The fall TV season revs up this month, with new shows and returning favorites launching on traditional, cable and streaming networks.
"Sons of Anarchy" and "Boardwalk Empire" begin their finals seasons Sept. 9 and Sept. 7, respectively. All 10 episodes of the original comedy "Transparent" debut Sept. 26 on Amazon Prime. The series stars Jeffrey Tambor as Pfefferman family patriarch Mort, who shakes the foundation of the family when he becomes Maura.
Fox's origin story of Jim Gordon and Batman's foes premieres Sept. 22, the same night CBS' techies-save-the-world procedural "Scorpion" debuts. PBS has three new mysteries for Agatha Christie's amateur sleuth Miss Marple, while Harry Houdini gets the miniseries treatment on History Channel and Lifetime aires its Brittany Murphy biopic.
And don't forget returning series. There's something for everyone in September. I've marked my picks with italics.
Monday, Sept. 1
8 | "Houdini," History (miniseries premiere; Erich Weiss becomes famous The Great Harry Houdini)
8 | "The Unauthorized 'Saved by the Bell' Story," Lifetime (special premiere)
8 | "Animal Fight Night," Nat Geo (season finale)
9 | "Highway to Sell," Discovery (series premiere; car enthusiasts reality show)
Tuesday, Sept. 2
8 | "Rizzoli & Isles," TNT (summer finale)
8 | "Face Off: Judge Match," Syfy (special)
8 | "Yukon Men," Discovery (season 3 premiere)
8 | "Bitchin' Rides," Velocity (series premiere; custom car design)
8 | "19 Kids and Counting," TLC (season premiere)
9 | "Little People Big World," TLC (season premiere)
9 | "ATL: The Untold Story of Atlanta's Rise in the Rap Game," VH1 (special)
Wednesday, Sept. 3
7 | "My Grandmother's Ravioli," Cooking (season premiere)
7 | "Flippin' RVs," Great American Country (series premiere; redoing vintage trailers)
8 | "Surviving Evil," Investigation Discovery (season premiere)
9 | "The League," FXX (season 6 premiere)
9 | "Dead on Arrival," Investigation Discovery (series premiere; young people move to big city, find trouble)
Thursday, Sept. 4
7 | "Sunday Night Football," NBC (season premiere; um, football)
Friday, Sept. 5
7 | "Stand Up to Cancer," Cooking (special)
8 | "Kehinde Wiley: An Economy of Grace," PBS (5-part doc premiere; inside visual artist's new project)
8 | "Monumental Mysteries," Travel (season 2 finale)
8:30 | "Islands without Cars," WTTX (series premiere; travel show with host Kira Hesser)
9 | "Cocaine Cowboys Reloaded," Showtime (doc premiere)
9 & 9:30 | "Young, Hot & Crooked," Investigation Discovery (series premiere; teens gone bad)
Saturday, Sept. 6
ttba | "The Kelly Cutrone Project," CW Seed (series premiere; pop culture talk show)
7 | "The Brittany Murphy Story," Lifetime (movie premiere; biopic)
8 | "Buying Alaska," Destination America (season premiere)
8 | "Iyanla: Fix My Life," OWN (season 3 premiere)
9 | "Six Little McGhees," OWN (season premiere)
10 | "The Chair," Starz (reality series premiere; a filmmaking experiment)
Sunday, Sept. 7
10 a.m. | "Super Soul Sunday," OWN (season premiere)
11 a.m. | "Help Desk," OWN (series premiere; answers to hard-hitting questions)
6 p.m. | "Football Night in America," NBC (season premiere)
6 | "The ABCs of Schoolhouse Rock," ABC (special)
7 | "Utopia," Fox (series premiere; contestants sent to live together and create a new society)
7 | "Trending Bites," Cooking (special)
7 | "BBQ Crawl," Travel (regular time period premiere)
7 | "9/10: The Final Hours," Nat Geo (special)
7 | "Crowning New York," Smithsonian (special; story behind the rebuilding of One World Trade Center)
8 | "Boardwalk Empire," HBO (final season premiere)
8 | "Ghost Asylum," Destination America (series premiere; investigating abandoned insane asylums)
8 | "Oprah's Lifeclass," OWN (season premiere)
9 | "Angels Among Us," TLC (series premiere; Rosie Cepero sees guardian angels)
Monday, Sept. 8
11 a.m. | "Robert Earl's Be My Guest," Cooking (series premiere; dishes at 4-star restaurants)
3 p.m. | "Ellen," WMAQ-Ch. 5 (season 12 premiere; check local listings)
7 | "Bachelor in Paradise," ABC (season finale)
7 | "Rewrapped," Food (season 2 premiere)
8 | "A Good Job: Stories of the FDNY," HBO (documentary; what it's like to work for the New York fire department)
9 | "Love Prison," A&E (reality series premiere; online couples first meet on deserted island)
9 | "Celebrity Crime Files," TV One (season 3 premiere)
Tuesday, Sept. 9
7 | "MasterChef Canada," Cooking (series premiere)
8 | "The Big Burn," PBS ("American Experience" premiere; 1910 Rocky Mountain wildfire)
8 | "World's Most Extreme," Travel (special; extreme places)
8 | "If Loving You is Wrong," OWN (series premiere; friends living in middle class neighborhood)
9 | "Sons of Anarchy," FX (final season premiere)
9 | "Pomd Stars," Nat Geo (series premiere; Chicago-based water feature specialists at Aquascape, Inc., rebuild yards)
10 | "Frontline: Ebola Outbreak," WTTW (PBS premiere; check local listings)
Wednesday, Sept. 10
7 | "Hell's Kitchen," Fox (season 13 premiere)
8 | "Vaccines: Calling the Shots," PBS ("Nova" premiere)
8 | "Restaurant Stakeout," Food (season finale)
9 | "I Love Nick Carter," VH1 (series premiere; Nick and his fiancé)
Thursday Sept. 11
5 | "Rebuilding the World Trade Center," History (special; 8 years of construction)
7 | "The Biggest Loser," NBC (season premiere)
7 | "9/11 E-Men Heroes," Discovery (special)
8 | "The Hornet's Nest," American Heroes Channel (documentary; embedded with U.S. forces fighting in Afghanistan after 9/11)
9 | "Haven," Syfy (season 5 premiere)
9:30 | "Adam Devine's House Party," Comedy Central (season 2 premiere)
Friday, Sept. 12
7 | "Utopia," Fox (time period premiere)
8 | "Mysteries at the Museum," Travel (season 7 premiere)
8 | "Alaska Monsters," Destination America (series premiere; beasts of the Alaska Triangle)
9 | "Z Nation," Syfy (series premiere; man fights zombie)
9 | "Royal Paintbox," PBS (special; art work by Prince Charles' forebears; check local listings)
Monday, Sept. 13
7 | "Henry Danger," Nickelodeon (series premiere; superhero's sidekick)
7:30 | "Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn," Nickelodeon (series premiere; family with 10-year-old quadruplets)
8 | "Deliverance," Lifetime (movie premiere)
Sunday, Sept. 14
11:30 a.m. | "Farmhouse Rules," Food (season premiere)
5 p.m. | "Farm Queens," Great American Country (series premiere; farmer also is director of Pennsylvania's state pageant)
7 | "The Roosevelts: An Intimate History," PBS (doc series premiere; 7-part look at Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt)
7 | "Countdown to Miss America," ABC (special)
7 | "American War Generals," Nat Geo (special)
8 | "The 2015 Miss America Competition," ABC (special)
8 | "Amish Hauntings," Destination America (series premiere; Amish ghost stories)
8 & 9 | "Wild Congo," Nat Geo ("Destination Wild" special)
Monday, Sept. 15
10 a.m. | "Sesame Street," PBS (season 45 premiere)
7 p.m. | "Dancing with the Stars," ABC (season premiere)
7 | "American Ninja Warrior: USA vs. the World," NBC (special)
7 | "Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood," VH1 (series premiere; R&B and hip hop performers compete)
8 | "Terror in Nairobi," HBO (documentary; events of Sept 21, 2013, when Islamist group stormed mall in Kenya and 67 people died)
8 | "Eating America with Anthony Anderson," Food (season finale)
Tuesday, Sept. 16
8 | "New Girl," (season 4 premiere)
8 | "Hidden Habitats," BBC America (season premiere)
8:30 | "The Mindy Project," (season 3 premiere)
9 | "The Sorrentinos," TVGN (season finale)
9:30 | "Brickleberry," Comedy Central (season 3 premiere)
Wednesday, Sept. 17
7 | "Hell's Kitchen," Fox (time period premiere)
8 | "Red Band Society," Fox (series premiere; hospital ward for kids)
8 | "For Better or Worse," OWN (season premiere)
Thursday, Sept. 18
8 | "Dating Naked Wedding Special," VH1 (special)
9 | "Breaking Amish," TLC (season premiere)
11:15 | "Tim & Eric's Bedtime Stories," Adult Swim (series premiere; anthology series)
Saturday, Sept. 20
noon | "Sold on the Spot," HGTV (series premiere)
8 | "On the Run Tour: Beyonce and Jay Z," HBO (special)
8 | "Perfect on Paper," Hallmark Channel (movie; editing new romance novel teaches editor about love)
Sunday, Sept. 21
7 | "Madam Secretary," CBS (series premiere; female Secretary of State)
7 | "Miss Marple: A Caribbean Mystery," PBS ("Masterpiece Mystery" premiere)
7 | "Rachael vs. Guy: Kids Cook-Off," Food (season finale)
7:30 | "Liv and Maddie," Disney (season 2 premiere)
8 | "The Good Wife," CBS (season premiere)
8:30 | "Miss Marple: Greenshaw's Folly," PBS ("Masterpiece Mystery" premiere)
9 | "The Secret Life of Cats," Nat Geo (special)
10:30 | "Mr. Pickles," Adult Swim (series premiere; Border Collie and his boy master)
10:45 | "Squidbillies," Adult Swim (season 8 premiere)
Monday, Sept. 22
7 | "The Voice," NBC (season premiere)
7 | "Gotham," Fox (series premiere; origin story of Jim Gordon, Batman's foes)
7 | "The Big Bang Theory," CBS (season premiere)
8 | "Scorpion," CBS (series premiere; techies save the world)
8 | "Sleepy Hollow," Fox (season 2 premiere)
9 | "The Blacklist," NBC (season premiere)
9 | "Koch," PBS ("POV" premiere)
9 | "Under the Dome," CBS (season finale)
9 | "Forever," ABC (series premiere; immortal man working as big city coroner)
10 | "Celebrity Name Game," WGN (game show premiere; Craig Ferguson hosts; check local listings)
Tuesday, Sept. 23
7 | "NCIS," CBS (season premiere)
7 | "Finding Your Roots," PBS (season 2 premiere)
8 | "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D," ABC (season 2 premiere)
8 | "NCIS: New Orleans," CBS (series premiere; same deal, new city)
8 | "The Boomer List," PBS ("American Masters" premiere; look at 19 iconic baby boomers-one born each year of the boom, 1946-1964)
9 | "Chicago Fire," NBC (season 3 premiere)
9 | "Person of Interest," CBS (season premiere)
9 | "Forever," ABC (regular time period premiere)
9 | "Chopped," Food (season finale)
10 | "Big Brother After Dark," TVGN (season finale)
Wednesday, Sept. 24
7 | "The Mysteries of Laura," NBC (series premiere; woman is cop and mother)
7 | "Survivor," CBS (season premiere)
7 | "The Middle," ABC (season premiere)
7 | "Penguins: Spy in the Huddle, A Nature Special Presentation," PBS ("Thirteen" premiere; 3-part special)
7:30 | "The Goldbergs," ABC (season premiere)
8 | "Modern Family," ABC (season premiere)
8 | "Law & Order: SVU," NBC (season premiere)
8 | "Extant," CBS (season finale)
8 | "Rise of the Hackers," PBS ("Nova" premiere; scientists who keep data safe)
8 | "American Grilled," Travel (season 1 finale)
8:30 | "Black-ish," ABC (series premiere; family sitcom)
9 | "Chicago P.D." NBC (season 2 premiere)
9 | "Nashville," ABC (season premiere)
9 | "South Park," Comedy Central (season 18 premiere)
9 | "Life on the Reef," PBS (series premiere; the Great Barrier Reef)
9:30 | "Key & Peele," Comedy Central (season 4 premiere)
Thursday, Sept. 25
7 | "Bones," Fox (season premiere)
7 | "Grey's Anatomy," ABC (season premiere)
7 | "Glena," Showtime (doc premiere)
8 | "Scandal," ABC (season premiere)
9 | "Parenthood," NBC (final season premiere)
9 | "How to Get Away with Murder," ABC (series premiere; lawyer/professor uses students on her cases)
Friday, Sept. 26
2:01 a.m. | "Transparent," Amazon Prime (series premiere; when Mort Pfefferman becomes Maura, her family spins out of control)
2:01 a.m. | "Print the Legend," Netflix (doc premiere; 3D printing)
7 | "The Amazing Race," CBS (season premiere)
7 | "Shark Tank," ABC (season premiere)
8 | "Hawaii Five-0," CBS (season premiere)
8 | "Dateline NBC," NBC (season premiere)
8 | "'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street' In Concert With the New York Philharmonic," PBS ("Live from Lincoln Center" premiere)
9 | "Blue Bloods," CBS (season premiere)
9 | "20/20," ABC (season premiere)
Saturday, Sept. 27
1:30 | "Simply Laura," Cooking (series premiere; online cooking host gets show)
8 | "Midnight Masquerade," Hallmark (movie premiere; woman inherits billion-dollar candy company)
Sunday, Sept. 28
7 | "The Simpsons," Fox (season premiere)
7 | "Once Upon a Time," ABC (season premiere)
7 | "The Paradise," PBS ("Masterpiece" premiere; season 2)
7 | "Giant Pandas," Nat Geo Wild (special)
7:30 | "Brooklyn Nine-Nine (season premiere)
8 | "Family Guy," Fox (1-hour "The Simpsons Guy" season premiere crossover)
8 | "Miss Marple: Endless Night," PBS ("Masterpiece Mystery" premiere)
8 | "Resurrection," ABC (season 2 premiere)
8 | "The Great Food Truck Race," Food (season finale)
8 | "Giant Pandas," Nat Geo ("Destination Wild" special)
9 | "China's Golden Monkeys," Nat Geo ("Destination Wild" special)
9 | "CSI," CBS (season premiere)
9 | "Revenge," ABC (season premiere)
Monday, September 29
7:30 | "Mom," CBS (season 2 premiere)
9 | "NCIS: LA," CBS (season premiere)
9 | "Castle," ABC (season premiere)
Tuesday, Sept. 30
7 | "Selfie," ABC (series premiere; social media star wants to make real friends)
7:30 | "Manhattan Love Story," ABC (series premiere; inside the heads of people on dates)
8 | "Makers," PBS (documentary series premiere; groundbreaking American women)
8 | "Celebrity Close Calls," Reelz (series premiere; celebs confronted with real danger, via reenactments)
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