levity with this fall’s slate of new TV comedies.
Only five are debuting before the end of the year — with Variety reporting that the networks are introducing a record-low number of scripted shows this fall — but the newcomers should tickle a wide variety of funny bones.
After getting to know these freshman series, here’s what we’d recommend for whom.
If you wish there could be a hospital-set Abbott Elementary, check out St. Denis Medical.
NBC calls St. Denis Medical “a mockumentary about an underfunded, understaffed Oregon hospital,” much like how ABC’s Abbott Elementary is a mockumentary about an underfunded, understaffed Philadelphia school.
Wendi McClendon-Covey, David Alan Grier, Allison Tolman, Josh Lawson, Mekki Leeper, Kahyun Kim, and Kaliko Kauahi star in this series “where the dedicated doctors and nurses try their best to treat patients while maintaining their own sanity,” NBC adds.
Ron Batzdorff / NBC
As with Abbott, St. Denis promises to depict people working hard to make a big impact with little resources. “Every episode has a moment where that sort of sincerity and that really heartfelt core shines through,” Tolman told TV Insider of the show, premiering on Tuesday, November 12, at 8/7c. “I think we’re really lucky in that way.”
If you miss My Wife & Kids, get your Wayans family fix with Poppa’s House.
Damon Wayans, who played an exasperated father on ABC’s My Wife and Kids in the 2000s, is now playing an exasperated grandfather on CBS’ Poppa’s House. In the new sitcom, premiering on Monday, October 21, at 8:30/7:30c. the actor plays a talk show host challenged by the arrival of a new female cohost, played by Essence Atkins, and the needs of his adult son, played by real-life son Damon Wayans Jr.
Robert Voets / CBS
The younger Wayans told TV Insider that his character has shades of both himself and his younger brother, Michael Wayans. “Like a little amalgamation of us and Peter Pan, just like a guy that doesn’t really want to grow up and he has his dreams [but] his dreams kind get in the way of his real life,” he said.
If you’ve been holding out hope for a Reba revival, Happy’s Place is the answer.
After executive-producing The WB’s Reba in the 2000s, Kevin Abbott teamed up with wife Julie to create a new sitcom for country singer Reba McEntire. The result is Happy’s Place, which airs on Fridays at 8/7c. McEntire plays Bobbie, who inherits a Tennessee tavern alongside Isabella (Belissa Escobedo), the half-sister she never knew she had.
Casey Durkin / NBC
Better yet, Reba costar Melissa Peterman is also on the payroll, playing Gabby, a bartender eager to ingratiate herself with Bobbie.“We’d been looking for something [to do together] since Reba was canceled in 2006. So, long, long time,” McEntire told TV Insider of her friendship with Peterman. “I’ve always been a firm believer that timing is everything and everything happens for a reason. Thank God, because this is such a good show. It’s got so much heart. I’m glad we’re reunited.”
If you already miss Young Sheldon, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage continues the story.
Young Sheldon ended its seven-season run this May, but CBS wasted no time filling that time slot with the spinoff Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, with Montana Jordan and Emily Osment reprising the roles of Georgie Cooper and Mandy McAllister as the characters raise their young family in Texas.
Troy Harvey / Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Airing on Thursdays at 8/7c, the show has already appealed to Young Sheldon fans by getting Annie Potts and Zoe Perry to play mom Mary and grandma Meemaw again, but head writer Steve Holland told TV Insider the two shows have different tacks — and not just because Georgie & Mandy is a multi-cam sitcom filmed in front of a live studio audience. “We know Sheldon grows up, has friends, gets married, and wins a Nobel Prize,” Holland explained. “Now, there’s [more of a] clean slate. We don’t know much about Georgie.”
If you love the doofuses of Fox’s Animation Domination block, Universal Basic Guys offers more.
Fox’s best successes in its Sunday night “Animation Domination” lineup feature doltish dudes — think The Simpsons’ Homer Simpson and Family Guy’s Peter Griffin. And here come Universal Basic Guys’ Mark and Hank Hoagies to continue that fine tradition.
Fox
In the animated series, which airs on Sundays at 8:30/7:30c, Mark and Hank are brothers who lost their hot dog factory jobs to robots but are still getting by on a $3,000-per-month basic income program. Now, as Fox explains, the brothers are using their free time and free money to find purpose in a world where they’re no longer needed.
And Fox has already renewed the show for Season 2. “With Universal Basic Guys, the Hoagies brothers join Fox’s iconic lineup of undaunted, irreverent, and absurdly outrageous characters,” Fox Entertainment exec Michael Thorn said in a press release.
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