October 2016 TV premieres, movies, specials

My favorite part of the fall TV season comes when all the cable networks begin launching their new offerings. That time is now. Readers, I give you the October 2016 TV premieres calendar.

It can be overwhelming when the cable networks hit their fall stride, considering the broadcast networks and streaming services continue their own fall rollouts. But if you click that remote to those networks where you’ve hardly spent time, you might find some gems.

On Ovation, the international hit “Versailles” begins Oct. 1. Later in the month, EPIX has “Graves” and “Berlin Station.” BBC America dives into the wonderfully weird world of “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency.” USA debuts the mystery “Eyewitness.” PBS’s “Masterpiece” premieres the quirky family story “The Durrells in Corfu.” Pop goes dark with the serial killer thriller “Wolf Creek.”

I’ll be watching many of those, as well as shows from the usual suspects. Netflix, which just launched “Luke Cage,” adds new seasons of “Black Mirror” and “The Fall” in October. At HBO, “Westworld,” “Divorce” and “Insecure” debut. “Shameless” is back on Showtime. Amazon has “Goliath” and “Good Girls Revolt.” NBC brings back “Chicago Fire” and time-jumps with “Timeless.” And yes, we’ll finally discover who Negan killed in AMC’s “The Walking Dead.”

So much TV, so little time. Here’s a complete calendar of the October 2016 TV premieres, movies, specials and more. Let me know if you notice something is missing. All times are Central.

https://youtu.be/Sg4KVx5hsVc

October 2016 TV premieres

Saturday, Oct. 1

8 a.m.

• “UpRooted,” Cooking (series premiere; American mom/trained chef moves to rural France, has culinary and other adventures)

8 p.m.

• “Versailles,” Ovation (U.S. premiere; King Louis XIV dreams of building a huge palace to show France’s greatness) More Versailles: Interview with stars George Blagden & Alexander Vlahos; Vlahos on playing a gay role); Noemie Schmidt interview)
• “The Crooked Man,” Syfy (movie; once you sing Crooked Man nursery rhyme, family is cursed to die)
• “Love on a Limb,” Hallmark (movie; woman chains herself to an old oak tree that is marked to be cut down)

9 p.m.

• “Sebastian Maniscalco: Why Would You Do That?” Showtime (stand-up comedy special)

10:30 p.m.

• “Saturday Night Live,” NBC (season 42; guest host Margot Robbie and musical guest The Weeknd)

 

Sunday, Oct. 2

6 p.m.

• “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” ABC (season 27)

7 p.m.

• “Ash vs Evil Dead,” Starz (season 2)
• “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS (season 8)

7:35 p.m.

• “Blunt Talk,” Starz (season 2)

8 p.m.

• “Westworld,” HBO (series premiere; dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the evolution of sin)
• “Shameless,” Showtime (season 7)
• “Madam Secretary,” CBS (season 3)
• “The Irresistible Blueberry Farm,” Hallmark M&M (movie; woman works to unravel mysterious love story her grandmother left behind)
• “Snapped: Notorious—The Menendez Brothers,” Oxygen (special; the case of Erik and Lyle Menendez, who fatally shot their parents in 1989)
• “Halloween Wars,” Food (season 6)
• “Alaska: The Last Frontier,” Discovery (season 6)

9 p.m.

• “Elementary,” CBS (season 5)
• “WAGS Miami,” E! (series premiere; wives and girlfriends of sports stars in Miami)
• “Worst Bakers of America,” Food (series premiere; 12 people, including Chicagoan Ryan Neiman, enter baking boot camp)
• “Yours, Mine and Ours,” Bravo (series premiere;  real estate agent Reza Farahan and interior designer Taylor Spellman help new couples figure out which residence they should call home)

 

https://youtu.be/C6AiokEd4NU

Monday, Oct. 3

Streaming

• “House Divided,” Fullscreen (series premiere; 7 politically-minded millennials with varying beliefs live together in Washington, D.C., during presidential race)

7 p.m.

• “Milo Murphy’s Law,” Disney XD (animated series premiere; for 13-year-old Milo Murphy anything that can go wrong will go wrong)

8 p.m.

• “Scorpion,” CBS (2-hour season 3 premiere)
• “Class Divide,” HBO (doc; effects of hyper-gentrification and growing inequality through microcosm of New York City’s West Chelsea neighborhood)
• “Black Ink Crew: Chicago,” VH1 (season 2)
• “Masters of Flip,” HGTV (season 2)
• “Halloween Baking Championships,” Food (series premiere; Jeff Dunham hosts as 7 bakers compete)

9 p.m.

• “Timeless,” NBC (series premiere; trio travels through time to stop criminal)
• “Conviction,” ABC (series premiere; troubled ace lawyer takes over special defense unit)
• “Lone Star Restoration,” History (series premiere; Texas based restoration expert Brent Hull and his company Hull Historical go to work)

 

Tuesday, Oct. 4

Streaming

• “The Mindy Project,” Hulu (season 5)

7 p.m.

• “The Flash,” CW (season 3)
• “Pitbull: Beyond Worldwide,” Fuse (music special)
• “Masterchef Canada,” Cooking (season premiere)

8 p.m.

• “No Tomorrow,” CW (series premiere; man who believes the end of the world is imminent teaches woman how to seize day)
• “Bizarre Foods: Delicious Destinations,” Travel (season premiere)
• “Family Time,” Bounce TV (season 4)

9 p.m.

• “Taking Fire,” Discovery (doc series premiere; charting one year’s deployment of the 101^st Airborne Division on a base near the Taliban-held Korengal Valley in Northeast Afghanistan)

 

Wednesday, Oct. 5

Streaming

• “One Percent of Something,” DramaFever (U.S. premiere;  arrogant hotel owner learns his grandfather left his fortune to elementary school teacher)

7 p.m.

• “Arrow,” CW (season 5)
• “Total Bellas,” E! (series premiere; VIP lives of WWE Superstars Nikki and Brie Bella and their fellas, John Cena and Daniel Bryan)

8 p.m.

• “Frequency,” CW (series premiere; woman communicates with dead father using his old ham radio)
• “Expedition Unknown: Hunt for the Yeti,” History (4-part special; Josh Gates looks for truth behind legend of the abominable snowman)
• “Catching Kelce,” E! (series premiere; NFL superstar tight end Travis Kelce interviews 50 women from 50 states)

9 p.m.

• “Little Miss Atlanta,” TLC (limited series premiere; 3 young African-Americans participate in children’s beauty pageants)
• “Restoring Charleston,” DIY (series premiere; restoring delapidated Charleston homes)

10 p.m.

• “Clash of the Corps,” Fuse (docuseries; bts look at Drum Corps International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the junior drum corps community)

 

Thursday, Oct. 6

7 p.m.

• “iHeartRadio Music Festival, Night 1,” CW (special)
• “2016 Latin American Music Awards,” Telemundo (special)

8 p.m.

• “Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles,” Bravo (season 9)

9 p.m.

• “Make Me a Millionaire Inventor,” CNBC (season 2)

9:30 p.m.

• “Those Who Can’t,” truTV (season 2)

 

Friday, Oct. 7

Streaming

• “The Ranch,” Netflix (season 1, part 2)

7 p.m.

• “The Swap,” Disney (movie; two teens try to reverse mysterious event that caused them to swap lives)
• “iHeartRadio Music Festival, Night 2,” CW (special)

8 p.m.

• “Marriage Boot Camp Reality Stars,” WEtv (season 6)
• “Getting Ahead,” PBS (special; impact of rising minimum wage)

9 p.m.

• “My Life is a Telenovela,” WEtv (series premiere; group of Hispanic actresses and actors in Miami working in telenovelas)

 

Saturday, Oct. 8

6 p.m.

• “35 and Single,” Pivot (doc; woman tackles societal pressure on women to be married by a certain age)

7 p.m.

• “All-Star Halloween Spectacular,” Food (special)

8 p.m.

• “Day of Reckoning,” Syfy (movie premiere; creatures are purging humanity of evil)
• “Autumn in the Vineyard,” Hallmark (movie; man and woman want to make winery a hit, but rocky relationship could get in way)

9 p.m.

• “The Graham Norton Show,” BBC America (season 20)

 

https://youtu.be/MubTJyWukp8

Sunday, Oct. 9

8 p.m.

• “Gourmet Detective: Death al Dente,” Hallmark M&M (movie; detective and former chef partner investigate murder of a local chef found dead in his kitchen)
• “Hellavator,” GSN (season 2)
• “Unwrapped 2.0,” Cooking (season 2)

9 p.m.

• “Divorce,” HBO (series premiere; Sarah Jessica Parker stars as woman and mother who reassesses her life and strained relationship with husband)

9:30 p.m.

• “Insecure,” HBO (series premiere; best friends deal with their own real-life flaws as they attempt to navigate different professional/personal worlds)

 

Monday, Oct. 10

Streaming

• “The Code, Season 2,” Acorn TV (U.S. premiere, new episodes each Monday)
• “Freakish,” Hulu (series premiere; teen horror stories)

7 p.m.

• “Supergirl,” CW (season 2)

8 p.m.

• “2 Broke Girls,” CBS (season premiere)

9 p.m.

• “Scorpion,” CBS (time period premiere)
• “Suite Francaise,” Lifetime (movie; woman in Nazi-occupied France falls for German stationed in her house)
• “From This Day Forward,” PBS (“POV” doc; portrayal of an American family coping with father’s transition to female)

 

Tuesday, Oct. 11

7 p.m.

• “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” Fox (crossover event with “New Girl,” episode 1)
• “The Middle,” ABC (season 8)
• “Ben & Lauren: Happily Ever After?” Freeform (series premiere; following Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell after Season 20 of “The Bachelor”)

7:30 p.m.

• “New Girl,” Fox (crossover event with “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” episode 2)
• “American Housewife,” ABC (series premiere; woman moves family into new neighborhood where she’s the odd mom out)
• “Driving with Selvi,” Pivot (doc; Indian woman leaves arranged marriage and eventually becomes South India’s first female taxi driver)

8 p.m.

• “Channel Zero: Candle Cove,” Syfy (anthology series premiere; man believes 1980s children’s TV program played in series of nightmarish and deadly events from his childhood)
• “The Letter,” Freeform (series premiere; what if you could tell your friends exactly what you thought anonymously?)
• “This is Us,” NBC (night & time period premiere)
• “Fresh Off the Boat,” ABC (season 3)

8:30 p.m.

• “The Real O’Neals,” ABC (season 2)

9 p.m.

• “Chicago Fire,” NBC (season 5)

10 p.m.

• “Welcome Back Potter,” HGTV (series premiere; actress Monica Potter renovates childhood home in Cleveland)

 

Wednesday, Oct. 12

7 p.m.

• “Nature: Super Hummingbirds,” PBS (season 36; Patricia Clarkson narrates look at new scientific discoveries about hummingbirds)

8 p.m.

• “Criss Angel Trick’d Up,” A&E (special; illusionist does his thing with group he assembled)

 

Thursday, Oct. 13

Streaming

• “Bajillion Dollar Properties,” Seeso (season 2)

7 p.m.

• “Legends of Tomorrow,” CW (season 2)

8 p.m.

• “Supernatural,” CW (season 12)
• “Growing Up Hip Hop,” WEtv (season 2)

9 p.m.

• “Falling Water,” USA (series premiere; 3 unrelated people realize they are dreaming separate parts of single common dream)
• “Money. Power. Respect.” WEtv (series premiere; power struggles of six successful female attorneys)

 

Friday, Oct. 14

Streaming

• “Goliath,” Amazon (series premiere; down-on-his-luck lawyer goes up against rich, powerful firm)
• “Just Add Magic: Halloween,” Amazon (holiday special)

8 p.m.

• “Grammy Salute to Music Legends,” PBS (“Great Performances” premiere; all-star concert special)
• “Gold Rush,” Discovery (season 7)

9 p.m.

• “Wolf Creek,” Pop (6-part mini; American survivor of serial killer returns to Australian Outback to exact her revenge)

 

Saturday, Oct. 15

6 p.m.

• “Rise Up as One,” Fusion, Univision (concert special; musical acts perform at event on the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego, Calif.)

7 p.m.

• “Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four,” ID (doc premiere; struggle for exoneration of four Latina lesbians wrongfully convicted of rape against two young girls)
• “Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge & Michel’le,” Lifetime (movie; hip-hop artist Michel’le’s life story)

8 p.m.

• “Stake Land 2,” Syfy (movie premiere; vampires and an evil brotherhood threaten the world)
• “Pumpkin Pie Wars,” Hallmark (movie; pie-baking competitors from feuding families fall for each other)
• “Downtown Shabby,” FYI (series premiere; home renovation)

 

Sunday, Oct. 16

7 p.m.

• “The Durrells in Corfu,” PBS (“Masterpiece” premiere; 1930s widow moves her four children from London to the Greek island)
• “Killing Reagan,” Nat Geo (movie; events surrounding the 1981 attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan)

8 p.m.

• “Berlin Station,” EPIX (series premiere; CIA officer goes undercover in Berlin to root out traitor; watch the premiere above)
• “The Walking Dead: The Journey So Far,” AMC (special; clips plus cast, producer interviews)
• “The Julius House: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery,” Hallmark M&M (movie; librarian investigates disappearance of family that once lived in her new home)

9 p.m.

• “Eyewitness,” USA (series premiere; 2 teen boys who witness a shooting dodge the shooter while trying to hide their relationship)
• “Graves,” EPIX (series premiere; former two-term POTUS as he embarks on a Don Quixote-like quest tries to right wrongs of his administration 25 years after leaving White House)
• “The Riveras,” NBC Universo (reality series; following the children of late Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera)

 

Monday, Oct. 17

Streaming

• “Britain’s Bloody Crown,” Acorn TV (U.S. premiere; 4-part doc reveals the true history of the Wars of the Roses)

7 p.m.

• “A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story,” Lifetime (doc;   journey of 27-year-old, 62 pound Lizzie from cyber-bullying victim to anti-bullying activist)

8 p.m.

• “Jane the Virgin,” CW (season 3)

8:30 p.m.

• “The Odd Couple,” CBS (season premiere)

9 p.m.

• “Hooligan Sparrow,” PBS (“POV” doc; activist Ye Haiyan seeks justice for six elementary school girls allegedly sexually abused by their principal in China)
• “Magnifica 70,” HBO Latino (season 2)

10 p.m.

• “Desus & Mero,” Viceland (series premiere; late night talk show hosted by Bronx-bred pals Desus Nice and The Kid Mero)

 

Wednesday, Oct. 19

Streaming

• “Chance,” Hulu (series premiere; forensic neuro-psychiatrist reluctantly enters a dangerous and violent world of mistaken identity, police corruption and mental illness)

 

Tuesday, Oct. 20

8 p.m.

• “CMT Artists of the Year,” CMT (special; Shania Twain becomes first female recipient of Artist of a Lifetime Award)
• “Chopped: Beat Bobby Flay,” Food (two-part tourney ends Oct. 27)

9:30 p.m.

• “Project Runway: Fashion Startup,” Lifetime (series premiere; aspiring fashion and beauty entrepreneurs pitch concepts to panel of expert investors)

 

Friday, Oct. 21

Streaming

• “Black Mirror,” Netflix (season premiere; each stand-alone episode of anthology series explores themes of contemporary techno-paranoia)
• “An American Girl Story—Melody 1963: Love Has to Win,” Amazon (special; 10-year-old in 1963 Detroit who discovers racial inequality challenges her teacher on the validity of the “indivisible” promise of the Pledge of Allegiance)

4 p.m.

• “The Lodge,” Disney (series premiere; serialized mystery/drama/musical about a girl who wants to save a family-owned country lodge from being sold)

7 p.m.

• “The Vampire Diaries,” CW (season 8)
• “Ghosts of Shepherdstown,” TLC (special; cameras return to haunted town for a check-in with residents)

8 p.m.

• “Hamilton’s America,” PBS (“Great Performances” premiere; see more about the PBS Fall Arts Festival here)
• “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” CW (season 2)
• “A Haunting,” TLC (season premiere)

9 p.m.

• “Wanda Sykes: What Happened, Ms. Sykes?” EPIX (stand-up special)
• “Kindred Spirits,” TLC (series premiere;  renowned ghost hunters Amy Bruni and Adam Berry help families tormented by paranormal activity)

 

Saturday, Oct. 22

7 p.m.

• “Death of a Vegas Showgirl,” Lifetime (movie; when showgirl goes missing, investigation leads to her dancer boyfriend)

8 p.m.

• “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency,” BBC America (series premiere; bizarre adventures of an eccentric “holistic” detective and his reluctant assistant)
• “Weiner,” Showtime (doc; look into Anthony Weiner’s political downfall)
• “Rats,” Discovery (special; “horrormentary” director Morgan Spurlock examines rats around the world; also air Oct. 30 on Animal Planet)
• “Shadows of the Dead,” Syfy (movie; teens try to escape creature)
• “Good Witch: Secrets of Grey House,” Hallmark (movie; Cassie helps Middleton unite to pull off special event in honor of visiting author)

 

Sunday, Oct. 23

8 p.m.

• “The Walking Dead,” AMC (season 7)
• “Hailey Dean Mystery: Murder, with Love,” Hallmark M&M (movie; prosecutor-turned-therapist investigates death of patient’s parents)
• “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” E (season premiere)

9 p.m.

• “Talking Dead,” AMC (season premiere)
• “Edge of Alaska,” Discovery (season 2)

10 p.m.

• “Comic Book Men,” AMC (season 6)

10:30 p.m.

• “Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell,” Adult Swim (season 3)

10:45 p.m.

• “Dream Corp LLC,” Adult Swim (series premiere; absent-minded professor and his inept team analyze patients at a dream therapy facility)

 

Monday, Oct. 24

Streaming

• “19-2, Season 3,” Acorn TV (U.S. premiere)

7 p.m.

• “Kevin Can Wait,” CBS (time period premiere)

7:30 p.m.

• “Man with a Plan,” CBS (series premiere; Matt LeBlanc plays a dad who takes care of the kids when his wife goes back to work)

8 p.m.

• “The Hate Card: Jorge Ramos Reporting,” HBO (doc; inspired by incident in which journalist was ejected from a Donald Trump press conference and told to “go back to Univision”)

9 p.m.

• “Thank You for Playing,” PBS (“POV” doc; video game programmer and his wife document the emotional journey of young son’s cancer battle with a poetic video game called “That Dragon, Cancer”)
• “Food Fact or Fiction?” Cooking (season premiere)

 

Tuesday, Oct. 25

9 p.m.

• “Adam Ruins Everything Election Special,” truTV (special)

 

Wednesday, Oct. 26

5 a.m.

• “Rectify,” Sundance (season 3 marathon)

9 p.m.

• “Rectify,” Sundance (4th and final season)
• “Everest Air,” Travel (6-part special; challenges and stories behind Mount Everest climbs)
• “Jon Glaser Loves Gear,” truTV (series premiere; Jon Glaser endeavors to make docuseries about his life revolving around one of his biggest passions—gear)
• “Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia,” Viceland (series premiere; host Hamilton Morris investigates history, chemistry and societal impacts of the world’s most extraordinary drugs)

XX

Thursday, Oct. 27

7 p.m.

• “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS (time period premiere)

7:30 p.m.

• “The Great Indoors,” CBS (series premiere; veteran magazine writer must work as editor of staff of millennials)

8 p.m.

• “The Living and the Dead,” BBC America (limited series premiere; Victorian psychologist and his wife move back to his rural village where they are confronted by eerie phenomena that rational thought can’t explain)
• “Mom,” CBS (season premiere)

8:30 p.m.

• “Life in Pieces,” CBS (season 2)

9 p.m.

• “Pure Genius,” CBS (series premiere; tech millionaire founds hospital that tries daring new ways to save lives)
• “Balls Deep,” Viceland (season 2)

9:30 p.m.

• “Dead Set on Life,” Viceland (season 2)

 

https://youtu.be/_R0DqIcUntc

Friday, Oct. 28

Streaming

• “Skylanders Academy,” Netflix (series premiere; Spyro, Eruptor, Stealth Elf, Jet-Vac and Pop Fizz protect Skylands universe from evil-doers; based on Activision Blizzard’s video game)
• “Good Girls Revolt,” Amazon (series premiere; group of young female researchers at 1960s magazine ask to be treated fairly, sparking change)
• “Bookaboo,” Amazon (series premiere; preschooler show  combines puppetry, live action and CGI animation to help families find reading rhythm)

7 p.m.

• “American Humane Association Hero Dog Awards,” Hallmark (special)

8 p.m.

• “Live PD,” A&E (doc series premiere; ride along with officers of six diverse police departments)

10 p.m.

• “Tracey Ullman’s Show,”  HBO (series premiere; Ullman transforms into different characters and famous people for sketch comedy)
• “Comedy Bang! Bang!” Comedy Central (final season, 10 episodes; 2nd ep at 10:30 p.m.)

 

Saturday, Oct. 29

Streaming

• “The Fall,” Netflix (season 3)

7 p.m.

• “Amish Witches: The True Story of Holmes County,” Lifetime (movie; reality TV crew finds supernatural happenings among Amish)
• “A Wish for Christmas,” Hallmark (movie; quiet worker vows to speak up for herself when her holiday initiative is stolen by co-worker)

8 p.m.

• “The Night Before Halloween,” Syfy (movie; Halloween prank unleashes creature that will kill each participant)

 

Sunday, Oct. 30

7 p.m.

• “Years of Living Dangerously,” Nat Geo (season 2; accounts of effects of climate change from across the planet)

8 p.m.

• “Supercar Superbuild,” Smithsonian (season premiere; bts look at makers of Pagani, Mustang, Viper and Porsche as they search for their next great car)

 

Monday, Oct. 31

Streaming

• “Brief Encounters, Series 1,” Acorn TV (U.S. premiere; four women in early 1980s England kick start their search for happiness and fulfillment by becoming party organizers for a lingerie and sex toy company)

8 p.m.

• “People of Earth,” TBS (comedy premiere; skeptical journalist investigates support group for people who have experienced alien encounters)
• “Paranormal Lockdown: The Black Monk House,” Destination America (special; investigation of the Black Monk House in Yorkshire, England—home of most violent poltergeist activity ever reported)
• “Street Outlaws,” Discovery (season premiere)

9 p.m.

• “What Tomorrow Brings,” PBS (“POV” doc; inside the very first girls’ school in a small Afghan village)

10 p.m.

• “Stan Against Evil,” IFC (series preview, disgruntled former sheriff and his replacement team to fight plague of unleashed demons in small New England town)