WaTc
NEW
SHOWS
THE UNICORN
SEPT. 26
8:30 PM � CBS
What an odd treat to
see prestige-cable
character actor Walton
Goggins (The Shield, Jus-
tified, Vice Principals)
take center stage on
this single-camera CBS
comedy. He plays Wade,
a widower and father
of two whose married
friends push him (gently,
lovingly) to start living—
and dating—again.
Goggins is thoroughly
likable as the titular
unicorn (a high-quality,
employed, single man
over 40), while the
ensemble—featuring
Rob Corddry, Michaela
Watkins, Maya Lynne
Robinson, and Omar
Benson Miller—is one of
the best assembled
for broadcast TV since
the late, lamented Life in
Pieces. Give it a shot,
please, so it doesn’t
suffer the latter’s fate.EVIL
SEPT. 26
10 PM � CBS
Westworld’s Katja Her-
bers stars as Dr. Kristen
Bouchard, a lapsed
Catholic and financially
struggling forensic psy-
chologist who gets hired
by a priest-in-training
(Mike Colter) to help
investigate alleged reli-
gious and supernatural
phenomena. There’s
nothing here that’ll rein-
vent the “skeptic and
believer” TV template,
but thanks to innovative
creators Robert and
Michelle King (The Good
Wife), Evil is perhaps
the sharpest, funniest,
and smartest CBS drama
since...The Good Wife.
(It’s hard to imagine any
other showrunners
working Occam’s razor
and Wernicke’s area
of the brain into their
network pilot.) Offering
thoughtful debates
about religion and more,
Evil could be a new
kind of TV animal: the
philosophical procedural.UNBELIEVABLE
SEPT. 13
NETFLIX
A slow-burn, “inspired
by true events” mystery,
Unbelievable stars Toni
Collette and Merritt
Wever as detectives who
realize they’re chasing
the same serial rapist.
Wever is a marvel as Kar-
en Duvall, a soft-spoken
woman of faith whose
calm demeanor stands
in stark contrast to
Collette’s brusque Grace
Rasmussen. But both
women are determined
to capture the attacker,
and Unbelievable mixes
satisfying, meat-and-
potatoes detective work
with a pointed explora-
tion of the systemic bias-
es facing sexual-assault
survivors. Booksmart’s
Kaitlyn Dever costars as
Marie, whose attack—
and the subsequent
doubts about it—serves
as an anchor for the time-
hopping narrative. This
is the only True Detective
season 4 we need.MRS. FLETCHER
O C T. 2 7
10:30 PM � HBO
Based on the novel by
suburban-angst expert
Tom Perrotta, Mrs.
Fletcher follows Eve
(Transparent’s Kathryn
Hahn), a single mom in
her 40s whose jerky
jock son Brendan (Jack-
son White) just left for
college. With her empty
nest looming like a void
in front of her, Eve
channels her loneliness
into two new hobbies:
taking a creative-writing
class—where she meets
a flirtatious young
student (Owen Teague)—
and watching online
porn. Meanwhile,
Brendan is learning that
his fellow freshmen
aren’t here for his
straight-white-cis-male
perspective. Pensive and
funny, and bolstered
by another exceptional
performance by Hahn,
Mrs. Fletcher is a dram-
edy for grown-ups.WATCHMEN
O C T. 2 0
9 PM � HBO
Confession: I know noth-
ing about Watchmen.
Never read the comic or
saw the (polarizing) 2009
film. I had to pause many
times while watching
the pilot so I could look
up characters and back-
stories on Wikipedia.
With that said, I can’t
wait to see more. Set 30
years after the comics,
Watchmen takes place
in a world where police
hide their identities due
to terrorist attacks, and
a long-dormant white
supremacist group
wants to start a race war.
The show is expensive-
looking but not hollow.
There’s a humanity to the
characters that is often
lacking in comic-book
adaptations, due in large
part to the exceptional
cast, including Regina
King, Jeremy Irons, and
Don Johnson. Hardcore
fans will have to make
up their own minds, but
this novice was intrigued.EW critic KRISTEN BALDWIN
shares what freshman
series she’ll be watching this fall