Fall 2011 TV Preview

Fall is almost here, as the networks (and plenty of cable stations) bring back many of your favorite TV series and debut a ton of new shows they hope will become favorites… Even though, let's face it, the odds are most of them won't make it. But as always, there will be some new series that stand out and find a fanbase among the many choices. And of course, per usual, we're dreading others.

We've gone through what the fall has to offer, in chronological order, spotlighting many of the new series and notable returning shows. Our five-day roll out of the Fall 2011 TV Preview is complete, so you can now go through all five days and the many, many shows we've spotlighted. Let's start out with Day 1, which takes us from September 6th to September 16th and brings us Clone Troopers, twin sisters, vampires, animated spies and more!

Network: FX
Airs: Tuesdays at 10:00pm ET/PT
Season Premiere: 9/6/11
How will SAMCRO begin to pick up the pieces after the events of Season 3? Well after a 14-month time jump, which creator Kurt Sutter says was the plan all along, guest stars Danny Trejo (Machete) and Rockmond Dunbar (Terriers) will enter into the picture as a former Mexican commando and the newly-elected sheriff of Charming. Meanwhile Clay begins to wonder about his future with the club and Jax and Tara will have to decide whether or not they have a real future together. Network: The CW
Airs: Tuesdays at 9:00pm ET/PT
Series Premiere: 9/13/11
For the first time since Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sarah Michelle Gellar returns to TV, in this tale of a woman on the run, Bridget, who assumes the identity of her twin sister. But as it turns out, both sisters have a lot of skeletons in their closet, and Bridget is anything but safe in her new identity. Also starring Nestor Carbonell (Lost) and Ioan Gruffudd (Fantastic Four), Ringer was originally developed for CBS, and with its more adult characters, marks a different type of show for The CW.

Learn more about Ringer in IGN's interview with Sarah Michelle Gellar about the series.

Network: The CW
Airs: Wednesdays at 8:00pm ET/PT
Series Premiere: 9/14/11
Looking for symptoms of the oncoming apocalypse? Well then look no further than H8R with Slater. Yes, Mario Lopez, armed with production dollars and worthless reality stars, confronts ambushes those who dare to speak ill of the likes of Kim Kardashian and Snooki. Lopez, at this summer's TCA Press tour, told us that he believes the internet "provides a forum for cowards" and that "because they're in their home and probably chilling out in their underwear and saying all these vicious things" they couldn't possibly have any valid points to make about D-minus level reality whores who selfishly popularize vapidity and endorse short cuts over hard work. And since when did writing s*** in your underwear mean that you're not right? You need to be fully clothed to think The Housewives of Butthole Grove are wretched fame whores who dishonor our entire society?

This show insists that these midway rejects are all "nice people" in real life and that "if we just got to know them blah blah blah." But doesn't it make things worse if these clowns really are nice people and yet choose to irresponsibly play a-holes on TV, causing an entire generation of young girls to aspire to be irredeemable skanks? Network: CBS
Airs: Wednesdays at 8:00pm ET/PT
Season Premiere: 9/14/11
Fans were pretty split on the Redemption Island concept, but the Survivor producers are trying it again in Season 23, though we'll see if there are tweaks to it this time. The contestants include a medical marijuana dispenser, a lingerie football player and Russell Hantz! Oh, wait, Russell's not playing again, but his nephew is. Yep, Survivor just can't quit the Hantz family. Plus, we are again getting two returning players: uber-athletic Ozzy and uber-weird Coach.

Check out the full Survivor: South Pacific Cast Here Network: NBC
Airs: Wednesdays at 8:00pm ET/PT
Series Premiere: 9/14/11 (Special 10pm time)
Christina Applegate and Will Arnett play new parents who discover, like most new parents, that you can't stay out and party all night when you have a new, miniature human at home that needs to be cared for. So yes, it's, "Everyone needs to know how tired you are as a parent! It's hilarious!" But hopefully producer Lorne Michaels, creator Emily Spivey (Parks and Recreation, SNL) and the talented cast, which also includes Maya Rudolph, will help elevate this show about the set up.

Network: NBC
Airs: Wednesdays at 10:30pm ET/PT
Series Premiere: 9/14/11 (Special 10:30pm time)
Based on a British series starring Stephen Mangan (Episodes), Sharon Horgan and Anthony Head, Free Agents is about that time-honored tale – the workplace romance. Creator John Enbom (Party Down) and Emmy Award-winning director Todd Holland (Malcolm in the Middle) gives us Alex (Hank Azaria) and Helen (Kathryn Hahn); overworked public relations executives who share an ill-fated night of passion and are forced to cope with the awkward aftermath. Head, in his first American series since Buffy, is playing a new version of the boss role he had in the UK Free Agents.

You can compare both versions of Free Agents soon, as BBC America will begin airing the original on October 8th.