Ten worthy fall TV shows: Leonard Cohen drama, Tragically Hip docuseries and more

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Television may not go on summer holiday any more, but its viewers still do. So the fall remains an invitation to come back inside and get comfy on the couch in front of everyone’s favourite screen.

While those who get overwhelmed by choice when they open their streaming services may find it simpler to sink into new seasons of old favourites such as Survivor (Global, Sept. 18), Somebody Somewhere (HBO and Crave, Oct. 27) or Silo (Apple TV+, Nov. 15), there are plenty of new shows worth searching for. Here are 10 that seem worth a try.

So Long Marianne

Crave, Sept. 27

While on-screen impersonations of Bob Dylan continue to pile up (Timothée Chalamet is next up at the mic), somehow his singer-songwriter Canadian cousin, Leonard Cohen, has remained untapped territory – until now. Alex Wolff, half of the pop-rock duo Nat & Alex Wolff, plays the beautiful loser from La Belle Province in this new eight-part international co-production that focuses on his unconventional 1960s love affair with the Norwegian Marianne Ihlen, who inspired many of his best-known songs.

Murder in a Small Town

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Global and Fox, Sept. 24

Finally, justice for Rossif Sutherland, who gets to star in his own Canadian small-screen series based on a series of mystery novels, after being relegated to Alfred Molina’s sidekick in the short-lived Louise Penny TV adaptation Three Pines. He’ll use that deep husky voice inherited from his dad, Donald, to solve crime on Canada’s Sunshine Coast playing police chief Karl Alberg from the books by L.R. Wright; Kristin Kreuk co-stars.

The Knowing

CBC and CBC Gem, Sept. 25

A companion piece to bestselling Anishinaabe author and Globe and Mail columnist’s book of the same name, this four-part documentary series sees Tanya Talaga explore centuries of history on this land while she flexes her investigative reporting skills to look into her matrilineal family history up to her great-grandmother – one intertwined with Canada’s residential-school system. A Cree-language version of the series will also be available later in the season.

The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal

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Prime Video, Sept. 20

Marking the 40th anniversary of a band so Canadian it had not one, but two members named Gord, this Canadian Amazon Original documentary series is a four-part deep dive into the Kingston group’s music-making career with commentary and cameos from superfans Will Arnett, Dan Aykroyd and Geddy Lee. Producer/director Mike Downie had the right connections to get great access to personal footage; he’s the brother of the Hip’s front man Gord Downie, whose death in 2017 set off a nationwide period of mourning.

Nobody Wants This

Netflix, Sept. 26

Kristen Bell and Adam Brody have enough chemistry to melt any LCD screen in this rom-com about a hot rabbi on the rise and a shiksa sex podcaster who have to deal with the ramifications of their unorthodox romance. On the com side, Veep’s Timothy Simons is the standout as the rabbi’s ungainly brother, who forms a surprising bond with the podcaster’s sister, played by Succession’s Justine Lupe.

Three Women

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Starz, Sept. 13

Originally produced for Showtime, this adaptation of Lisa Taddeo’s bestselling non-fiction book chronicling the complex sex lives of three American women over a decade sat on the shelf for a while amid corporate rebranding. But it is now finally available to watch in Canada via Starz (or a Starz streamer add-on). Shailene Woodley (Big Little Lies) plays a character who stands in for the author, while Betty Gilpin, DeWanda Wise and Gabrielle Creevy are the women who range from swinger to survivor.

Grotesquerie

FX Canada and Disney+, Sept. 25

With Robert and Michelle King’s underappreciated Evil having come to its conclusion this summer, viewers looking for supernatural-horror kicks may want to try this new series from superproducer Ryan Murphy. It’s about a detective (Emmy winner Niecy Nash-Betts) and a nun (Micaela Diamond) looking into a series of heinous murders – and you’re going to see it endlessly meme’d online because Travis Kelce, a noted four-down football player and beau to Taylor Swift, has a role in it.

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Apple TV+, Oct. 11

The buzz has only built for this seven-part psychological thriller from filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón (Roma, Gravity) as its made the rounds of the film-festival circuit this fall. Based on the novel by Renée Knight, Cate Blanchett stars as a documentarian who made her name exposing other people’s dark secrets – and who one day receives a mysterious novel in the mail that exposes her own. Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville and Sacha Baron Cohen are also in the ensemble.

The Franchise

HBO, October 6

Superheroics and supervillain-y abound, as is now expected, on the small screen this fall with new series from both the Marvel and DC camps: Agatha All Along (Disney+, Sept. 18) and The Penguin (HBO, Sept. 19). Those who have come to feel those universes are overextended, however, will find succour in The Franchise, a new comedy series from Veep’s Armando Iannucci, Succession’s Jon Brown and Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes that offers a behind-the-scenes satire of spandex-and-tights showbiz.

Interior Chinatown

Disney+, TBD

This National Book Award-winning, Asian stereotype-skewering novel was written in the form of a screenplay – so it’s not a huge surprise that its author, Charles Yu, who is also a TV writer (Westworld), has now adapted it for the small screen. Jimmy O. Yang stars as a background actor on a police procedural who witnesses a real murder – and it only gets more meta from there. Taika Waititi directs the pilot.