The 5 New and Under-the-Radar TV Shows You Can’t Miss In October
Photo Courtesy of NBC TV Lists list
Well, my friends, things are looking up. The Writers Guild strike has ended after five long months. The Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are meeting on Monday to resume negotiations. If you didn’t spend thousands of dollars to see Taylor Swift in concert, you can see a film version for less than $20 beginning October 13th. *NSYNC has a new song out for the first time in more than 20 years. This October it really does seem like all of pop culture is aligning and we are in a better place.
So while you drink your pumpkin latte, carve your jack-o-lanterns and make your apple crisp, there will be plenty of TV to talk about this month from spooky series like Disney+ Goosebumps (which premieres on Friday the 13th, naturally) to nostalgic returns (you will hear the blues a calling for Frasier on October 12th on Paramount+) to the long-awaited third season of Lupin October 5th on Netflix.
Truly no tricks, just treats this October. Here are the five new under-the-radar shows you can’t miss this month.
Found
Stars: Shanola Hampton, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Kelli Williams, Brett Dalton, Gabrielle Walsh, Arlen Escarpeta, and Karan Oberoi
Premiere Date: October 3rd at 10 p.m. on NBC
Once again, NBC is proving they were the broadcast network with a must-see-TV plan for the potential strikes. Shanola Hampton, who also serves as a producer on the series, stars as Gabi Mosely, a public relations specialist who is an expert on finding missing people, especially those who the police might not immediately be interested in. Margaret (Kelli Williams), Lacey (Gabrielle Walsh), Zeke (Arlen Escarpeta), and Dhan (Karan Oberoi) are all part of her crisis team and they each have very unique and personal reasons for being there. Mark-Paul Gosselaar rounds out the cast as a man with a surprising connection to Gabi. (The Zack Attack has really been playing against type lately). A traditional network crime drama with several unique twists, Found is something worth discovering. New episodes will stream the day after air on Peacock.
The Sixth Commandment
Stars: Timothy Spall, Éanna Hardwicke, Anne Reid, Sheila Hancock, Annabel Scholey, and Ben Bailey Smith.
Premiere Date: All four episodes premiere October 4th on BritBox
Based on a 2015 true story and inspired by the documentary Catching A Killer: A Diary From The Grave, this four-episode series tells the story of Peter Farquhar (Timothy Spall), a lonely retired schoolteacher who befriends and quickly falls for church warden Ben Field (Éanna Hardwicke) over their shared love of literature and the Church of England. Their relationship quickly takes a dark turn, and soon Peter’s neighbor Ann Moore-Martin (Anne Reid) is also entangled with Ben. The series premiered across the pond on the BBC in July.
Desperately Seeking Soulmate: Escaping Twin Flames Universe
Premiere Date: All three episodes premiere October 6th on Prime Video
“Your twin flame is your ultimate lover, your best friend, your perfect divine complement, created for you by God.” Um, no pressure there! This three-part docuseries tells the story of Jeff and Shaleia Divine who ran Twin Flames Universe, an online, very expensive, cult-like romantic matching service which told people they could meet their ultimate match or their twin flame. The series is based on the research from journalist Alice Hines, who appears in the docuseries along with several former Twin Flames participants.
Little Bird
Stars: Darla Contois, Ellyn Jade, Osawa Muskwa, Joshua Odjick, Imajyn Cardinal, Braeden Clarke, Eric Schweig, Michelle Thrushand, and Lisa Edelstein
Premiere Date: October 12th at 9 p.m. on PBS
This Canadian series brings to life a horrific government practice known as the “Sixties Scoop,” which took (kidnapped) Indigenous children from their families and placed them in adoptive (white) homes. In 1985, law student Esther Rosenblum (Darla Contois) is engaged to be married when, haunted by childhood memories, she begins to want to know where she comes from and what happened to her family. Lisa Edelstein co-stars as Golda, Esther’s adopted mother, a Polish woman who lost her whole family to the Holocaust. This haunting series jumps back and forth in time to tell Little Bird/Esther’s story.
CURSES!
Stars: Gabrielle Nevaeh, Andre Robinson, Lyric Lewis, Reid Scott, Rhys Darby, James Marsters Rhea Perlman, Phylicia Rashad, and Robert Englund
Premiere Date: All ten episodes premiere October 27th on AppleTV+
This animated children’s series that the whole family will enjoy comes from executive producers Jim Cooper, Jeff Dixon, and John Krasinski. Alex (Reid Scott) lives with his children Pandora (Gabrielle Nevaehand) and Russ (Andre Robinson) and wife Sky (Lyric Lewis) in an ancient museum filled with artifacts. His family thinks he’s been working on a book. But when Alex is turned to stone, they uncover a family secret and learn the truth: their ancestors are responsible for stealing treasures that don’t belong to them. Now Pandora, Russ, and Sky must figure out how to return the treasures to their rightful owners with the help of Stanley (Rhys Darby) and Larry (James Marsters), two artifacts that have come to life.
Amy Amatangelo, the TV Gal®, is a Boston-based freelance writer and a member of the Television Critics Association. She wasn’t allowed to watch much TV as a child and now her parents have to live with this as her career. You can follow her on Twitter (@AmyTVGal).
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