Fall is fast approaching, the season of pumpkin spice lattés, flannel shirts and of dozens of TV premieres.
Just as we gear up for back-to-school season and apple picking, your favorite streaming services and TV networks are gearing up with new shows, whether it’s new seasons of old favorites, new shows trying to grab your attention or new shows with old-favorite characters.
“Stranger Things” is coming back for its fifth and final season; zingy Netflix comedy “Nobody Wants This” is back for Season 2; Tony and Ziva from CBS hit “NCIS” are back for a new spinoff; and there’s a new version of “The Office” to make us laugh. And that’s not even counting any of the wholly original new shows this fall that are smart, gripping and exciting.
Among dozens of series, we’ve picked out the 10 that are worth spending your precious time watching. Whether you want comedy or drama, nostalgia or novelty, family fare or grownup projects, there’s something on this list that will make your fall even cozier.
Cote De Pablo as Ziva David and Michael Weatherly as Tony Dinozzo are back in the “NCIS” best in “NCIS: Tony & Ziva.”
‘NCIS: Tony & Ziva’
Paramount+, Sept. 4 (streaming Thursdays)
A spinoff that feels like it was willed into existence by the power of fan love for the couple from “NCIS,” “Tony & Ziva” seems both impossible and inevitable. Michael Weatherly (Tony) and Cote de Pablo (Ziva) return to their star-making roles in this spy caper spinoff, set years after Ziva’s supposed death on the original series and Tony’s exit from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service to raise their daughter. In the new series, the couple is raising their daughter together in Paris before disaster strikes and they go on the run across Europe. Fantastical? Definitely. A fun way to get Weatherly and de Pablo’s chemistry onscreen again? Also true.
The documentary crew is back in an office! In this USA TODAY exclusive image, Domhnall Gleeson leads a meeting as small time newspaper editor Ned Sampson in Peacock’s “The Paper.”
‘The Paper’
Peacock, Sept. 4
Twenty years after “The Office” debuted on NBC, cocreator Greg Daniels is back with another workplace mockumentary. Daniels describes the spinoff as “a new documentary from the same crew,” meaning you’ll see the cameras slip inside the offices of a Toledo, Ohio, newspaper instead of a Scranton, Pennsylvania, paper company. The same style of humor, lovable characters and incredibly awkward moments await. The charming cast includes Domhnall Gleeson, Sabrina Impacciatore (“The White Lotus”) and returning “Office” co-worker Oscar Nuñez.
Mark Ruffalo travels to the working-class suburbs of Philadelphia in “Task,” embracing the backwoods in this exclusive image shared with USA TODAY.
‘Task’
HBO, Sept. 7 (Sundays, 9 ET/PT) and streaming on HBO Max
From the creator of “Mare of Easttown” comes another crime drama set in suburban Philadelphia with a movie star attached. This time producer Brad Ingelsby tapped Mark Ruffalo as a depressed and traumatized FBI agent leading a task force investigating a series of home invasions targeting drug dens in the area. Told from the point of view of Ruffalo’s lawman and the everyman (Tom Pelphry) who is surprisingly leading the robberies, the drama is seriously dark but also thoughtful and addictive.
Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez are podcasters and amateur detectives Charles, Oliver and Mabel in “Only Murders in the Building” Season 5.
‘Only Murders in the Building’
Hulu, Sept. 9 (streaming Tuesdays)
They’re back for Round 5. Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez are seemingly unstoppable, and their building has a seemingly infinite number of murders in this Hulu mystery comedy. This time, Charles, Oliver and Mabel investigate the death of their building’s beloved doorman Lester (Teddy Coluca), which may or may not have involved foul play and may or may not be connected to the mob. Knowing the kinds of shenanigans these three get into, guessing yes to both would probably be the smart move. Guest stars this year include: Bobby Cannavale, Renée Zellweger, Logan Lerman, Christoph Waltz, Téa Leoni, Keegan-Michael Key, Beanie Feldstein and Dianne Wiest.
“Downton Abbey” star Hugh Bonneville plays investigator Brian Boyce in British heist drama “The Gold” on PBS.
‘The Gold’
PBS, Oct. 5 (Sundays, 10 ET/PT, check your local listings)
Far from the hallowed upper-crust walls of “Downton Abbey,” PBS has a new British historical drama that may surprise you in spite of its network home. “The Gold” is a gripping heist drama set in 1983 about a group of British thieves who attempt to make a small score but wind up with £26 million of gold bullion (about $150 million in today’s money). It’s the best kind of cops-and-robbers story, with gray morality, a twisty narrative and plenty of good guys and bad guys on both sides of the law. Dominic Cooper and “Downton” star Hugh Bonneville lead the cast.
Miles Heizer as Cameron Cope in this exclusive image from Netflix’s new comedy, “Boots.”
‘Boots’
Netflix, Oct. 9
One of the last projects that legendary TV producer Norman Lear helped put together, this sweet dramedy is set in the most unlikely of places: The U.S. Marine Corp Boot Camp in 1990. It’s there that our protagonist, Cameron (Miles Heizer, “Parenthood”) is trying to find himself, even though as a gay man he has to hide an essential part of himself. Full of big, shouty drill sergeants, lovable characters and deep introspection, the series is earnest and refreshing.
In this exclusive image from Season 3 of “The Diplomat,” Keri Russell is all dolled up as ambassador and politician Kate Wyler.
‘The Diplomat’
Netflix, Oct. 16
The second season of Netflix’s political thriller ended in pure chaos when the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, Kate Wyler (Keri Russell), discovers that the U.S. president is dead, and Kate’s rival, Vice President Grace Penn (Allison Janney), is now the leader of the free world. Oh, and Kate’s husband Hal (Rufus Sewell) may have shocked POTUS with news so bad that the politician dropped dead on the video call. Now Kate has a whole new political reality to navigate, even as Hal continues to campaign for Kate to become vice president. And if political TV-show junkies weren’t already excited enough by Janney (“The West Wing”), the new season debuts her former “Wing” costar Bradley Whitford as first gentleman Todd Penn.
Adam Brody and Kristen Bell are back as Noah and Joanne in Season 2 of rom-com “Nobody Wants This.”
‘Nobody Wants This’
Netflix, Oct. 23
Everybody wants a new season of Netflix’s electric romantic comedy starring Adam Brody and Kristen Bell as a bumbling couple trying to make an interfaith relationship work. After many bumps and bruises at the start of their relationship in Season 1, Season 2 is all about figuring out how rabbi Noah (Brody) and irreverent podcaster Joanne (Bell) are going to make it work in the long term. It won’t be entirely smooth sailing.
The gang’s all here in “Stranger Things” Season 5: Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair, Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, and Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson.
‘Stranger Things’
Netflix, Nov. 26, Dec. 25 and Dec. 31
We’re finally going back to Hawkins, Indiana, one last time. The fifth and final season of Netflix sci-fi/horror juggernaut “Stranger Things” will come in three parts: A batch of episodes available Thanksgiving weekend, a second batch on Christmas Day and the series finale on New Year’s Eve, so Netflix pretty much thinks you don’t have any holiday plans this year. Hopefully it will be worth sitting your family in front of the TV this fall as creators Matt and Ross Duffer will bring an epic conclusion to a nearly 10-year story. The new season sees Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and all her friends battle Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) in their quarantined and forever-changed town in the fall of 1987.
Leah Sava Jeffries as Annabeth and Walker Scobell as Percy in an exclusive image from Season 2 of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians.”
‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’
Disney+, Dec. 10 (streaming Wednesdays)
The kid actors have grown up in the two years since this new adaptation of Rick Riordan’s Greek mythology-inspired kids’ book series. But new episodes promise the same fealty to the source material fans loved in the first season, as they adapt a second installment, “Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters.” In the new story Percy (Walker Scobell) sets out on a journey to find his best friend Grover (Aryan Simhadri) and the magical Golden Fleece, which might just help him save Camp Halfblood. The sweet tween series has already been renewed for a third season.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘The Office’ spinoff and the best TV shows to watch this fall
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