I have seen worse fall seasons than this one in my time as a TV critic, but it's close. The new fall shows of 2015 are a dire, dreary lot, and even though I've found seven to recommend (as I did last year), only one of those positive notices comes without reservation. There are some shows that have promise this season, but they'll need to do some work to fully live up to it.

And yet this is a fall with lots and lots of question marks. Some of the most exciting new shows of the season (like Netflix's superhero saga Jessica Jones and AMC's martial-arts series Into the Badlands) have only shown critics trailers, and still more (including two that made my list) have yet to screen full pilots for us. So consider this more of an educated guess than usual.

On with the list.

The Best