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Home · Celebrity

Fall TV Preview: 21 Reasons We'll Be Tuning In

Fall TV is chock full of exciting faces you never thought you'd see on the small screen—from Jada Pinkett Smith and Viola Davis to Octavia Spencer and Laurence Fishburne. As we gear up to snuggle up in front of our tellies, here are 21 reasons to get excited about this year's TV lineup.

By Yolanda Sangweni and Lauren Turn · Updated October 27, 2020
01
‘If Loving You Is Wrong’

Premieres: Sept. 9 at 9pm ET on OWN
A group of wives, husbands and friends in an affluent neighborhood deal with broken marriages and deception, while maintaining their veneer of success and happiness.

Jeremy Cowart/ OWN
02
‘The Real’

Premieres: September 11 at 11am ET on FOX
Tamar Braxton, Tamera Mowry-Housley, Loni Love, Jeannie Mai, Adrienne Bailon Adrienne Bailon are the new voices of daytime talk.

03
Octavia Spencer in ‘Red Band Society’

Premieres: Sept. 17 at 9pm ET on FOX
Spencer’s character Nurse Jackson is described as a caregiver “with a take-no-prisoners approach” to helping rule-bending teens hospitalized at the fictional Los Angeles Ocean Park Hosiptal.

FOX
04
‘On The Run’ Tour on HBO

Premieres: September 20 on HBO
The Carter’s bring their ‘On The Run Tour’ to the small screen.

Larry Busacca/PW/WireImage for Parkwood Entertainment
05
Taye Diggs in ‘The Good Wife’

Premieres: September 21 at 9pm ET on CBS
Diggs will star in a multi-episode arc on the critically-acclaimed drama. Diggs will play Dean Levine-Wilkins, a “meticulous and talented” partner at the Lockhart/Gardner law firm.

Getty Images
06
Jada Pinkett Smith in ‘Gotham’

Premieres: Sept. 22 at 8pm ET on FOX
Pinkett’s character Fish Mooney is a “sadistic gangster boss and nightclub owner” in this gangster drama based on the early life Batman and the villains and heroes who make Gotham City

Jada Pinkett Smith/ Facebook
07
‘Sleepy Hollow’

Premieres: September 22 at 8pm on FOX
Ichabod (Tom Mison) and Abbie (Nicole Beharie) resume their mission of fighting fighting demons and monsters in this supernatural drama. 

FOX
08
Pharrell in ‘The Voice’

Premieres: September 22 at 9pm ET on NBC
Pharrell joins The Voice as a judge for season seven.

NBC
09
‘Black-ish’

Premieres: Sept. 24 at 9:30pm ET on ABC
Tracee Ellis Ross and Anthony Anderson play an upwardly mobile couple struggling to instill a sense of cultural identity in their children. Laurence Fishburne stars as Anderson’s father.

10
Key & Peele

Premieres: September 24 on Comedy Central
We’re prepared for even more laughs as Key and Peele return for season 4.

11
Viola Davis in ‘How to Get Away With Murder’

Premieres: Sept. 25 at 10pm ET on ABC
Davis is Annalise DeWitt, a criminal defense professor who gets entangled in a murder case with four of her students in this Shonda Rhimes drama.

ABC
12
‘Scandal’

Premieres: Sept. 25 at 9pm ET on ABC
Because we all want to know one thing: Where in the world is Olivia Pope?

ABC
13
‘Survivor’s Remorse’

Premieres: Oct. 4 on Starz
This Lebron James-produced drama about a basketball player coming into his stardom—starring Teyonah Parris, Mike Epss, Tichina Arnold and more—will have us all talking, and tweeting. “Pro Money, Pro Problems!”

14
Angela Bassett in ‘American Horror Story: Freakshow’

Premieres: Oct. 8 on FX
Bassett is back as Marie Laveau, the “Queen of the Voodoos,” in this terrifying, but utterly addictive, horror anthology. 

FX
15
Alfre Woodard in ‘State of Affairs’

Premieres: Nov. 17 at 10pm ET on NBC
Woodard plays President Constance Payton in this this powerful drama about women in politics.

NBC
16
‘Hollywood Divas’

Premieres: October 8 at 10pm ET on TVOne
Paula Jai Parker, Countess Vaughn, Golden Brooks, and Elise Neal come together to self-produce an independent film. Add in the usual mix of diva-tude, and a reality star in the form of Lisa Wu. Sounds like a great Wednesday night in.

Alex Martinez/ TV One
17
‘Real Husbands of Hollywood’

Premieres: October on BET
“Be prepared. Be ready. Be scared,” says BET on season 3 of this roaringly funny faux reality show.

18
Danai Gurira in ‘Walking Dead’

Premieres: October 12 at 9pm ET on AMC
ESSENCE October issue cover girl Danai Gurira says her character, Michonne, yearns “for something more stable in life,” on season five. “Is she trying to move away from how much of a warrior she is? But will the world allow that?”

Gene Page/ AMC.com
19
Toni Braxton As Darlene Love

Premieres: December on OWN
Braxton will play legendary backup singer Darlene Love on the OWN network’s upcoming biopic, My Name is Love: The Darlene Love Story.

Getty Images
20
‘Drumline: A New Beat’

Premieres: October 27 at 9pm ET on VH1
The Nick Cannon-directed sequel to the 2002 Drumline movie stars Alexandra Shipp (who also plays Aaliyah in the upcoming Lifetime biopic) stars as Danielle Bolton, a Brooklyn girl who defies her parents to attend Atlanta A & T’s once-illustrious drumline.

21
‘The Minority Report’

Premieres: January 2015 on Comedy Central
Comedic writer Larry Wilmore, aka The Daily Show’s  “senior black correspondent,” will take over the Stephen Colbert’s slot on weeknights after The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

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