September TV preview: The Penguin, Agatha All Along, Kaitlin Olson, and Slow Horses

TV-comedy staples Paul Simms and Jonathan Krisel produce this new FX series, which follows, yes, an English teacher (star/creator/co-writer and -director Brian Jordan Alvarez) at a high school in Austin as he navigates the hurdles that come with educating today’s youth. (“I like watching young kids bloom and grow,” he tells a bus full of students in the trailer, to which a pupil replies, “Don’t say that; that sounds creepy.”) Stephanie Koenig (also from Alvarez’s web series The Gay And Wondrous Life Of Caleb Gallo), Enrico Colantoni, and Sean Patton round out the cast. [Tim Lowery]

An episodic thriller draws Nicole Kidman like a moth to a flame. After TV shows like Big Little Lies, The Undoing, and Nine Perfect Strangers, she heads to Netflix for The Perfect Couple, an adaptation of Elin Hildebrand’s beach read. In the show, a wealthy Nantucket family prepares for a fancy wedding when a dead body washes up—and now, everybody is a suspect. Kidman plays Greer Winbury, a mystery novelist whose future daughter-in-law (Eve Hewson) slowly realizes that she’s about to marry into a family with a ton of secrets. The stacked ensemble includes Liev Schreiber, Billy Howle, Meghann Fahy, Dakota Fanning, Jack Reynor, Donna Lynn-Champlin, and Ishaan Khatter. [Saloni Gajjar]

It’s about time Natasha Rothwell led her own TV show. Her screen presence and comic timing on Insecure and The White Lotus really warrant it. She created Hulu’s airport-set comedy How To Die Alone, in which she stars as Mel, a JFK employee who is used to the monotony of her job even though she hates flying. Mal has never been in love or chased exciting opportunities, but a brush with death propels her to finally go after her long-forgotten dreams. Along the way, she gets help from her BFF (Conrad Ricamora) and brother (Bashir Salahuddin) and deals with her ex (Jocko Sims) and a potential love interest (KeiLyn Durrel Jones). [Saloni Gajjar]

Based on Lisa Taddeo’s novel, Three Women has amassed an enviable cast. Gia (Shailene Woodley) is a writer who suffers a personal tragedy that sets her on a road trip across the country. During her travels, she meets and digs into the romantic and sexual lives of three women: Lina (Betty Gilpin), a suburban housewife caught in a torrid affair; Sloane (DeWanda Wise), whose open marriage begins to falter; and Maggie (Gabrielle Creevy), who takes legal action against a teacher who groomed her. Jason Ralph, Blair Underwood, Lola Kirke, and Ravi Patel co-star in the 10-episode drama. [Saloni Gajjar]

Do we really need to turn another well-documented sports-related national tragedy into soapy TV? No, probably not. But here we are. Like he did with The People V. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, Ryan Murphy executive-produces this ripped-from-the-headlines story, which centers on New-England-Patriots-star-turned-convicted-murderer Hernandez (Josh Andrés Rivera) and has appearances by the likes of Tim Tebow (Patrick Schwarzenegger), Urban Meyer (Tony Yazbeck), and Bill Belichick (Norbert Leo Butz). (If you’re looking to dig into this case, check out the solid Netflix docuseries Killer Inside: The Mind Of Aaron Hernandez.) [Tim Lowery]

Kaitlin Olson returns to network TV after the short-lived (but excellent) The Mick ended in 2018. In ABC’s High Potential, she plays Morgan, a single mom with a knack for solving crimes. While she’s at work as an office cleaner, she seemingly cracks a tough case that gets the attention of a detective (Daniel Sunjata)—and the two team up to take on the police department’s various investigations. (This sounds more and more like a replacement for ABC’s long-running hit Castle, huh?) The show also features Javicia Leslie, Judy Reyes, Taran Killam, and Garret Dillahunt. [Saloni Gajjar]

Disney+’s WandaVision spinoff about Kathryn Hahn’s villainous witch is finally here. Would it have been better to get it sooner instead of three-plus years post-WV? Yes, but we’ll take what we can get, especially because Hahn’s new coven is impressively cast with the likes of Patti LuPone, Aubrey Plaza, Sasheer Zamata, Joe Locke, and Debra Jo Rupp. When the show begins, Agatha Harkness is still trapped in Westview, New Jersey. Thankfully, she escapes and wishes to face a witch trial, hoping it’ll bring her powers back. It’s TBD if and how Agatha All Along connects to the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, but at least we’ll get some new original songs from Emmy winners Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. [Saloni Gajjar]

Sure, there is something more than a tad irksome about the sheer volume of returning shows and franchise spinoffs in HBO’s recent trailer for its big-deal releases over the next year. But honestly? The Penguin, which takes place in the world of 2022’s The Batman, does look pretty damn promising, what with Colin Farrell’s return as the titular villain, the show’s move from Max to HBO proper, Cristin Milioti casting as the Hangman, and Mare of Easttown and The Leftovers director Craig Zobel helming (at least) the first three of the season’s eight episodes. [Tim Lowery]

Jane The Virgin’s Jennie Snyder Urman’s latest TV venture is a tribute to Andy Griffith’s Matlock with a new spin. In the procedural, Kathy Bates portrays Madeline “Matty” Matlock, a former successful lawyer who decides to restart her career in her 70s. She joins a prestigious law firm and is assigned to work with a senior attorney (Skye P. Johnson)—and their unexpected pairing takes off as they go against in-house competition, including the son (Jason Ritter) of the firm’s owner. Everything about Matlock sounds exactly like what you’d expect from a classic CBS drama. [Saloni Gajjar]

In the rom-com Nobody Wants This, Kristen Bell and Adam Brody play a couple that’s the definition of opposites attract: Joanne is an outspoken, agnostic woman who hosts a podcast with her sister (Justin Lupe) for a living. And Noah is an uptight rabbi who hates change. Well, he should expect some because he’s about to fall for the last person he expected to. The cast also includes Timothy Simons, Sherry Cola, Jackie Tohn, and Michael Hitchcock. [Saloni Gajjar]

September 4
Slow Horses season 4 (Apple TV+)
Tell Me Lies season 2 (Hulu)

September 5
Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist (Peacock)

September 8
Universal Basic Guys (Fox)
Bob’s Burgers (Fox)
The Great North (Fox)

September 9
My Brilliant Friend season 4 (HBO)

September 12
The Old Man season 2 (FX)
Emily In Paris season 4, part 2 (Netflix)

September 15
Tulsa King season 2 (Paramount+)

September 19
Twilight Of The Gods (Netflix)
Frasier season 2 (Paramount+)

September 22
From season 3 (MGM+)

September 23
Brilliant Minds (NBC)

September 24
Murder In A Small Town (Fox) 

September 25
Grotesquerie (FX)
Chicago Fire (NBC)
Chicago P.D. (NBC)
Chicago Med (NBC)

September 26
Doctor Odyssey (ABC)
9-1-1 (ABC)
Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)
Colin From Accounts season two (Paramount+)

September 29
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season two (AMC)
Krapopolis (Fox)
The Simpsons (Fox)