Fall TV Predictions: Revivals, Reveals, Babies And More
Fall TV Predictions
THE ORVILLE
PREDICTION: If its strong Sunday launch numbers don't completely crater with the move to Thursday, Fox will move the space dramedy to the lead-off spot, after Gotham gets Bat-crushed on its new night.
OUTCOME: Though Gotham plunged 30 percent in the demo with its move (averaging just under a 0.8), The Orville (averaging a 1.0 on Thursdays) stayed o course in the 9/8c time slot. (SCORE SO FAR: 6.25-FOR-21)
Fall TV Predictions
MODERN FAMILY
PREDICTION: Hayley? Pregnant. (So... maybe put that Champagne down, missy.)
OUTCOME: An opportunity yet again missed, we say. (SCORE SO FAR: 4.75-FOR-17)
Fall TV Predictions
KEVIN (PROBABLY) SAVES THE WORLD
PREDICTION: Kevin (probably) won't be able to break ABC's Tuesdays-at-10 pm curse, and will be pulled after three, maybe four episodes.
OUTCOME: Kevin (certainly) wasn't able to break the curse (1/4 point!), yet was able to air its entire freshman run. (SCORE SO FAR: 2.75-FOR-11)
Fall TV Predictions
GREAT NEWS
PREDICTION: Thanks to a buzzy post-Will & Grace timeslot and Tina Fey's guest arc, NBC's sophomore sitcom will enjoy a ratings uptick and cruise to a Season 3 renewal — even garnering some awards buzz.
OUTCOME: No ratings uptick, no Season 3 pick-up, and no meaningful awards buzz. (SCORE SO FAR: 2-for-8)
Fall TV Predictions
CHICAGO FIRE
PREDICTION: Back to his playboy ways, Severide will get one of his flings pregnant.
OUTCOME: TVLine is not on fiyah, for not only did Severide not sire a sprout, but he's settled into a relationship with Stella! (SCORE SO FAR: 1-for-5)
Fall TV Predictions
THE BRAVE
PREDICTION: Despite middling reviews/being part of this TV season's military heroes glut, The Voice's Monday lead-out will be the fall's second highest-rated drama launch (behind Fox's NFL-boosted The Orville).
OUTCOME: Misfire. With a 1.3 demo rating, The Brave's premiere ranked seventh among freshman drama launches. Instead, time slot rival The Good Doctor (with a 2.2 rating) placed No. 2 behind the NFL-inflated Orville. (SCORE SO FAR: 1-FOR-3)
Fall TV Predictions
TWIN PEAKS
PREDICTION: On Oct. 6 — three years after this summer's revival was first announced — Showtime will reveal its plans for another batch of new episodes, to air in Spring 2021.
OUTCOME: "Diane, there are no plans at this time for more episodes. (SCORE SO FAR: 10-for-32)
Fall TV Predictions
THE NCIS-VERSE
PREDICTION: Just as MacGyver did last season (by way of its crossover with Hawaii Five-0), yet another CBS drama will "join" the NCIS universe.
OUTCOME: Hmm, remind us to regurgitate this prediction in the fall, with Magnum P.I. now in the mix. (SCORE SO FAR: 4.75-for-18)
Fall TV Predictions
THE BIG BANG THEORY/YOUNG SHELDON
PREDICTION: CBS will stage at least one "crossover" night, where a childhood incident that adult Sheldon alludes to during Big Bang will actually play out at 8:30, on the prequel spinoff.
OUTCOME: Sheldon's freshman finale made a vague allusion to the Big wedding airing a half-hour earlier, but that's far from the full-on "crossover event" we had in mind. (SCORE SO FAR: 1-for-2)
Fall TV Predictions
ARROW
PREDICTION: Vigilante — who has a "personal" agenda and will be revealed to have a "very close connection" to a series regular character — is either A) SCPD Captain Pike, B) Dinah's "dead" partner/lover or C) Earth-2's John Diggle. But for our final answer, we'll go with... B, aka Vincent Sobel.
OUTCOME: Ding! We hit the bull's-eye right out of the gate, albiet with one of the Arrowverse's snooziest unmaskings. (STARTING SCORE: 1-for-1)
FALL TV Predictions
POTUS INTERRUPTUS
PREDICTION: President Trump will interrupt all of primetime on Nov. 8 — smack dab in the middle of sweeps — to give a lengthy speech about his "many accomplishments" since Election Day 2016.
OUTCOME: #FakeNews! Little did we realize, he would instead tweet, daily, about his accomplishments. (SCORE SO FAR: 6.25-for-22)
Fall TV Predictions
TRANSPARENT
PREDICTION: With change afoot at Amazon — and coming off of zero Emmy wins — the streaming service will announce that the recently renewed dramedy (which releases Season 4 on Sept. 22) will end after Season 5.
OUTCOME: Season 5 will in fact be the end, though for reasons unrelated to execs or awards. We'll take 3/4 a point. (SCORE SO FAR: 10-for-31)
Fall TV Predictions
TEN DAYS IN THE VALLEY
PREDICTION: Kyra Sedgwick's Jane will complicate the already-messy search for her missing daughter by having a lust-filled interlude with John Bird, the detective in charge of the investigation.
OUTCOME: The series finale hinted at the two one day sharing some Memphis ribs, but in the 10 days that preceded, things never got saucier than that. (SCORE SO FAR: 9.25-for-29)
Fall TV Predictions
LAW & ORDER: SVU
PREDICTION: Brooke Shields' mysterious Season 19 character will start out as normal but will quickly, dramatically reveal herself to be rather insane.
OUTCOME: Having gone toe-to-toe with Noah's not-averse-to-kidnapping biological grandma, Benson agrees — we were pretty spot-on with this one. (SCORE SO FAR: 3.75-for-12)
Fall TV Predictions
LETHAL WEAPON
PREDICTION: Riggs and Dr. Cahill will kiss by February sweeps. (Note: This doesn't necessarily mean they'll be together when the end of season rolls around.)
OUTCOME: Riggs gave the shrink no lip. (SCORE SO FAR: 3.75-for-13)
Fall TV Predictions
THE MINDY PROJECT
PREDICTION: Mindy and Danny will wind up together again by the end of the series. (And we reject any series finale in which that isn't the outcome.)
OUTCOME: Finally, an upturn! (SCORE SO FAR: 4.75-FOR-16)
Fall TV Predictions
MADAM SECRETARY
PREDICTION: Henry and Elizabeth will swap places... meaning that she will somehow find herself with a semi-serious injury/illness incurred on the job before the end of the season.
OUTCOME: We don't like the way our approval rating is trending.... (NOW 3.75-for-15)
Fall TV Predictions
WILL & GRACE
PREDICTION: Stuck in a line-up of niche sitcoms, the "Must-See TV" revival will return to so-so ratings, but still draw a big enough number for NBC to tout it as a win.
OUTCOME: Though its numbers quickly tapered off, "NBC's highest-rated comedy premiere in six years" is quite a bit better than "so-so," so we will take an L on this one. (SCORE SO FAR: 10-for-33)
Fall TV Predictions
ONCE UPON A TIME
PREDICTION: With Jared Gilmore, Jennifer Morrison, Emilie de Ravin and now Rebecca Mader already set for encores during Season 7, the next former regular to make a return will be Josh Dallas, during the second half of the season... and coming alone.
OUTCOME: Our prince indeed did come (back), but with Snow in tow! We'll take a half-point. (SCORE SO FAR: 5.25-for-19)
Fall TV Predictions
KEVIN CAN WAIT
PREDICTION: Despite veteran funnyman Jerry Stiller's advanced age/retirement, Kevin James will lure his King of Queens father-in-law to the CBS sitcom for a fleeting cameo, as an ailing former mentor.
OUTCOME: The cancelled Kevin will have to wait... and wait... for any such cameo. (SCORE SO FAR: 2.5-FOR-10)
Fall TV Predictions
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
PREDICTION: Lorne Michaels will relax his unofficial "No TV Star" policy and invite This Is Us' newly-minted Emmy winner Sterling K. Brown (and TCA Awards crooner) to host one of this fall's shows.
OUTCOME: SKB didn't actually lord over Studio 8H until March (and after Black Panther busted the theatrical block), so this is us awarding 3/4 of a point. (SCORE SO FAR: 7-FOR-24)
Fall TV Predictions
GREY'S ANATOMY
PREDICTION: Jo's abusive hubby Paul (played by Matthew Morrison) will transfer to Grey Sloan just as she and Alex are beginning to patch things up. His presence, however, will ultimately bring them closer and they will tie the knot in late April.
OUTCOME: Paul didn't, um, stick around long enough to even apply for a job, but his unseemly resurfacing certainly set in motion a chain of events that led to (May) wedding bells for JoLex. We say "I do" to 1/2 a point! (SCORE SO FAR: 2.5-FOR-9)
Fall TV Predictions
SCANDAL
PREDICTION: Shonda Rhimes will prep two endings to the series: One will find Olivia showing up at Fitz's doorstep in Vermont followed by the two of them embracing. The other will find Olivia showing up at Fitz's doorstep in Vermont followed by... the house exploding.
OUTCOME: Olivia nope. (SCORE SO FAR: 7-for-25)
Fall TV Predictions
YOUNG SHELDON
PREDICTION: The Big Bang Theory spinoff will be the first new fall series to secure a full-season pickup.
OUTCOME: No "bazinga!" here — Young Sheldon was the first freshman to receive that honor, and after just one airing. (OUR FINAL SCORE: 11-for-34)
Fall TV Predictions
THE FLASH
PREDICTION: Only one of the show's cross-Earths romances will survive into the new year. (Sorry, Wally/Jesse.)
OUTCOME: Again, we're sorry — but Wally was the recipient of a Breakup Cube three episodes into the season. (And much later in the season, Cisco and Gypsy didn't fare much better.) (SCORE SO FAR: 2-for-6)
Fall TV Predictions
SUPERNATURAL
PREDICTION: Castiel will be resurrected in the alt apocalypse world before making his way to the Winchesters' reality.
OUTCOME: Viewers (and Cas) did get to meet the apocalypse world's version of Castiel — but our angel was brought back from The Empty. How about 1/4 point? (SCORE SO FAR: 9.25-for-28)
Fall TV Predictions
GHOSTED
PREDICTION: Adam Scott will enlist his former Parks and Recreation wife Amy Poehler to guest-star on the Fox comedy — as a potty-mouthed demon.
OUTCOME: We barely had a ghost of a chance. (SCORE SO FAR: 2-for-7)
Fall TV Predictions
LOST
PREDICTION: The first series announced under Carlton Cuse's new four-year ABC pact will be a spinoff of his seminal ABC drama that focuses on a new, TBD piece of the series' dense mythology.
OUTCOME: We aren't going back yet, Jack! (SCORE SO FAR: 3.75-for-14)
Fall TV Predictions
THIS IS US
PREDICTION: The hit drama's post-Super Bowl episode will in both timelines be set on the day of the Big Game — with the flashback half involving the Steelers' 1996 championship clash with the Cowboys. The only question: Was Jack around to witness that devastating loss? (Oops, sports spoiler alert!)
OUTCOME: That ambitious prediction was a Crock. (SCORE SO FAR: 9.25-for-30)
Fall TV Predictions
CHARMED
PREDICTION: The CW will confirm it has (once again) scrapped its already-delayed plans for a reboot.
OUTCOME: Sonofawitch.... The new Charmed is happening! (SCORE SO FAR: 1-for-4)
Fall TV Predictions
RENT: LIVE
PREDICTION: The cast of Fox's next live musical will include at least one former Disney Channel star. (Here are a few free suggestions but not predictions: Miley Cyrus as Maureen, Raven-Symoné as Joanne, Demi Lovato as Mimi and Ross Lynch as Roger.)
OUTCOME: Since this slow-to-gestate project (currently set to air Jan. 29, 2019!) has yet to announce any cast, we're taking an "INCOMPLETE" on this one. (SCORE REMAINS 6.25-for-22)
Fall TV Predictions
SOUTH PARK
PREDICTION: The Comedy Central hit will spoof Netflix's Stranger Things at some point this season.
OUTCOME: Cartman & Co. kept us waiting on this one, but the season finale eventually evoked Eleven and friends. (SCORE SO FAR: 8-for-26)
Fall TV Predictions
FALL TV PREDICTIONS
THE ORIGINALS
PREDICTION: Fans will embrace grown-up Hope with open arms (and programmed DVRs), heating up talk of a spinoff.
OUTCOME: It's almost magical how well this prediction panned out, with the Hope-centric spinoff Legacies ordered for the fall. (SCORE SO FAR: 6.25-for-20)
Fall TV Predictions
RIVERDALE
PREDICTION: Wiccan Sabrina (you know, the teenage witch) will visit the town during a May sweeps stunt, luring one of the girls into her coven.
OUTCOME: Sabrina has in fact been conjured — but as a Netflix offshoot of sorts, with no current plans for the teen witch to appear on the CW series. (SCORE SO FAR: 6.25-for-23)