October is here and if you thought the new fall season was finished, it's not. Six new series will make their debuts on broadcast networks between today and the 27th, and 21 veteran series will return, including the remainder of The CW lineup.
Here's the new and returning lineup for the next two days, plus a highly anticipated series from HBO.
TODAY:
• Westworld, 8 p.m. HBO. Remember that groundbreaking 1973 Michael Crichton sci-fi Western theme park movie starring Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin and James Brolin?
That was the one where the theme park was full of lifelike androids -- a place where, for $1,000 a day (a huge sum back then), guests could share Wild West adventures with android "hosts" and indulge their every fantasy -- from sexual encounters to gunfights -- with no repercussions.
Well, Westworld is back and on the small screen in a 10-episode series featuring some A-list Hollywood stars. Bonus: J.J. Abrams (Felicity, Alias, Lost, Fringe, Star Wars: Episode VII -- The Force Awakens) is one of the executive producers. That's always good sign.
As the (faux) Westworld travel brochure says on the website, "Freedom. No judgments. No questions. Just infinite choices. We offer complete discretion.
"Westworld is a meticulously crafted and artfully designed park offering an unparalleled, immersive world where you have the freedom to become who you've always wanted to be -- or who you never knew you were. Exist free of rules, laws or judgment. No impulse is taboo."
The cast includes Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden and a host of others.
The series was co-created by Jonathan Nolan (The Dark Knight) and Lisa Joy (Pushing Daisies), both of whom are executive producing and writing, with Nolan directing.
HBO publicity sums things up by saying Westworld is "a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the evolution of sin, exploring a world in which every human appetite, no matter how noble or depraved, can be indulged."
Nolan explains, "Building on the incredibly evocative concept of the original film, we wanted to pose the question: If you could be completely immersed in a fantasy, one in which you could do whatever you wanted, would you discover things about yourself that you didn't want to know?"
Oscar winner Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs) plays Dr. Robert Ford, the brilliant and complicated creative director, chief programmer and founder of Westworld.
Harris plays the Man in Black and is "the distillation of pure villainy."
Wood portrays sweet and beautiful rancher's daughter Dolores Abernathy, who slowly begins to discover something isn't quite right with her idyllic life in the town of Sweetwater and maybe it's all an elaborate lie.
Marsden is charming Teddy Flood, a new arrival to the frontier town who quickly proves to be skilled with a gun.
The rest of the characters run the gamut from bordello madam and brutal outlaws, to hedonistic repeat guests and those behind the scenes keeping the elaborate and intricate park from devolving into chaos.
In tonight's episode, "The Original," chief programmer Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright) alerts Ford about disturbing incidents of aberrant behavior cropping up in some recently re-coded androids. Aberrant will get you killed in Westworld.
Meanwhile in Sweetwater, Dolores encounters gunslinger Teddy on the street, but their planned narrative is interrupted by the appearance of the Man in Black.
• America's Funniest Home Videos, 6 p.m., ABC. It's Season 27 for the long-running series featuring crotch kicks, face plants, funny pets and cute kids. This stuff never gets old. Alfonso Ribeiro is back as host.
• Madam Secretary, 8 p.m., CBS. Season 3 and Tea Leoni is still the secretary of state.
• Elementary, 9 p.m., CBS. Season 5 for the sleuth Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) and his Dr. Watson (Lucy Liu).
MONDAY:
• Scorpion, 8 p.m., CBS. Season 3 for the geeky crime busters.
• Conviction, 9 p.m., ABC. New. Hayley Atwell (Agent Carter) portrays a lawyer and disgraced former first daughter coerced into working for an outfit that looks into overturning wrongful convictions.
Critics love Atwell, but have not been kind in their previews of Conviction.
• Timeless, 9 p.m., NBC. New. Another series with a high concept gimmick. This one will remind older viewers of The Time Tunnel in that a mismatched trio travel through time to battle an evil mastermind out to alter history.
The series stars Abigail Spencer (Rectify), Malcolm Barrett (Better Off Ted) and Matt Lanter (90210). Up first -- the Hindenberg disaster.
Trivia: The Time Tunnel (1966-1967) starred James Darren and Robert Colbert, both of whom are still alive (ages 80 and 85, respectively).
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Style on 10/02/2016