MADAM SECRETARY:  Sunday 8PM on CBS THE FACTS:  Tea Leoni plays Elizabeth McCord, a college professor and former CIA analyst unexpectedly named by the President (Keith Carradine)–who used to be her boss at the CIA–as his new Secretary of State.  She battles with his Chief of Staff (Zeljko Ivanek), and her plainspoken style doesn’t […]

  The big news at CBS is that the network is reducing its Monday comedy block to 1 hour, while leaving 2 sitcom hours on Thursday.  Consequently, the network is adding only one new half-hour in the fall.  (There was no last-minute pick-up for How I Met Your Dad, which until last week was regarded […]

  GALAVANT:  Winter-ish Sunday 8PM on ABC THE FACTS:  A fairy tale musical comedy from Dan Fogelman, the creator of the late, lamented (by some of us) The Neighbors, with an original score by multiple Oscar-winner Alan Menken and Glenn Slater.  It tells the tale of Prince Galavant, whose true love left him for the […]

  FRESH OFF THE BOAT:  Midseason TBD on ABC THE FACTS:  Based on the memoir of chef Eddie Huang, it’s the story of a Chinese-American family that moves from Washington, where there’s a thriving Asian community, to Orlando, Florida, where there isn’t one.  The focal point is young Eddie, but the heavy lifting comes from […]

  THE WHISPERS:  Midseason TBD on ABC THE FACTS:  Something is taking possession of American children and making them do very bad things–like “kill your parents” bad things.  They may be on their way to launching an all-out attack, and Lily Rabe is the government agent tasked to stop them.  The series creator is Soo […]

  CRISTELA:  Friday 8:30PM on ABC THE FACTS:  The Hollywood American Dream:  Cristela Alonzo is a Latina comic who wrote (with Kevin Hench) a family comedy pilot script loosely inspired by her own life, about a young woman living with her sister and brother-in-law as she tries to become a lawyer.  ABC passed on the […]

  SECRETS AND LIES:  Midseason TBD on ABC THE FACTS:  Another ABC murder soap, this one starring Ryan Phillippe as a man who finds the body of a neighbor’s child in the woods, KaDee Strickland as his wife, and Juliette Lewis as the homicide detective who thinks he’s the killer.  It’s based on an Australian […]

  MANHATTAN LOVE STORY:  Tuesday 8:30PM on ABC THE FACTS:  Boy (Jake McDorman) meets girl (Analeigh Tipton), but here’s the gimmick:  we hear all of the couple’s hidden thoughts throughout.  The series creator is Jeff Lowell, whose sitcom writing/producing career goes back to Cybill and Spin City. WHAT IT’S SAYING:  He’s cute, she’s cute, and […]