This fall, broadcast television will turn its attention to the battle of the straight white man to assert his masculinity in an increasingly alien world. And you won’t need to wait until the first presidential debate to see it.

The male protagonists of several new sitcoms are not as belligerent as the male protagonist of the election. (A possible exception: the one who wields a broadsword.) But they are besieged. At home and in the office, they find themselves struggling to prove that they matter in a world they no longer exclusively run.

For a while now, the energy in cable and streaming-TV comedy has been about diversity, inclusion and change: the female president of “Veep,” the transgender matriarch in “Transparent,” the melting pot of “Master of None.” Comedy built around women has been especially vibrant, including “Broad City,” “Lady Dynamite” and HBO’s coming “Insecure,” from Issa Rae of the “Awkward Black Girl” online series.

But on new fall sitcoms like CBS’s “Man With a Plan,” “The Great Indoors” and “Kevin Can Wait,” the male leads are adjusting to new roles or reduced circumstances. Fox’s “Son of Zorn” renders the idea of the throwback man as an actual cartoon.