THE FALL TV OF 2023 has an allergy to modern life. There’s the last season of Netflix’s The Crown, which will pick up in the ’90s. Season two of Julia (Max’s Julia Child show) takes place in the ’60s and ’70s. Lessons in Chemistry (Apple TV+) and Fellow Travelers (Showtime) start in the ’50s. Faraway Downs (Hulu) and All the Light We Cannot See (Netflix) are both set in the ’30s and ’40s, and Our Flag Means Death (Max) is in the early 1700s. Then there are The Buccaneers (Apple TV+), an Edith Wharton adaptation; a miniseries called The Gold about an ’80s heist (Paramount+); and season two of The Gilded Age (HBO). Even Krapopolis (Fox), a new animated show from Dan Harmon, is set in a mythical ancient Greece.
The trend would be less obvious if the network-TV slate hadn’t been hollowed out by this summer’s strikes. (Most TV this fall comes from a backlog of releases for streaming and premium-cable channels.) Network television is more immediate—an episode written in February could be out by March—and it has always been full of contemporary series: police procedurals, soapy dramas, and sitcoms that take place in an eternal now. (Somehow, one of the few network shows that banked episodes for a fall premiere is the reboot of Quantum Leap, which is about a guy who gets transported into the bodies of people in the past.) There will be no new episodes of Abbott Elementary or Grey’s Anatomy or, so help us, Law & Order: SVU.
This story is from the August 28 - September 10, 2023 edition of New York magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the August 28 - September 10, 2023 edition of New York magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
104 Minutes With... Lord Maurice Saatchi
The British advertising executive is thoroughly enjoying the rollout for his new book, Orgasm.
HOW TO CRIMINALIZE a PROTEST
In Atlanta, the George Floyd demonstrations of four years ago are being used as evidence of illegal gang activity-and the activists of today could be next.
More Than Mad
Grief drives a fantastic installment in George Miller's series.
War of Attrition
In the Kendrick-vs.-Drake battle, no one wins.
We've Hit Peak Theater
Nobody knows how to succeed on Broadway anymore.
Small Plates, Big Checks
Why restaurant prices feel so high—and why they’re going to stay that way.
Nobody Wants to Mow the Lawn at the Beach
Breck and Georgia Eisner's Amagansett retreat gives the children a cottage of their own.
CHESS BRAT
It was the biggest cheating scandal in chess history. Now, cleared of the most serious accusations, Hans Niemann is gunning for a world title-and doubling down on his opponent-trashing, hotel-wrecking, money-flaunting ways.
MIRIAM ADELSON'S UNFINISHED BUSINESS
One of Israel's most ardent supporters, she could transform the presidential election if she gives to Trump like she did in 2020.
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRIAL
Trump is running for president while bumping into the past at a Manhattan criminal courthouse.
