Fall TV's Winners and Losers
Another season, another batch of TV hits and misses.
Now that all the new shows have officially debuted and our favorites have returned, it's time to assess the state of the 2016 fall TV season: the good, the bad and the ugly.
So which shows, actors and networks have a lot to be thankful for this fall season? And which ones might want to start sending Santa their Christmas lists early? Click through our gallery of fall TV's winners and losers now to find out...
Winner: Gilmore Girls
Almost a decade after the original series ended, Gilmore Girls is back and better than ever. Yes, Netflix's highly anticipated revival, featuring the return of all your favorite Stars Hollow residents in four 90-minute episodes, totally lives up to the hype. And unlike many recent revivals, remakes and reboots, A Year in the Life feels natural and necessary. So brew a pot a bot of coffee, stock up on Pop Tarts and prepare to binge-watch come Nov. 25.
Loser: CBS' Lack of Diversity
TV's highest-rated network's line-up of new fall shows all had one thing in common: they were all fronted by a white male lead, including Matt LeBlanc in Man With a Plan, Michael Weatherly in Bull and Kevin James in Kevin Can Wait, among others. When the stunning lack of diversity was brought up by reporters at the 2016 Summer TCA Press Tour, CBS boss Glen Geller said, "We need to do better and we know it."
Winner: This Is Us
NBC's family drama is, hands down, the breakout hit of the fall. It's the highest-rated new show and is earning tons of love from critics and viewers alike, who are brought to tears in each episode, thanks to performances by Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore and Sterling K. Brown. We suggest stocking up on tissues on your next Costco run, because This Is Us isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
Winner: Milo Ventimiglia
Between This Is Us and Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, 2016 is officially the year of the Milo-ssiance, and we're totally OK with it.
Winner: The Walking Dead
With two deadly swings of his beloved Lucille, Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Negan has introduced a new sense of urgency in the AMC hit's storytelling, and it's paid off in the ratings. The premiere attracted the show's second-largest audience ever.
Toss-Up: Remakes
While CBS successfully rebooted MacGyver and Lethal Weapon proved to be a hit on Fox, other remakes, failed to attract fans, old and new, including Fox's The Exorcist, starring Geena Davis, and the CW's Frequency.
Winner: Supergirl
A new network looks good on Supergirl, which saw a ratings boost for the CW when its premiere was the most-watched show in the Monday-at-8 p.m. timeslot in eight years. Bonus: It gave us the best Superman in a looong time (Sorry, Henry Cavill and Brandon Routh) with Tyler Hoechlin's debut.
Loser: The CW's New Dramas
While they attracted strong reviews (including love from us!), No Tomorrow, the rom-com-gone-apocalyptic, and Frequency, a remake of the Dennis Quaid film, have failed to connect with viewers. Here's hoping the buzzy Riverdale, set to debut in January, is able to attract eyeballs with its Gossip Girl-meets-Twin Peaks vibe.
Winner: American Horror Story
Ryan Murphy's decision to shroud season six in mystery paid off big time, with many calling Roanoke (Which was a super-meta riff on our obsession with reality TV) the anthology series' best season in years.
Loser: Dancing With the Stars
While the ABC reality competition has remained steady in the ratings, it feels like there isn't much excitement around season 23, aside from the Ryan Lochte heckling incident in the premiere. Good thing there's a new batch of celebs just around the corner in for the spring season.
Winner: Auteur-Driven Comedies
Call it the Louie Effect. This fall saw the rise of the auteur-driven cable comedy with Donald Glover's Atlanta, Pamela Adlon's Better Things (both at FX), and Issa Rae's Insecure representing the fall's best-reviewed new comedies. Each project leapt off the screen thanks to their diverse creators' specificity of vision. These shows weren't cultivated in a sterile TV comedy lab—they were labors of love. And it didn't hurt that they were all wildly funny, too. That they each quickly earned second season orders came as no surprise at all.
Loser: Woody Allen
The polarizing filmmaker's first TV show, Crisis in Six Scenes, which he wrote, directed and starred in along with Miley Cyrus, premiered on Amazon in September...and no one really noticed.
Winner: Designated Survivor
It looks like Kiefer Sutherland's presidential run is really the designated survivor of ABC's new fall dramas, being picked up for a full season after breaking the record for the biggest ever Live+7 Day delayed audience for any network telecast. Looks like Jack Bauer won't be needed to save the day in this show!
Loser: All of ABC's Other New Dramas
Lesson learned from Conviction and Notorious? You can't make a Shonda Rhimes show without Shonda Rhimes.
Winner: Saturday Night Live's Resurgence
Finally, SNL is relevant again, thanks to new head writers Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, who haven't been afraid to get weird, leading to an increase in viewers AND viral skteches. (David S. Pumpkins, anyone?)
Loser: Every Special About JonBenét Ramsey
From CBS' over-hyped and over-produced four-hour limited event to Lifetime's original movie, Who Killed JonBenét?, which had the audacity to have the murdered six-year-old narrate the film from the afterlife, it's officially time for TV to let the 20-year-old unsolved case rest in peace.
Winner: Westworld
HBO's ambitious sci-fi drama based on the 1973 novel by Michael Crichton was a huge gamble for the net looking for another Game of Thrones-sized hit, and it paid off: The show is generating huge online buzz and is averaging 11.7 million viewers in its first six weeks (across all platforms and airings).
Winner: The Women of ABC's Comedies
While other networks were doubling down on the dudes (ahem, CBS), ABC decided to center their two new fall comedies, Speechless and American Housewife, around strong women who don't take any s--t. They join an already solid line-up of sitcom moms who rule the roost (think: Fresh Off the Boat, The Real O'Neals, Black-ish, The Middle, and Modern Family). Oh, and people actually like them. So take that, Man With a Plan.