Disney Plus debuts the anime series Star Wars: Visions, and ABC revives The Wonder Years
Also tonight: The fourth and final season of Dear White People drops on Netflix
TV Lists The Wonder Years
Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Wednesday, September 22. All times are Eastern.
Top pick
Star Wars: Visions (Disney+, 3:01 a.m.): “Star Wars: Visions expands on the themes and histories present within Star Wars while introducing us to fresh faces and concepts in short bursts. There is no shortage to the beauty that exists within Visions, offering nine unique short films presented by seven different studios, each clocking in between 13 and 22 minutes. Though the studio touts it as a ‘fresh and diverse cultural perspective,’ the episodic anthology is more appropriately described as an opportunity for a variety of incredibly talented Japanese animators to play within a massive sandbox of their own creation.” Here is the rest of Juan Barquin’s review.
Regular coverage
Nine Perfect Strangers (Hulu, 12:01 a.m., finale)
What If…? (Disney+, 3:01 a.m.)
Archer (FXX, 10 p.m.)
Survivor (CBS, 8 p.m.): In the two-hour premiere, 18 new castaways begin their battle for $1 million and title of Sole Survivor. Myles McNutt will drop in on the first two episodes.
Wild cards
Dear White People (Netflix, 3:01 a.m.): The fourth and final season of Justin Simien young adult dramedy—based on his 2014 film of the same name—comes after over two years since season three dropped. The ten new episodes are set in post-pandemic future. The Winchester students look back at the most formative years of their lives while prepping for an extravagant, ’90s inspired, Afro-futuristic musical event. Returning cast members include Logan Browning, Brandon P. Bell, DeRon Horton, Ashley Blaine Featherson, John Patrick Amedori. Shannon Miller’s review of the season will be up on the site today.
Wonder Years (ABC, 8:30 p.m., series premiere): Inspired by the original series, the new comedy is also a coming-of-age story but set in 1960s Alabama. It focuses on a Black middle-class family and is told through the point-of-view of teen Dean Williams (Elisha “EJ” Williams). An adult Dean, voiced by Don Cheadle, recollects how his family found their “wonder years” amid a turbulent time. The cast includes Dulé Hill, Julian Lerner, Laura Kariuki, Milan Ray, and Saycon Sengbloh. Stephen Robinson will be dropping in on the pilot episode.
Fall TV premieres
The Masked Singer (Fox, 8 p.m., season six premiere): The new season of this singing competition returns with two new episodes. Hosted by Nick Cannon, it features celebrity contestants decked up in costumes from head-to-toe to conceal their identity. Panelists Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg, Nicole Scherzinger, and Robin Thicke have to guess who the singers are based on clues. The sixth season premiere will include debut performances, three unmaskings, and a double elimination.
Alter Ego (Fox, 9 p.m.): One singing reality series simply isn’t enough for Wednesday night, so the network will follow up on The Masked Singer with new show Alter Ego. The (scary looking) gimmick is that contestants won’t perform as themselves, but will create a dream avatar to reinvent themselves. Their performances will be captured via motion capture technology. The judges are Alanis Morissette, Nick Lachey, Grimes, and will.i.am., and Rosci Diaz is the host.
Fall TV premieres (ABC and NBC): New seasons of Dick Wolf’s Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, and Chicago P.D. debut, as well as ABC comedies The Goldbergs, The Conners, and Home Economics.
6 Comments
I know the first season was a big social media/water cooler hit, but… Season six! That shallow well hasn’t dried up yet? I guess it will be another season of ignoring the idiotic show that gives a platform to that braying Heinous Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg.
Does it really count as “ignoring” if you’re here talking about it?
I was not expecting this new Wonder Years to stick the landing so well. But it looks really well done. I love Dule Hill and having Don Cheadle as narrator is a stroke of genius.
Looking forward to the Wonder Years but wonder if they should have been more recent, like at least the 90’s. I know the late 60’s was a crazy time but it was 50 years ago. The original was set to be exactly 20 years earlier but I don’t think the new show should necessarily stick to that. We would start at 9/11 in that scenario but that might work more for a white cast. But 30 years there was a lot of history too with the Rodney King beating and subsequent riots as a backdrop to the coming of age story. However, I’m sure it will be fine once I watch it. One thing this show could present is how Baby Boomers at this time were just as young and idealistic as the millennials and Gen-Zers they are mocking now and could explore how that dynamic changed.
Looking forward to the Wonder Years, even if the concept of Dule Hill as a cool, older father figure is profoundly odd to me after having watched him for 20+ years.
As beautiful and diverse in style as Disney+’s Star Wars Visions is, I was disappointed by apparent lack of vision the anthology had overall. I get it, the jedi and lightsabers are cool but just about every short was so focused on that one aspect of Star Wars when they could’ve explored the life of a soldier, on either side of the conflict or on the life of a group of people caught in the middle of said conflict.Probably the only one that wasn’t directly centered on the force and lightsabers is Tatooine Rhapsody. That was a fun little story.