Fall preview: 'Boston Blue,' 'Stranger Things,' 'Black Rabbit,' 39 more shows we're excited about

After those twin strikes (writers, actors) ended in 2023, television roared back in the fall of 2024.

And the roaring continues.

While there are widespread reports about the decline and fall of Hollywood, and specifically of scripted TV series, you'd never know it from the bounty that will arrive over the next three months. Leading the party may be the final season of "Stranger Things," but there is so much more.

Here's a  look at what to expect.

SEPTEMBER

 SEPT. 18

BLACK RABBIT (Netflix) The fall season starts off with a bang with this eight-parter set in New York, starring Jason Bateman and Jude Law, as a pair of estranged brothers — the latter (Jake) manager of a trendy downtown restaurant (scenes were shot at the old Bridge Cafe on Water Street, closed since Superstorm Sandy). Brother Vince (Bateman) returns to NYC with a load of gambling debts in his wake and a lot of other troubles. Think "The Bear"-meets-"Ozark."

THE CASE AGAINST ADNAN SYED, THE FIFTH EPISODE (HBO, 9 p.m.)

This fifth episode brings Amy Berg's acclaimed 2019 four-parter up to date — based on the "Serial" podcast about the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee, and the subsequent conviction, then release, of her accused murderer Syed.

SEPT. 21

TULSA KING (Paramount+) What's especially interesting about this third season is that new guy — Russell Lee Washington Jr., who already has his own spinoff arriving in 2026, "NOLA King." Yes, that new guy is Samuel L. Jackson (and "NOLA King" is his first series). Washington was friends with Dwight Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone) during their decadelong confinement in federal prison.

SEPT. 23

THE LOWDOWN (FX, 9; FX on Hulu the next day)

This entertaining (and unclassifiable) oddity stars Ethan Hawke as Lee Raybon, a grizzled Tulsa citizen journalist — he calls himself a "truthstorian" — who's investigating the dirty dealings of Oklahoma's next governor. This eight-episode "Tulsa noir" comes from "Reservation Dog's" creator Sterlin Harjo.

SEPT. 24

HOTEL COSTIERA (Prime Video) Of note in this thriller about a "fixer" who takes care of a luxury hotel in Italy: It stars Jesse Williams ("Grey's Anatomy"). Another note: It was filmed on the Amalfi Coast.

LAW & ORDER TORONTO: CRIMINAL INTENT (CW/11, 8) Yet one more "L&O" spinoff with one more twist (set in Toronto)? Really? But let's dial back the snark here — this was developed by Emmy-winner René Balcer, who helped make "L&O" a TV classic all those years ago. A second season has been ordered. This stars Aden Young ("Rectify").

SEPT. 25

HOUSE OF GUINNESS (Netflix)

Steven Knight ("Peaky Blinders") is back with another historical drama, this time in 1860s Dublin, with the focus on the four children of Benjamin Lee Guinness who has just died (in 1868). The Fenians, who want Ireland to break from England, see in this notable death an opportunity and opening. As such, you may reasonably assume this eight-parter — starring Anthony Boyle ("Say Nothing") and Louis Partridge ("Enola Holmes") — is about a whole lot more than how a particularly famous beer got that dark hue, creamy texture along with notes of roasted coffee and chocolate.

WAYWARD (Netflix) Mae Martin — star-creator of Netflix's 2021 queer dramedy "Feel Good" — is back in this eight-parter as a cop who goes to the small town of Tall Pines, Vermont — small, but also sinister because this is the home of Small Pines Academy for troubled teens, run by the even more sinister Evelyn Wade (Toni Collette).

SEPT. 30

ON BRAND WITH JIMMY FALLON (NBC/4, 10)

Talk-show host by night, star of a new unscripted show by day ... When does Jimmy have time to sleep? Yes, one of the great oddities of the 2025 season — which seems a lot like "Shark Tank" — features "Tonight Show" host Fallon as president of his own ad agency ("On Brand"), where he orchestrates a 10-person challenge to see who can come up with the best commercial for various well-known brands. Winner gets $100,000. Bozoma Saint John — former Netflix exec and now on "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" — is also on board.

CHAD POWERS (Hulu) 

Glen Powell stars as a disgraced college quarterback who jump-starts his college career as a quarterback for another school eight years later under a different name. But…wait! Wouldn't the other students say, "this dude looks a lot older than 22?" (Or how about the fact that Powell is 36?) Nitpicks, nitpicks. Hulu says this is a comedy anyway. By the way, Chad is based on a character created by Eli Manning for his ESPN+ series, "Eli's Places"; he and his brother (Peyton) are executive producers, too.

OCTOBER

OCT. 2 

KAREN PIRIE (BritBox) Fans of Scottish crime writer Val McDermid will want to check out this drama about Det. Insp. Karen Pirie (Lauren Lyle) who — as those fans well know — is the star of seven McDermid novels since 2003. The reviews (from the U.K.) have been good.

OCT. 3

MONSTER: THE ED GEIN STORY (Netflix) For the third installment of their thoroughly repulsive but accurately titled "Monster" series, Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan take on Gein, the murderer and graverobber from the 1950s. Charlie Hunnam ("Sons of Anarchy") is in the title role.

OCT. 4

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (NBC/4, 11:30) For those still keeping count, this will be the 51st season. Bad Bunny hosts and Doja Cat will be the musical guest for the premiere. New cast members this season are: Ben Marshall, Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Kam Patterson and Veronika Slowikowska. Don't go looking for veteran (and esteemed) cast member Heidi Gardner, who was cut loose a few weeks ago. Ego Nwodim is also not returning.

OCT. 5

BRIAN AND MAGGIE (WNET/13, 8) Harriet Walter stars as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who clashes with British newsman, or "presenter," Brian Walden (Steve Coogan) during a 1989 TV interview. Both went in as friends, and came out as enemies. (In two parts.)

MAIGRET (WNET/13, 9) Belgian writer Georges Simenon wrote literally hundreds of novels about his famed detective Jules Maigret, so there must be at least one TV series in this mountain of mysteries, and indeed there is. This modern adaptation (set and filmed in Paris) stars Benjamin Wainwright ("Belgravia — the Next Chapter") in the title role.

OCT. 9

9-1-1: NASHVILLE (ABC/7, 9) 

Could Nashville get any cooler? Oh, sure — if the "9-1-1" franchise came to town, and especially if it starred Chris O'Donnell, Jessica Capshaw and LeAnn Rimes. (This is the only new show on ABC this fall — and it streams on Hulu the next day, too.)

BOOTS (Netflix) Norman Lear was involved in lots of projects up until his death in 2023 at the age of 101, including this dramedy adaptation of the Greg Cope White memoir, "The Pink Marine," about a closeted Marine recruit in the 1990s, with Miles Heizer ("Parenthood") as Cope.

OCT. 10

 T HE LAST FRONTIER (Apple TV+) 

Jason Clarke ("Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty") plays a U.S. Marshal whose territory is a vast tract of Alaska wilderness. A plane carrying criminals has crash-landed, and those wide-open spaces suddenly look menacing, and are. Also starring Dominic Cooper, Dallas Goldtooth and Alfre Woodard. Ten episodes (two tonight.)

JOHN CANDY: I LIKE ME (Prime Video) This Colin Hanks-directed documentary on the late actor got a solid reception at the recent Toronto International Film Festival where it premiered. Could that be because recluses like Dan Aykroyd and Macaulay Culkin actually appeared on camera to talk about him?

OCT. 12

THE CHAIR COMPANY (HBO, 10) Tim Robinson is a master of squirm comedy, so it's fair to say there should be plenty of squirming in this new series, about a guy (Robinson) who turns to a conspiracy after something bad happens to him at his job.

OCT. 13

DMV (CBS/2, 8:30) 

Tim Meadows stars as Gregg, who works in the DMV ... which doesn't exactly sound like the greatest elevator pitch in the world, but we're willing to give it a chance anyway. Reason: This is the only new comedy on CBS this fall

OCT. 15

MURDAUGH: DEATH IN THE FAMILY (Hulu) Jason Clarke is back again, this time with Patricia Arquette ("Severance"), who play Alex and Maggie Murdaugh, respectively. Based on the "Murdaugh Murders Podcast," about the sensational (and much covered) 2023 trial.

OCT. 16

DEVIL IN DISGUISE: JOHN WAYNE GACY (Peacock) Michael Chernus of "Severance" seems like way too nice a guy to be playing serial killer Gacy — but that's why it's called acting. He's joined by James Badge Dale and Gabriel Luna in this eight-parter.

OCT. 17

BOSTON BLUE (CBS/2, 10) We'll all be hearing a whole lot more about this "Blue Bloods" spinoff (or "expansion of the 'BB' universe, as CBS puts it) starring Donnie Wahlberg who reprises Det. Danny Reagan — but according to reports, his son (now played by Mika Amonsen, who replaces Andrew Terraciano) has a key role in getting him to Boston, where he joins the Boston police force. Danny's got a new partner, too (Sonequa Martin-Green).

MR. SCORSESE (Apple TV+) Rebecca Miller — daughter of Arthur and an acclaimed filmmaker in her own right ("The Private Lives of Pippa Lee") — has assembled quite a cast to discuss the incandescent career of Martin Scorsese (Steven Spielberg, Cate Blanchett, Robert De Niro and lots more). In five installments.

SHERIFF COUNTRY (CBS/2, 9) "Fire Country," meet your new spinoff baby, "Sheriff Country," starring Morena Baccarin as Mickey Fox, who was introduced last season. Fox investigates crime in the small town of Edgewater.

OCT. 19

THE ROAD (CBS/2, 9) "A journey to discover the next big musician." Which sounds familiar. Very. But what's different about this next-big-star unscripted show is the people involved — Taylor Sheridan, TV's hottest producer ("Yellowstone"), Blake Shelton, the co-producer, and Keith Urban. Twelve newbies will open for Urban on a national tour, and one will be chosen to go forward — on his or her own national tour, and a recording contract. Yeah, there will be judges, but audience participation in some way will also play a part, much as it does with "American Idol."

OCT. 26

IT: WELCOME TO DERRY (HBO, HBO Max) 

How did Pennywise the Dancing Clown get to be Pennywise, the smiley-face monster with a passion for sucking poor kids down storm drains? There's got to be quite an origin story there, and Bill Skarsgård is back to tell it. According to reports, this prequel is set in 1962, and opens with a hate crime — the burning of a nightclub popular with Black servicemen. In nine episodes.

TALAMASCA: THE SECRET ORDER (AMC, 9) This is AMC's third go-round with Anne Rice and the so-called "Immortal Universe," which launched in 2022 with "Interview with the Vampire." Nicholas Denton ("Dangerous Liaisons") and Elizabeth McGovern ("Downton Abbey") star.

OCT. 27

KISSINGER (WNET/13, 9) In the wake of federal spending cuts to public television, one of its jewels — "American Experience" — is taking a hit, but not until next year. At least this two-parter by "AE" veteran Barak Goodman on Richard Nixon's national security adviser (who died in 2023) will get on the air.

OCT. 29

DOWN CEMETERY ROAD (Apple TV+) Two people are killed when a house explodes in an Oxford, U.K., neighborhood. A gas leak? Who knows but what's odd is that a young child who lived there is missing. That's the set-up for this thriller from Mick Herron ("Slow Horses"), which stars Ruth Wilson as a local housewife who investigates the explosion, with the help of a local cop, Zoë Boehm (Emma Thompson). In eight episodes.

NOVEMBER
NOV. 2

 I LOVE LA (HBO, 9, HBO Max)

Very little seems to be known about this first series starring (and produced by) Rachel Sennott ("Shiva Baby," "Bodies, Bodies, Bodies"), other than the line in the March 2024 Deadline post announcing it: "A codependent friend group reunites, navigating how the time apart, ambition and new relationships have changed them. So, think "Girls," or "Insecure," or the FX newcomer "Adults"? Maybe. In eight episodes.

NOV. 3

CRUTCH (Paramount+) This Tracy Morgan sitcom was supposed to be a spinoff of "The Neighborhood" — the veteran CBS show with Cedric the Entertainer — until the hard, cold world of network economics intervened. Instead, this turned into a Paramount+ show with ties to the CBS one: Morgan plays Crutch, the lovable Harlem cousin of Calvin (Cedric). Morgan played Calvin's brother (briefly) in "The Neighborhood." (TMI? Sorry.) This co-stars "Hell's Kitchen's" Kecia Lewis who (you'll recall) was involved in the feud with Patti LuPone last spring. (More TMI?)

NOV. 6

DEATH BY LIGHTNING (Netflix)

"This is a true story about two men the world forgot," begins this four-parter starring Michael Shannon and Matthew Macfadyen. Not quite forgotten — or not to those history buffs who know what happened to President James Garfield (Shannon) and Charles Guiteau (Macfadyen) who shot the 20th president on July 2, 1881. Based on the 2011 book "Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President," by Candice Millard, this gets into all that madness (and quack medicine). Why the title? Because the attack shocked the nation so much that it was as if Garfield had been struck by lightning.

ALL HER FAULT (Peacock) Marissa Irvine (Sarah Snook, "Succession") goes to pick up her son, Milo, from a playdate, but when she knocks on the door, the woman who answers is a stranger. This stranger also has no idea what she's talking about — her son? No Milo here. This eight-parter based on the 2021 Andrea Mara novel — which was set in Dublin, this in Chicago — also stars Dakota Fanning and Jake Lacy ("The White Lotus").

NOV. 7

PLURIBUS (Apple TV+)

 "Breaking Bad's" Vince Gilligan returns to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for a strikingly different show (in nine episodes) — a sci-fi about a strange new virus that makes people insanely, overwhelmingly happy. Starring Rhea Seehorn ("Better Call Saul") as the person who must save the world from all this good cheer. Yes, a departure! But not much else is known about a series that may well be the most anticipated of the entire 2025 fall season.

NOV. 13

THE BEAST IN ME (Netflix)

Roslyn's Howard Gordon ("24," "Homeland") returns to TV in this thriller about an author (Claire Danes, "Homeland") who's struggling in the wake of the death of her son, when a real estate mogul (Matthew Rhys, "The Americans") comes into her orbit. The problem: He was implicated in his wife's disappearance. In eight episodes.

NOV. 16

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (WNET/13, 9)

 Ken Burns' latest is 12 hours divided over six parts, airing on consecutive nights. (Quick flashback: That's how Burns' monster success from 1990 — "The Civil War" — was also presented.) According to a Burns' programming note from his website, "'The American Revolution' will be an expansive, evenhanded look at the virtues and the contradictions in the fight for independence and the birth of the United States."

LANDMAN (Paramount+) After kidnapping and torture by a gang, what other adventures await Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton) this second season? Well, after the death of his boss, Monty Miller (Jon Hamm), he's become president of M-Tex Oil. But he's got some company in the C-suite — Monty's wife, Cami (Demi Moore), who takes on a major role at the company.

NOV. 26

THE BEATLES ANTHOLOGY 2025 (Disney+) In 1995, a vast multimedia project called "The Beatles Anthology" — book, TV series, and VHS/laser disc — was released. Now, on the 30th anniversary, the remastered TV series in eight parts, with a new behind-the-scenes ninth episode. For Beatles fans, this is da bomb.

STRANGER THINGS (Netflix)

Feel free to call this fifth and final season the high-water mark of the 2025 fall season. Like precious drops of manna, the episodes will be parceled out piecemeal — four episodes on the 26th, another three on Dec. 25, and the finale on Dec. 31 — so this looks to be the high-water mark of the winter season, too. Taking place a year after the events of Season 4, in 1987, the gang's job is to vanquish Vecna, ruler of the Upside Down. And best of luck with that.