It's like the calm before the storm -- a big, hectic, scrambling, noisy new fall season storm that begins Monday.
The only thing new on broadcast TV today is Thursday Night Football. If you care about that sort of thing, it's the New York Jets at the Buffalo Bills. Pregame starts at 6:30 p.m. on CBS, with kickoff at 7:25.
Colorful bonus: The NFL's Color Rush jerseys, which each of the 32 teams will be wearing during Thursday games, returns this season. The brightly colored alternate jerseys seem to me like a gimmick to sell more NFL paraphernalia.
Aside: Does Color Rush actually sell more stuff? Remember the Razorbacks' ridiculous gray anthracite Nike uniforms in 2013? Since when is it appropriate to have uniforms and helmets that aren't even the team colors?
According to Whole Hog Sports, there have been at least 12 Razorbacks helmet-jersey-pant combinations since the 2012 season. What's wrong with tradition? Pick the classic, no-frills uniforms of my youth (see Billy Moore and Lance Alworth) and stick with it.
There. I feel better now.
• Superstore. If there's nothing new on yet, let's catch up with something old. Like NBC's Superstore, a clever ensemble workplace comedy that you're probably not watching. NBC really, really wants you to give it a try.
The network so believes in the series that it ran a special Olympic-theme episode on Aug. 19 during the Olympics. The first season averaged only 6.58 million viewers, but the special was seen by 9.67 million. With tonight's binge-worthy offering, NBC hopes to attract even more.
The mini-marathon from the first season airs today from 7 to 9 p.m. Sit back, relax and enjoy four episodes of the series that was created by The Office producer Justin Spritzer and stars a talented ensemble headed by America's sweetheart, America Ferrera (Ugly Betty).
The 32-year-old Los Angeles native stars alongside Ben Feldman (Mad Men, Drop Dead Diva) and a slew of co-workers at the (fictitious) Cloud 9 big box store in St. Louis.
Ferrera plays 10-year employee Amy Dubanowski. Feldman is new guy Jonah.
Amy is married to her high school sweetheart, Adam, and they have a daughter. Note: Amy has a habit of wearing a different name tag with a different name in every episode just to keep strangers from knowing her real name.
Johah comes from a well-to-do family and was forced to work at Cloud 9 when he bombed out of business school and had bills to pay. Jonah and Amy got off on the wrong foot because he can be annoying.
Their fellow associates include the cynical Garrett (Colton Dunn, Key & Peele), the ambitious Mateo (Nico Santos, Mulaney) and the sweet pregnant teenager, Cheyenne (Nichole Bloom, Shameless).
Cheyenne gave birth in Episode 11, the one that encores at 8:30 p.m. today. She names her baby girl Harmonica.
The store's clueless and socially awkward manager is Glenn (Mark McKinney, The Kids in the Hall), and Dina (Lauren Ash, Super Fun Night) is the gruff, no-nonsense assistant manager.
Here's how the network sums up the series: "From the bright-eyed newbies and the seen-it-all veterans to the clueless seasonal hires and the in-it-for-life managers, together they hilariously tackle the day-to-day grind of rabid bargain hunters, riot-causing sales and nap-worthy training sessions."
Haven't you always wondered what goes on behind those "Associates Only" signs in the big box stores? Evidently it's a lot of funny stuff -- just as funny as NBC's Chuck with Zachary Levi, but without all the spying and secret agent business.
I bet a lot of the leftover Buy More set pieces from Chuck wound up in Cloud 9 on Superstore. On a press tour in 2008 I got to visit the Chuck set with Levi and co-star Adam Baldwin. The attention to detail in the fake store was amazing.
Here's an inside joke the next time you watch a Chuck rerun -- all the movies on the Buy More DVD aisles were films that featured Baldwin. Every one of them. Maybe Baldwin had a couple of hundred just sitting around to use as props.
Superstore will return with new episodes at 7 p.m. Sept. 22. That gives you a week to add the series to your DVR lineup.
• Netflix doc. The online streaming service will launch its original documentary Amanda Knox on Sept. 30. Netflix asks, "Was she a cold-blooded psychopath who brutally murdered her roommate or a naive student trapped in an endless nightmare?"
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Weekend on 09/15/2016