Familiarity rules TV networks’ new fall seasons

You remember the broadcast networks.

Those plucky little institutions that once provided all the TV shows viewers thought they could ever need?

Now, we’re inundated with streaming series that are meant to be devoured in a weekend, then talked about in a few weeks when at least some of our friends have caught up. Then there are the brilliant-yet-obscure cable series that most viewers won’t discover until months or even years after they air — usually when they stumble across them on those same streaming services.

Yet the networks are still around, cranking out a combined 13 hours a night of programming that — with the exception of “Empire” or some hot new Shonda Rhimes soap — you almost never hear about unless you’re talking to your parents.

So how are the networks trying to get viewers excited about the new fall season? The same way Hollywood studios court moviegoers: remakes.

This fall, we have TV versions of “Lethal Weapon” (8 p.m. Sept. 21, Fox), “The Exorcist” (9 p.m. Sept. 23, Fox), even “Frequency” (9 p.m. Oct. 5, The CW), loosely based on the 2000 Dennis Quaid movie about a father and child reconnecting, and writing wrongs, by communicating across several decades via a ham radio. Heck, even “MacGyver” (8 p.m. Sept, 23, CBS) is being rehashed — minus the mullet.

Of those, “Lethal Weapon,” which stars Damon Wayans Sr. in the Murtaugh role, is the best. But that’s primarily because of the quality of the premiere’s stunts and action sequences that will be tough to maintain on a weekly budget.

Speaking in April at the National Association of Broadcasters Show in Las Vegas, Fox Network Group chairmen Dana Walden and Gary Newman explained that by relying on such familiar concepts, it gave their marketing divisions more time to dedicate to the network’s other new series. And when one of those new shows is the hilariously weird “Son of Zorn” (8 p.m. Sunday, Fox), in which an animated, He-Man-style warrior (voiced by Jason Sudeikis) from a faraway island returns to Orange County, California, to reconnect with his live action ex-wife (Cheryl Hines) and teenage son, they’re going to need all the time they can muster.

Even when the series aren’t direct remakes, some of them are awfully familiar — if not downright awful.

CBS is trotting its ”King of Queens” alum Kevin James back out in front of a live studio audience for the comedy “Kevin Can Wait” (8:30 p.m. Sept. 19). The network also is wasting the comedic talents of Matt LeBlanc in “Man With a Plan” (8:30 p.m. Oct. 24) and Joel McHale in “The Great Indoors” (8:30 p.m. Oct. 27), which is basically Tim Allen’s “Last Man Standing” — minus the right-wing screeds.

There’s NBC’s annual so-crazy-it-just-might-work drama. Last year, it was a naked, tattooed amnesiac in a duffle bag in “Blindspot.” This year, it’s “Timeless” (10 p.m. Oct. 3), in which a scientist, a soldier and a history professor repeatedly travel back in time to stop a rival time traveler from destroying America.

And ABC is back in the soapy legal business with “Notorious” (9 p.m. Sept. 22) and “Conviction” (10 p.m. Oct. 3), both of which feature interchangeably beautiful people doing scandalous things and generally not making much sense.

Then again, ABC has two of the fall’s best new broadcast series. When a catastrophic attack levels the Capitol during the State of the Union, the untested Housing and Urban Development Secretary (Kiefer Sutherland) becomes president in “Designated Survivor” (10 p.m. Sept. 21). And “Speechless” (8:30 p.m. Sept. 21) follows a family whose oldest son has cerebral palsy without being maudlin in any way.

Other notable network series include “Pitch” (9 p.m. Sept. 22, Fox) about the first female pitcher in Major League Baseball, the family drama “This Is Us” (10 p.m. Sept. 20, NBC) and “The Good Place” (10 p.m. Sept. 19, NBC), a comedy in which an administrator (Ted Danson) mistakenly lets a horrible person (Kristen Bell) into heaven.

Best of all, there’s not another “Chicago Fire”/“Chicago P.D.”/“Chicago Med” spinoff this fall.

The next one’s called “Chicago Justice,” and it won’t arrive until midseason, along with adaptations of the movies “Taken,” “Training Day” and “Time After Time.”

Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com. On Twitter: @life_onthecouch