Weekend
| 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 | 10:00 | 10:30 | |
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Saturday Night College Football [LIVE at 8p ET / 5p PT] | |||||
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Rules of Engagement * | [Various repeats] | 48 Hours Mystery | |||
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Cops | Cops | [Various repeats] | [Local programming] | ||
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[Various repeats] | |||||
| 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 | 10:00 | 10:30 | ||
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America's Funniest Home Videos | Once Upon a Time ** | Desperate Housewives | Pan Am | |||||
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60 Minutes | The Amazing Race | The Good Wife * | CSI: Miami | |||||
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NFL postgame [LIVE] | The Cleveland Show * † | The Simpsons | Allen Gregory † | Family Guy | American Dad | [Local programming] | ||
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Football Night in America [LIVE] | Sunday Night Football [LIVE at 8:15p ET / 5:15p PT] | |||||||
| Key cable shows: | |||||||||
| Boardwalk Empire (HBO) Dexter (Showtime) The Walking Dead (AMC) |
Hell on Wheels (AMC) Homeland (Showtime) How to Make It in America (HBO) Hung (HBO) |
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Key network shows:
The Good Wife Watch previous season recap Watch trailer
(CBS, Sundays at 9p starting Sep. 25)
As The Good Wife enters its third season, the Emmy-nominated and critically acclaimed but relatively low-rated (by CBS standards) drama is making a big move from Tuesdays to Sundays, where it will go head to head with Desperate Housewives. The season will pick up almost immediately after the events in last season's finale and address the relationship between Will (Josh Charles) and Alicia (Julianna Margulies), and early episodes will also provide a bigger storyline for Christine Baranski's Diane. House's Lisa Edelstein has been booked for multiple episodes as Will's former legal partner, while Parker Posey will appear as the estranged wife of Eli Gold (Alan Cumming), Michael Arden (Kings) will have a recurring role as a potential love interest for Owen Cavanaugh (Dallas Roberts), Harvey Fierstein will guest as a judge, and Peter Jacobson (House) shows up in the premiere. In addition, Dylan Baker will reprise his Emmy-nominated role as convicted killer Colin Sweeney.
Once Upon a Time Watch trailer
(ABC, Sundays at 8p starting Oct. 23)
More fairy tale characters living among us in our modern world? Unlike NBC's Grimm, Once Upon a Time is not a crime procedural. Instead, this drama centers on a 28-year-old bail bonds collector (House's Jennifer Morrison) who is confronted by her now-10-year-old son she had given up for adoption, a boy who believes her to be the missing daughter of Prince Charming (Josh Dallas) and Snow White (Big Love's Ginnifer Goodwin). When she moves with him to a strange New England town named Storybrooke—where more fairytale characters live under alternate identities without remembering their past lives—she begins to believe his story. The series was created by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, who learned a thing or two about developing a mythology while writing for Lost. Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad) will also have a recurring role.
Pan Am Watch trailer
(ABC, Sundays at 10p starting Sep. 25)
ABC and NBC not only have dueling fairy tale shows this fall; they also have competing Mad Men-inspired dramas. ABC's entry is this soapy drama about airline stewardesses and pilots set in 1963, and it weaves in an espionage plot in addition to more personal storylines from the jet set age. (And speaking of pilots, Pan Am's was generally regarded to be superior to that for NBC's Playboy Club.) Christina Ricci toplines a cast that also includes Kelli Garner (The Aviator, appropriately enough), Michael Mosley (Scrubs), and Mike Vogel (Blue Valentine); ER's Goran Visnjic will guest in four episodes. The series was created by Jack Orman (ER, JAG) and is directed and produced by Thomas Schlamme (The West Wing).
Also on Saturday:
Rules of Engagement (CBS, Saturdays at 8p starting Oct. 8)
The good news for Rules of Engagement fans is that CBS renewed the David Spade comedy for a sixth season. The bad news is that the show will now air on Saturday nights, making it the first scripted show on network television to air new episodes on a Saturday since 2004. At least it won't have much in the way of competition (or high expectations from network programmers).
Also on Sunday:
Allen Gregory
(Fox, Sundays at 8:30p starting Oct. 30) Watch trailer
One of two new animated comedies in Fox's 2011-12 lineup, Allen Gregory stars Jonah Hill (who also co-created the series and will be writing for it) as an ultra-pretentious 7-year-old (he claims to have "composed operas, written novels and dated Chloe Sevigny") who is forced to attend elementary school with regular kids. The vocal cast also includes Will Forte and French Stewart. Just seven episodes were ordered.
The Amazing Race
(CBS, Sundays at 8p starting Sep. 25)
The long-running reality competition returns for a 19th installment in the fall and a 20th cycle early in 2012. The fall season is rumored to include a team consisting of former Survivor winners Ethan Zohn and Jenna Morasca.
CSI: Miami (CBS, Sundays at 10p starting Sep. 25) Watch previous season recap
The upcoming 10th season of CSI: Miami will introduce a wealthy, powerful adversary (played by 24's Carlos Bernard) for David Caruso's character Horatio Caine. Also expect a season-long mystery involving a sadistic doctor. Before that happens, the show will resolve last season's cliffhanger in an episode that features the return of guest star Alana De La Garza, who plays Caine's late wife. Battlestar Galactica's Jamie Bamber will also appear in an upcoming episode.
Desperate Housewives
(ABC, Sundays at 9p starting Sep. 25)
Yes, it's true: the upcoming eighth season will be your final opportunity to check in with the good (and not so good) folks at Wisteria Lane. Creator Marc Cherry aims to bring the series to a satisfying conclusion in May after a back-to-basics season that will feature a bigger on-screen role for series narrator (and dead person) Mary Alice (played by Brenda Strong). Charles Mesure (V) joins the cast as a town newcomer and potential love interest for Vanessa Williams' Renee Perry, while Miguel Ferrer (Crossing Jordan) will recur as an artist who teaches a college course taken by Susan (Teri Hatcher). One-time guest star Sarah Paulson (Deadwood) will also return, and several other familiar faces may reappear throughout the season.
Family Guy / American Dad / Cleveland Show (Fox, Sundays starting Sep. 25)
Seth MacFarlane's domination of Fox's Sunday lineup continues for another season, though The Cleveland Show will get shifted to a less desirable 7:30p time slot in October to make way for a non-MacFarlane newcomer (Allen Gregory). Guest voices on Cleveland will include Kanye West, Florence Henderson, Nicki Minaj, John Slattery, Carl Reiner, and a bunch of MLB stars, while Family Guy will get visits from Ricky Gervais, Ryan Reynolds, Cate Blanchett, and Ellen Page. American Dad will feature a musical episode this season, with Cee Lo Green performing, while Anjelica Huston, Patrick Stewart, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Kathy Griffin will guest on other episodes.
The Simpsons
(Fox, Sundays at 8p starting Sep. 25)
Visiting Springfield this season are Michael Cera, Bryan Cranston, Lada Gaga, Kiefer Sutherland, Jane Lynch, Joan Rivers, Jeremy Irons, author Neil Gaiman, and celebrity chefs Anthony Bourdain and Gordon Ramsay, while a satire of The Social Network will feature that film's Armie Hammer. And, on February 19, 2012, The Simpsons will air its 500th episode.
