Once Upon a Time (New Season Premieres Sunday, September 28)
After being pulled into Zelena’s time portal, Emma (Jennifer Morrison) and Hook (Colin O’Donoghue) find themselves in the past in the Enchanted Forest, where they see the Evil Queen/Regina (Lana Parrilla) being, well, evil. As much as she wants to help, Hook urges Emma not to change anything in the past or the future may not happen. Leave it to Emma to nearly ruin her parents’ meeting and love connection. Luckily, Hook helps her make everything right—well, maybe not everything. While imprisoned by Regina, the duo meet a young woman sentenced to death who Emma just can’t help but save. As the trio show up to the naming of Mary Margaret (Ginnifer Goodwin) and David’s (Josh Dallas) son—and Emma’s brother—at Granny’s, they don’t realize that three’s a crowd. Turns out the woman is Maid Marian, and Robin Hood—who has connected nicely with Regina—is now going to be forced to make a choice. The kind of choice that could make Regina really, really upset. And no one wants that, right? But the biggest shocker of all was that the trio didn’t come back alone. They brought with them one Disney superstar, extra chilly, as Elsa was revealed to be coming out of the portal in the show’s final scene.
See What’s Coming Next In Our Once Upon A Time Season Four Preview ►
Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (New Season Premieres Tuesday, September 23)
Thanks to the events that took place in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, S.H.I.E.L.D. collapsed in HYDRA’s wake, leaving all the agents wanted by law enforcement—and, in some cases, pitted against each other. The finale saw Coulson (Clark Gregg) and team ultimately defeat a seemingly unstoppable Garrett (Bill Paxton), with a little help from Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Not as lucky were agents Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) who—thanks to a Hydra-following Ward (Brett Dalton)—ended up on the bottom of the ocean. Fitz risked his own life to save Simmons, and while he is alive, last we knew, he was in critical condition after being oxygen deprived. But nothing could prepare us for Coulson—now Director Coulson, per Fury—unable to sleep, mindlessly drawing what look like extraterrestrial schematics.
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Castle (New Season Premieres Monday, September 29)
In the Season 6 finale, as Castle (Nathan Fillion) is driving to his much-anticipated nuptials, an ominous black SUV bores down on him. Then, when he doesn’t show up at the wedding, Beckett (Stana Katic) is called to an accident scene where she sees Castle’s car in a ravine, engulfed in flames. Who or what caused the car crash? Is there anyway Castle could have survived? Season 7 will pick up at the scene of that accident, right where the finale left off, in a premiere that promises to put Beckett through the toughest case of her career.
Modern Family (New Season Premieres Wednesday, September 24)
After a few fires—both literal and metaphorical—Mitch (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cam (Eric Stonestreet) finally made it down the aisle in the wedding of the season. But there was a terrific blend of sweetness and sassiness along the way, including Sal (Elizabeth Banks), their original officiant, having her water break before the ceremony—luckily, Phil (Ty Burrell) stepped up to the plate. Haley (Sarah Hyland) helped Andy (Adam DeVine) see that his girlfriend was treating him badly—and while she was forming a crush on him, younger sister Alex (Ariel Winter) convinced her to let Andy down easy, knowing Haley would eventually break his heart as well. And after losing not one but three wedding locations, Jay (Ed O’Neill), who Mitch has thought was not supportive of his nuptials to Cam, came through with an idyllic country club setting for their I dos. So will all be happily ever after?
The Goldbergs (New Season Premieres Wednesday, September 24)
Last season leaves off as Murray (Jeff Garlin) learns his high school free throw record has been broken so he begrudgingly attends a banquet as the guest of honor, shoots, and misses. Reliving his glory years, his school spirit is re-energized until the crowd mocks him. Elsewhere at home, Barry (Troy Gentile)decides to throw a party where he quickly loses the spotlight and it’s up to Erica’s (Hayley Orrantia) friend Lainey (AJ Michalka) to help him get it back. When Murray and Bev (Wendi McLendon-Covey) show up, Barry is allowed one moment to bask in the glory of his party, and is then grounded for the summer. The family comes together at the end on the basketball court to discuss life.
Grey’s Anatomy (New Season Premieres Thursday, September 25)
While she may not have been all warm and fuzzy, saying farewell to Dr. Christina Yang (Sandra Oh) was one of the hardest things we had to watch. But there’s plenty of drama to keep the hospital running. While Miranda (Chandra Wilson) was assured she’d get a seat on the hospital’s board after Yang’s departure, the future wasn’t so clear after Yang left Karev (Justin Chambers) a package giving him her seat. After Derek (Patrick Dempsey) landed a plumb job in Washington, D.C., Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) wasn’t so sure she wanted to relocate, leading to a standoff that could destroy their marriage. As if that wasn’t enough, possibly the biggest surprise was when the love child of Meredith’s mom, Ellis, and Richard Webber (James Pickens, Jr.) showed up. The Grey family tree just keeps growing!
Last Man Standing (New Season Premieres Friday, October 3)
This season, Mike (Tim Allen) continues to be surrounded by forces seeking to challenge his ideals on just about everything in which he believes. As he and his wife Vanessa’s (Nancy Travis) three daughters grow up and move on, they’re forced to confront that quintessential parenting dilemma about how much they can still influence their three daughters. As usual, Mike tries to escape any female drama at home in the warm, manly embrace of his job at the Outdoor Man store.
The Middle (New Season Premieres Wednesday, September 24)
While Sue (Eden Sher) counts down the days until the Hecks depart on their road trip to Walt Disney World (she won the trip in a “Hands on a Hard Body” contest), Brick (Atticus Shaffer) begs his parents to take a detour to North Carolina so he can meet his online girlfriend, and Axl (Charlie McDermott)anxiously awaits the posting of his final grades as a college freshman. Then, when the Hecks arrive at Walt Disney World, a good time may not be had for all when a series of misfortunes threatens to put a damper on their trip.
Nashville (New Season Premieres Wednesday, September 24)
There was so much drama in the season two finale of Nashville, someone should write a country song about it. Oh wait. Anyway, Maddie (Lennon Stella) continues to be a brat. No cliffhanger there. Scarlett (Clare Bowen) decides it’s time for her to pack up and leave town and is pretty much thisclose to hitting the road when she stops at the Bluebird where Gunnar (Sam Palladino) sings a pretty love song to her and asks her to stay. With those eyes, how could she say no? In other news, Jeff (Oliver Hudson) continues to torment Juliette (Hayden Panettiere) about their tryst, threatening to expose them to her boyfriend Avery (Jonathan Jackson). After getting crazy drunk, and threatening to leave Rayna’s (Connie Britton) label Highway 66, Juliette finally comes clean with Avery—who is already super angry since Gunner told him first. Oops. But in the end, it looks like they’ll patch things up. Meantime, despite Jeff’s numerous attempts to derail Rayna’s album from succeeding, it looks like she is going to crush Will Lexington’s (Chris Carmack) debut, which could destroy his career. He starts cracking up, and Gunnar encourages him to come clean about being gay to Layla (Aubrey Peeples). Will does so, unaware that the “hidden” cameras capturing their “romance” for a reality show are recording every moment. Luke (Will Chase) proposes to Rayna—in front of 70,000 people, so it would have been hard to say no (and did you see the size of that ring?). But naturally Deacon (Charles Esten) comes by her house that night with the ring he was going to originally give her when he was set to propose years before. He kisses her. She kisses back. Cue a country song.
Revenge (New Season Premieres Sunday, September 28)
So there was a lot more death than we anticipated in the Revenge season finale. But here were the big moments in a show that was pretty much only big moments: Nolan (Gabriel Mann) teamed up with Margaux’s (Karine Vanasse) brother Gideon (Daniel Zovatto) to get back the MyClone program so they can make a fortune. Gideon catches Daniel (Josh Bowman) in a compromising position that gives him some power. A seriously ticked off Charlotte (Christa B. Allen) has Jack (Nick Wechsler) arrested for kidnapping her, even though it was Emily’s (Emily Van Camp) idea—as pretty much everything is. A seriously ticked off Victoria (Madeline Stowe) murders Aiden (Barry Sloane) and leaves his corpse as a gift for Emily, before getting carted off to a mental asylum. Oh right, and Emily’s presumed-dead father, David (James Tupper) is actually alive. And he kills Conrad (Henry Czerny).
Scandal (New Season Premieres Thursday, September 25)
The amount of crazy that took place in the season three finale of Scandal had our heads reeling. Let’s start with the easy stuff. Charlie (George Newbern) breaks things off with Quinn (Katie Lowes), knowing she been, well, licking Huck (Guillermo Diaz). But as a parting gift, he provides proof that Huck’s family is still alive. Huck, being Huck, doesn’t handle the news so great, but by the end comes face-to-face with his family. No major characters died in the bombing so it looked like VP Sally (Kate Burton) was going to win the election, which made it probably as good a time as ever for Olivia (Kerry Washington) to tell Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) about Mellie (Bellamy Young) being raped by his father—and possibly being Jerry IV’s son. Mellie and Fitz share a moment, he decides he can’t leave her for Liv (again). That’s the easy part of the story. Let’s just say, Olivia and Jake (Scott Foley) take off in a plane just in time to miss the outcome from the following: Olivia’s dad Eli (Joe Morton), who she though might be good, is really, really evil. He has Jerry IV (Dylan Minnette) killed and frames Olivia’s mom Maya (Khandi Alexander), so that he can put her back in “the box.” This also seals Fitz’s election win and re-establishes Eli as the head of B613. If we were Olivia, we wouldn’t turn the plane around any time soon.
