EW senior editor Patrick Gomez shares what he’ll be watching this week.
Sunday, Sept. 22
I am lucky enough to be attending the Primetime Emmy Awards this year (unlucky enough to also be melting on the red carpet for three hours before the show, too). That means I won’t need to record TV’s biggest night. HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is also taking the week off to attend the awards, so the one show I would have made sure to watch following the after-parties won’t be a factor this evening either. Sunday also will bring the penultimate episode of CBS’s Big Brother 21 (8:30 p.m.). As a superfan, I won’t want to miss this episode, which traditionally consists of the final three contestants sipping champagne and regaling the viewers with fan favorite highlights and previously unseen moments from the season…but I’ll likely catch it after work on Monday. Same goes for AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead (8 p.m.), which has really found it’s stride in its fifth season.
Monday, Sept. 23
I swear this isn’t a shameless plug, but my Monday nights have now been taken over by ABC’s Dancing With the Stars (8 p.m.) as me and my colleague, the incomparable Lynette Rice, are co-hosting Eye on the Ball, an EW Live podcast for SiriusXM released for your on-demand pleasure every Tuesday on demand. Season 28 of the reality juggernaut kicked off last week with a new set — and a new set of rules. (For the first time in the show’s history, fans will vote live during the broadcast to impact the elimination at the end of the night.) I’ll also be sure to catch 9-1-1’s season 2 premiere (8 p.m. on Fox), in which the first responders will be dealing with the aftermath of a massive tidal wave.
Tuesday, Sept. 24
This night is apparently my ABC comedy night. At 8 p.m. is the season 2 premiere of The Conners — which has only gotten better since coming out from behind the dark Roseanne shadow — followed by the series premiere of black-ish spinoff, mixed-ish (9 p.m.), and then the season 6 premiere of black-ish (9:30 p.m.). If I’m up to it, I might finish Workin’ Moms, which I’m currently bingeing on Netflix. (Catherine Reitman’s grounded comedy about, well, working moms is three seasons in but I just discovered it. After a rocky premiere episode, I’ve found that the show quietly evolved into one of the best comedies on television on par with Sex and the City in how it sheds light on what makes women — and the men who love them — laugh, cry, and think.) I’ll also record TruTV’s Adam Ruins Everything (9 p.m.). The fun facts show provides a lot of “I never woulda guessed” facts about everyday life.
Wednesday, Sept. 25
For almost a decade now, I’ve been hosting a Wednesday TV night that we call Winesday. Everyone brings a bottle and hunkers down for an evening of competitive reality television. And this Wednesday is basically our Super Bowl: The finale of Big Brother 21 at 8 p.m. (I’m not really rooting for any of the finalists, but I picked Michie as the winner in my fantasy league) and the season 39 premiere of Survivor (which brings the return of all-stars Boston Rob and my queen Sandra). At an hour and a half each, those two shows will take up our whole night. But I’ll definitely be DVR’ing the final season premiere of ABC’s Modern Family (9 p.m) and the season 2 premiere of ABC’s Single Parents (9:30 p.m.), which was my favorite new comedy of last year.
Thursday, Sept. 26
T.G.I.T.! I’ve watched every episode of Grey’s Anatomy and that will continue with the season 16 premiere (8 p.m. on ABC). I’ll stay on the Alphabet Network for the season 2 premiere of A Million Little Things (9 p.m.) while my DVR records the series premiere of CBS’ The Unicorn (8:30 p.m.) — which EW critic Kristen Baldwin says is one of the best new shows of the season — as well as the final season premiere of NBC’s The Good Place (9 p.m.) and series premiere of Sunnyside (9:30 p.m.), which is my pick for best series trailer of the year…let’s hope the show lives up to my expectations. At 10 p.m. will be the series premiere of CBS’ Evil. Mike Colter working with the creators of The Good Wife? I’m in.
Friday, Sept. 27
Sadly, there’s no Crazy Ex-Girlfriend anymore, but my DVR will still be busy at the start of the weekend as it records the season premieres of ABC’s American Housewife (8 p.m.) and Fresh Off the Boat (8:30 p.m.). Constance Wu may not be excited about her family sitcom coming back for a sixth season, but I am.
Saturday, Sept. 28
I wanna finish Mindhunter! I’m halfway through the Netflix series’ first season and hope I can binge my way through at least the beginning of the newly released second season by weekend’s end!
