The TV Column

Four new shows premiere today, one Monday

Bring it in! Exceedingly friendly Dave Johnson (Max Greenfield, back to camera) greets curmudgeon Calvin Butler (Cedric “The” Entertainer) on The Neighborhood. The new sitcom debuts Monday on CBS.
Bring it in! Exceedingly friendly Dave Johnson (Max Greenfield, back to camera) greets curmudgeon Calvin Butler (Cedric “The” Entertainer) on The Neighborhood. The new sitcom debuts Monday on CBS.

The first full week of the new fall TV season is in the books with a full slate of premieres arriving each night.

Week 2 will slow down just a bit with only five new series spread out among returning shows. However, four of those new series will debut today and Monday. Let's take a look at them, each featuring a predominately black cast.

• The Neighborhood, 7 p.m. Monday on CBS. Going unsaid at the beginning of this new comedy's title is "There Goes" -- a term some insular folks use when people of color move into a previously all-white neighborhood and, they believe, adversely affect real estate values.

Well, surprise, surprise. The stereotypes are reversed in The Neighborhood. This middle class neighborhood is all-black and the highly opinionated, disgruntled, hide-bound curmudgeon on the block is Calvin Butler, played by a scene-stealing Cedric "The" Entertainer.

Calvin gets his hackles raised when the exceedingly friendly (and exceedingly white) Dave Johnson (New Girl's Max Greenfield) moves next-door and threatens -- or so Calvin fears -- to adversely affect the "African-American ambience" Calvin has so carefully cultivated in the neighborhood.

"This is a black neighborhood," Calvin grouses. "You let one family like that in and the next thing you know there'll be a bunch of dudes joggin' in their short shorts and walkin' their vegan labradoodles."

Beth Behrs plays Dave's perky blond wife, Gemma, and Hank Greenspan plays their unfiltered young son, Grover.

Getting a kick out of watching Calvin squirm are his wife, Tina (Tichina Arnold), and their sons, Malcolm (Sheaun McKinney) and Marty (Marcel Spears).

• God Friended Me, 7:30-8:30 p.m. today on CBS. The series moves to 7 p.m. on Oct. 7.

What would you do if you were walking along minding your own business and -- Ding! -- God sent you a friend request on social media (think Facebook)? Is it a joke? A hoax? Or, maybe not.

Getting a heavenly friend request is what happens to Miles Finer (Brandon Micheal Hall), a young atheist at odds with his minister father (Joe Morton).

Miles eventually accepts the request out of curiosity and his life changes. Teaming with online journalist Cara Bloom (Violett Beane) to investigate the requests, Miles ends up inadvertently becoming an agent of positive change in the lives of those around him.

Instead of Touched by an Angel, this sounds a bit like Touched by an iPhone.

CBS bills the series as "a humorous, uplifting drama," but it's not heavy-handed. In a network interview, co-creator Steven Lilien said, "It's incredibly important to us that we're not a show that's preachy or judgmental. We're not here to take sides. We're here to show all different points of view. It's a respectful, inclusive show. Whether you believe or don't believe, our message is believe in each other."

For the record, the show's four main characters are Episcopalian, Jewish, Hindu and atheist.

• Rel, 8:30 p.m. today on Fox. The network rolled out a sneak peek of this series on Sept. 9 and I wrote about it then.

Just to briefly remind you, the sitcom is based on the comedy of Lil Rel Howery (The Carmichael Show), and follows a hardworking father and husband who discovers his wife is having an affair with his barber. He must now start his life over and hilarity ensues.

• Happy Together, 7:30 p.m. Monday on CBS. This half-hour sitcom stars Damon Wayans Jr. and Amber Stevens West as accountant Jake and designer Claire. They're a happily married, perfectly ordinary, easy-going -- even boring -- mid-30s couple who rediscover their cooler, hipper, younger selves when a hot pop star moves in with them seeking to hide from the paparazzi.

Twenty-year-old Australian actor Felix Mallard plays music superstar Cooper James (think One Direction's Harry Styles). He quickly comes to appreciate the more relaxed lifestyle in the suburbs.

Stephnie Weir stars as Claire's mother, Bonnie; Victor Williams plays Claire's father, Gerald; and Chris Parnell stars as Cooper's agent, Wayne.

RETURNING SHOWS

Today:

6 p.m., America's Funniest Home Videos, ABC. Face plants, foibles and epic fails since 1989

6:30 p.m. 60 Minutes, CBS. Season 51 for TV's longest-running newsmagazine

7 p.m., The Simpsons, Fox. It's Season 30 for the longest-running scripted prime-time series in American TV history.

7:30, Bob's Burgers, Fox. Season 9

8 p.m., Family Guy, Fox. Season 17

8:30 p.m., NCIS: Los Angeles, CBS. Season 10

AETN alert: Season 4 of Poldark on Masterpiece kicks off at 8 p.m. today on PBS.

The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:

mstorey@arkansasonline.com

Style on 09/30/2018

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