Pilot season is always a lot.  New and returning shows?  Bring ‘em on!  Deciding to which of these shows you’ll commit (whether the time to watch, or just the time to set-up automatic recordings)?  Kind of a drag – especially when, like me, odds are pretty high that a large percentage of the shows to which you commit (based on reviews, previews, trailers, or the cast, director, producer, et al.) will be cancelled. Thus, the reason I never watched shows like Alias, Lost, 24, and myriad other series; in lieu of the series that I’d selected for my DVR to record, including Firefly (2002), Carnivàle (2003), Jack & Bobby (2004), Wonderfalls (2004), The Class (2006), Moonlight (2007), Pushing Daisies (2007), and Eli Stone (2008).

So, forgetting for a moment what you’ll actually watch; what will you be recording, this week?  Will it be one of CBS’ long-awaited reboots – Candice Bergen reprising her award-winning* role as the titular investigavtive journalist on Murphy Brown; or Jay Hernandez breathing new life (sans ‘stache) into the role of Ferrari-borrowing private investigator, 'Thomas Magnum' on Magnum P.I.? 

Perhaps you’re more into seeing where last season’s new shows are picking-up for their sophomore seasons – as with one of Monday’s melodramas, including the dynamic first-responders of 9-1-1 (FOX), or the medical personnel saving lives on The Resident (FOX) or The Good Doctor (ABC).

Fans of Dick Wolf will delight not only in Wednesday night’s back-to-back-to-back season premieres of Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, and Chicago PD (all on NBC), and Thursday’s double-episode season premiere of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC); but also, in the debut of Wolf’s FBI (on CBS, go figure) teeming with familiar faces from the Dick Wolf canon.

Those who are seeking to have their heart-strings tugged upon might gravitate toward This Is Us (NBC) and A Million Little Things (ABC); whereas those wanting to up their adrenaline should get their clickers ready to turn to Lethal Weapon (FOX) or MacGyver (CBS).

As for me, I love it all; but have been really looking forward to the returns of American Housewife (ABC), Mom (CBS), and The Good Place (NBC), and Young Sheldon (CBS); not to mention the final season of The Big Bang Theory (CBS).  And as for this season’s crop of new sitcoms, I’m expecting good times and great laughs from Rel (FOX), The Kids Are Alright (CBS), The Neighborhood (CBS), Single Parents (ABC), and – with a cast including sitcom legends David Alan Grier, Leslie Jordan, Vicki Lawrence, and Martin Mull – The Cool Kids (FOX).

Here’s a look at what’s debuting when, and on which channel, this week…

Monday, September 24th
8p           The Big Bang Theory: S12 Ep1 – The Conjugal Configuration (CBS)
               The Resident: S2 Ep1 (FOX)

8:30p      Young Sheldon: S2 Ep1 – A High-Pitched Buzz and Training Wheels (CBS)

9p           Magnum P.I.: S1 Ep1 – I Saw the Sun Rise (CBS)
               9-1-1: S2 Ep2 – 7.1 (FOX)**

10p          Manifest: S1 Ep1 – Pilot (NBC)
               Bull: S3 Ep1 – The Ground Beneath Their Feet (CBS)
               The Good Doctor: S2 Ep1 – Hello (ABC)

Tuesday, September 25th
9pm        This Is Us (NBC)
               FBI: S1 Ep1 – Pilot (CBS)
               Lethal Weapon: S3 Ep1 – In the Same Boat (FOX)

10p          New Amsterdam: S1 Ep1 – Pilot (NBC)

Wednesday, September 26th
8p          Chicago Med: S4 Ep1 – Be My Better Half (NBC)
              The Goldbergs: S6 Ep1 – Sixteen Candles (ABC)
              Empire: S5 Ep1 – Steal From the Thief (FOX)

8:30p      American Housewife: S2 Ep1 – Mom Guilt (ABC)

9p           Chicago Fire: S7 Ep1 – A Closer Eye (NBC)
               Modern Family: S10 Ep1 – I Love a Parade (ABC)

9:30p      Single Parents: S1 Ep1 – Pilot (ABC)

10p         Chicago PD: S6 Ep1 – New Normal (NBC)
              A Million Little Things: S1 Ep1 – Pilot (ABC)

Thursday, September 27th
8p          The Good Place: S3 Ep1 – Everything is Bonzer! (NBC)

9p          Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: S20 Ep1; Ep2 – Man Up; Man Down (NBC)

9:30p     Mom: S6 Ep1 – Pre-Washed Lettuce and a Mime (CBS)

10p        Murphy Brown: S1 Ep1 – Fake News (CBS)

Friday, September 28th
8p          MacGyver: S3 Ep1 – Improvise (CBS)

8:30p     The Cool Kids: S1 Ep1 – Pilot (FOX)

Saturday, September 29th
8:30p     Saturday Night Live: S44 Ep1 – Adam Driver; Kanye West (NBC)

New and Returning TV Series
Fall 2018

Get into it!
#FallTV

[Editor’s Note: * Over the course of Murphy Brown's decade-long run on CBS (1988-1998), Candice Bergen received five Emmy Awards (1989, 1990, 1992, 1994, and 1995), two Golden Globe Awards (1989 and 1992), two People's Choice Awards (1992 and 1993), and an American Comedy Award (1992) for her portrayal of the titular character // ** 9-1-1’s two-night premiere on FOX began on Sunday, September 24th, with S2 Ep1, “Under Pressure”]