Top 5 New Shows of The Fall Season

Every fall season, cable and broadcast networks roll out a bunch of new shows.  Its not often that every show they roll out is a hit, but in the last few years, finding hits has become more and more rare.  This was no exception this year, as this may have been the weakest slate of new shows.  Among all of them, i only see one as being a must watch in terms of quality.  There are however are a few other shows that are at least decent.  Here are one mans thoughts on the top 5 new shows of this fall season.

5.  ONCE UPON A TIME (ABC) - One of 2 fairy tale themed shows to debut this fall.  While Grimm suffers extremely by the blandness of its lead actor, OUAT has multiple strong performance from an ensemble cast.  It is very creative take on the fairy tale formula.  This may be even higher on the list if the show spent more time on the present day stories and less time on historical stories.  I find those stories to be kind of forced, but they can get better with time and character development

4.  UP ALL NIGHT (NBC) - I had high expectations for this show going in to the season and so far it has not disappointed.  The chemistry between Arnett and Applegate is great.  It is fantastic so see Will Arnett playing an actual person finally and now just rehashing some half assed version of Gob Bluth.  It does seem like the show does not always seem to know how to use Maya Rudolph.  Its crazy how talented she is and yet there are so many instances where people just don't know how to use her.  Bonus points for using Jorma Taccone as a guest star.

3.  SUBURGATORY (ABC) - This show really came out of nowhere for me.  I had zero expectations for this show and it has turned out to be one of my favorite new shows of the season.  It fits in nicely on ABC as they have established a nice block of quirky suburbia based comedies.  Paired with The Middle and Modern Family, this show seems to have found a worthy home and deserves to be checked out for its ability to produce consistent laughs.

2.  THE NEW GIRL (FOX) - There was no doubt that Zooey Deschanel would win the hearts of critics and audience members.  She has a great screen presence and certain brand of "adorkability".  The big question with this show was going to be how the ensemble developed around her.  So far i have to say that it has developed pretty well.  Losing Damon Wayans Jr. was a big blow, and his replacement really has not gelled as part of the show yet, but Max Greenfield as Schmidt has more then made up for it with his comedic timing  and Jake Johnson as Nick has shown that he will make a good companion for Deschanel's character down the road.

1. HOMELAND (SHOWTIME) - This is not only one of the best new shows this season, but also one of the best shows on TV period.  That's a bold statement to make after only 6 episodes, but the premise of the show is so original, and the acting is so good, that it is hard to imagine the show dropping off at all.  Claire Daines is almost assured an Emmy nomination and it would be a shame if Damian Lewis did not at least receive consideration as well.  Combining suspense, great acting, great writing, and great directing, i can easily see Homeland joining Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy, and Mad Men in a competition for best drama on television.