This week the major networks held their 2016 upfronts. This is where the networks announce their fall lineups and it’s usually the first chance to build some excitement around their new shows. For more information on what the upfronts are and how they work you can read the Wikipedia page (#snore) or watch the second episode “Valerie Triumphs at the Upfronts” of the oft-overlooked HBO show The Comeback.

• This year the general pessimism on the success rate for these shows seems to be at an all time high. Perhaps ABC’s decision to announce all the shows they’re cancelling (we see you Agent Carter, Castle, Galavant, The Muppets, and Nashville) days before the upfronts wasn’t the best idea.
• The president of ABC commented on cancelling Nashville and Castle, but honestly the answer is such boring network-speak that I almost didn’t bother including the link. Click if you want, but don’t expect much.
• Other shows that were cancelled recently include CSI: Cyber (Dawson’s Creek star James Van Der Beek and the Oscar winning Patricia Arquette just weren’t enough), Rush Hour (which I guess was a television show?), The Grinder and Grandfathered (so long hunky older Rob Lowe and hunky older John Stamos), Game of Silence (which I’m going to guess was a very boring version of Game of Thrones), and The Mysteries of Laura (someday that Debra Messing will get her big break…)

Ok but on to more uplifting things! Lots of new shows were announced this week and just maybe some of them will even last more than a whole season:

• Here’s the new ABC fall lineup.
• ABC has a lot of time to fill with all that cancelling they’ve been doing lately. Imaginary Mary stars Jenna Elfman and seems like a pretty straight forward lady-doesn’t-want-kids-until-she-meets-the-right-guy story. But with Rachel Dratch as her imaginary friend.
• Losing Agent Carter and her many names was a bit of a gut punch but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested in seeing Hayley Atwell in other roles. Here’s a trailer for her new ABC show Conviction.
• Still Star-Crossed is Shondaland’s first period piece. “What happens after the events of Romeo and Juliet” does not sound interesting to me but I will admit to finding this trailer very intriguing.
• Time After Time is a show about H. G. Wells solving the Jack the Ripper murders by time travelling. To me that sure sounds like a network television mad lib but it’s a new Kevin Williamson show (creator of Scream, Dawson’s Creek, and The Vampire Diaries) and I cannot deny his strange power over me.
• Here’s the new CBS fall lineup.
• MacGyver is returning to television. My money is on this one not making it to season two.
• Here’s the new CW fall lineup. Keen observers will note that Dawson’s Creek producer Greg Berlanti (hey did I find a way to bring up Dawson’s Creek three times in this link roundup?) now has a different show airing at 8:00 p.m. Monday to Thursday.
• The CW picked up Riverdale a show about Archie and his friends. There’s a lot of praise going around for the current Archie comics but it looks like the show decided to go in a completely different direction by aiming for more of a Twin Peaks take but with Archie shtuping Ms. Grundy (I wish that was a joke).
• Here’s the new Fox fall lineup.
• I’ll admit to being intrigued by Jason Sudeikis’ new show about He-Man in real life, Son of Zorn.
• We at The Pop Culture Reference are HERE for the new show Pitch, about a Black woman pitching in Major League Baseball.
• Fox is rebooting Lethal Weapon as a television show with Damon Wayans. My money is on them saving the line “I’m getting too old for this shit” for the first season finale. Any takers?
• Fox’s time travel show, Making History (because everyone needs a time travel show), features Happy Ending’s and The Mindy Project’s Adam Pally trading ham for things.
• And last but not least (ok sometimes least), here’s the new NBC fall lineup.
• NBC picked up the new DC Comics show Powerless. The show stars Vanessa Hudgens, Danny Pudi, and Alan Tudyk and appears to be a workplace comedy about insurance brokers dealing with superhero-related damage.
• Gee, does NBC have a time travel show? Of course they do. Here’s the trailer for Timeless.
• Mandy Moore is coming to television in the new show This Is Us. Somehow this trailer got over 5 million views in 5 days. It doesn’t seem overly new or exciting to me, but who knows. If caring about the upfronts has taught me anything it’s to never trust a television show’s trailer (hope you enjoyed watching these!).