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Networks roll out new shows for midseason

The Columbian
Published: January 3, 2015, 4:00pm

The year’s only a few days old, but TV networks already have addressed 2015 and the January start of midseason.

To be sure, this is just what’s been announced so far. Some broadcasters have additional series waiting in their cupboard but have not yet announced plans to bring them out.

ABC

• “Galavant” (8 and 8:30 tonight): The showrunner behind underrated comedy “The Neighbors” returns with another offbeat entry that’s a musical comedy set in medieval times. Think: Monty Python meets Mel Brooks in this story of dashing Galavant (Joshua Sasse), who loses his lady love (Mallory Jansen) to wimpy, evil King Richard (Timothy Omundson).

• “Agent Carter” (8-10 p.m. Tuesday): Another Marvel Universe spinoff, this one focuses on “Captain America” character Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), who in 1946 teams with industrialist Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper), father of Tony “Iron Man” Stark, and his butler Edwin (James D’Arcy, “Those Who Kill”) to track down weapons of mass destruction.

• “Fresh off the Boat” (8:30 and 9:30 p.m. Feb. 4, then moves to 8 p.m. Tuesday on Feb. 10): Fish-out-of-water comedy set in 1995 and based on the memoir by chef/restaurateur Eddie Huang.

• “Secrets and Lies” (9 p.m. March 1): Ryan Phillippe stars as a suburban murder suspect who’s being investigated by a detective (Juliette Lewis).

• “American Crime” (10 p.m. March 5): Felicity Huffman (“Desperate Housewives”) and Timothy Hutton (“Leverage”) star in this crime drama with racial and socioeconomic undertones from Oscar-winning screenwriter John Ridley (“12 Years a Slave”), who wrote and directed the pilot.

• Returning: “The Bachelor” (8 p.m. Monday), “Once Upon a Time” (8 p.m. March 1), “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” (9 p.m. March 3).

CBS

• “The Odd Couple” (8:30 p.m. Feb. 19): Just prior to the one-hour conclusion of “Two and a Half Men,” CBS launches a remake of the Tony Randall-Jack Klugman sitcom starring Matthew Perry (as Oscar) and Thomas Lennon (as Felix).

• “Battle Creek” (10 p.m. March 1): Two weeks after the 2014-15 season finale of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” CBS debuts this smarter-than-the-average procedural created by Vince Gilligan (“Breaking Bad”) and run by David Shore (“House”) that follows the work adventures of mismatched Michigan law enforcement officers played by Josh Duhamel and Dean Winters.

• “CSI: Cyber” (10 p.m. March 4): “Stalker” takes a break so CBS can premiere the latest “CSI” spinoff. This one stars Patricia Arquette (“Medium”) as head of the cyber crime division of the FBI. James Van Der Beek (“Dawson’s Creek”) and Peter MacNicol (“Ally McBeal”) co-star.

• “The Late Late Show With James Corden” (12:37 a.m. March 23): With Craig Ferguson stepping down after tonight’s broadcast, another Brit takes over CBS’s late, late show.

The CW

The CW, which is having its best season in years thanks to the success of “The Flash,” has two scripted dramas, “iZombie” and “The Messengers,” waiting in the wings, but no air dates have been announced.

• Returning: “Masters of Illusion” (8 p.m. Jan. 9).

Fox

• “Empire” (9 p.m. Wednesday): Drama about a family dynasty in the music business that stars Taraji P. Henson (“Person of Interest”) and is executive produced by director Lee Daniels (“Precious”) and writer Danny Strong (“Game Change”).

• “World’s Funniest Fails” (8 p.m. Jan. 16): A viral video show based on the YouTube channel FailArmy, in which each week comedians analyze the videos and rate one the “Fail of the Week.”

• “Backstrom” (9 p.m. Jan. 22): Rainn Wilson (“The Office”) stars in this crime procedural as an unhealthy, offensive but brilliant detective, the latest attempt to clone “House.”

• “The Last Man on Earth” (9 and 9:30 p.m. March 1): Will Forte stars as the last hope for humanity in an end-of-the-world comedy from the writers of “The Lego Movie.”

• “Weird Loners” (9:30 p.m. March 31): Four singletons form a bond in Queens, N.Y., in this comedy starring Becki Newton (“Ugly Betty”), Zachary Knighton (“Happy Endings”) and Nate Torrence (“Hello Ladies”).

• Returning: “Masterchef Junior” (8 p.m. Tuesday), “American Idol XIV” (8 p.m. Wednesday), “Glee” (8 p.m. Friday), “The Following” (8 p.m. March 2), “Hell’s Kitchen” (8 p.m. March 3), “Bones” (8 p.m. March 26).

NBC

• “Allegiance” (10 p.m. Feb. 5): Airing after “The Blacklist,” this spy drama might sound familiar to fans of FX’s “The Americans”: An idealistic CIA analyst (Gavin Stenhouse) learns his parents (Scott Cohen, Hope Davis) are deactivated Soviet spies who have been re-enlisted.

• “The Slap” (8 p.m. Feb. 12): An eight-episode “event series” about guests at a party — one of whom slaps a child, leading to threats of legal action. Zachary Quinto (“Star Trek”) stars alongside Peter Sarsgaard, Uma Thurman, Thandie Newton, Melissa George and Thomas Sadoski.

• “One Big Happy” (9:30 p.m. March 17): Ellen DeGeneres executive produces this comedy about lesbian Lizzy (Elisha Cuthbert, “Happy Endings”) and her best guy friend Luke (Nick Zano, “2 Broke Girls”) who decide to start a nontraditional family. Then Luke falls in love with a British woman (Kelly Brook, “Smallville”) who’s due to return home in a few days just as Lizzy learns she’s pregnant.

• “A.D.” (9 p.m. April 5): A sequel to executive producer Mark Burnett’s “The Bible” miniseries on History, this 12-hour follow-up explores the lives of Christ’s followers after his death.

• “Odyssey” (10 p.m. April 5): An international conspiracy thriller that brings together a single mother soldier (Anna Friel, “Pushing Daisies”), a former U.S. attorney (Peter Facinelli, “Nurse Jackie”) and a political activist (Jake Robsinon, “The Carrie Diaries”).

• Returning: “Celebrity Apprentice” (9 tonight), “Parks and Recreation” (8 and 8:30 p.m. Jan. 13), “The Blacklist” (after the Super Bowl on Feb. 1 and then moving to 9 p.m. Thursday on Feb. 5), “The Night Shift” (10 p.m. Feb. 23), “Undateable” (9 p.m. March 17).

PBS

• New installments of “American Experience” explore the creator of Ripley’s Believe It or Not (9 p.m. Tuesday), the emergence of “Klansville, U.S.A.” (9 p.m. Jan. 13) in North Carolina in the 1960s, and the life of Thomas “Edison” (9 p.m. Jan. 20).

• “Masterpiece” introduces new dramas “Grantchester” (10 p.m. Jan. 18), a mystery about a clergyman and cop who team up to fight crime in the 1950s, and “Wolf Hall” (10 p.m. April 5), starring Damian Lewis as Henry VIII in an adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Booker Prize-winning novels.

New series include:

• “Earth: A New Wild” (9 p.m. Feb. 4): A conservation scientist explores man’s relationship to the wild.

• “The Italian Americans” (9 p.m. Feb. 17, 24): Stanley Tucci narrates this four-hour documentary about the Italian experience in America.

• “Cancer: Emperor of all Maladies” (9 p.m. March 30): A three-part, six-hour documentary series directed by Barak Goodman (“Clinton”) and executive produced by Ken Burns.

• “Miracle Baby Unit” (8 p.m. March 31): Three-part series about fetal medicine.

• “America’s Ballroom Challenge” (9 p.m. April 24): Competition series featuring four major styles of ballroom dancing.

• “First Peoples” (10 p.m. April 29): A five-part series on the evolution of early humans.

• Returning: “Downton Abbey” (9 tonight), “Antiques Roadshow” (8 p.m. Monday), “Genealogy Roadshow” (8 p.m. Jan. 13), “Shakespeare Uncovered” (9 p.m. Jan. 30), “Mr. Selfridge” (9 p.m. March 20), “Call the Midwife” (8 p.m. March 29).

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