Alan Ball drama Here and Now premieres on HBO Sunday, Feb. 11, the network said.

The first season has 10 episodes. HBO said the series “offers a provocative, darkly comic meditation on the disparate forces polarizing contemporary America, exploring what it’s like to be an ‘other’ today.”

Related: HBO Sets April ‘Westworld’ Return

Tim Robbins and Holly Hunter star.

Ball had a hit on HBO with Six Feet Under. He executive produces alongside Peter Macdissi and David Knoller.

Robbins plays Greg, a respected philosophy professor and author. Hunter plays his wife, Audrey, a former therapist turned conflict-resolution consultant for middle and high schools. Greg and Audrey have three adopted children and a biological daughter.

As Audrey prepares for Greg’s 60th birthday party, “deep cracks begin to appear in the domestic façade,” HBO said.

A genuinely strange program, adapted from a famed graphic novel, Happy! stars Christopher Meloni as Nick Sax, aptly described by Syfy as an intoxicated ex-cop turned hit man, and he hams things up to perfection.

A twisted Christmas holiday tale takes place in which a little girl, Hailey (Bryce Lorenzo), whose mom is connected to the police somehow, is kidnapped by a disgusting bad Santa. The little girl has an imaginary friend, Happy.

Related: Watch Syfy's "Happy" Trailer

Happy is visible to only Hailey and Sax as a little blue flying unicorn voiced by Patton Oswalt. Happy’s mission is to get Sax to come and save Hailey.

The humor here is dark and, without Meloni’s brilliance in the duets with it, Happy the character might grate a little bit too much. Lili Mirojnick as a heavily involved cop and Medina Senghore as Hailey’s mom keep the Hailey subplot ticking. Some brilliant visuals, especially in the opening sequence.

The return of first-run broadcast network series continues to generate the lion’s share of headlines during the first few weeks of the fall television season.

But as the autumn leaves begin to fall, and Halloween pumpkins and Thanksgiving turkeys become more prevalent in viewers’ homes, so will the premieres of new and returning scripted series from cable networks and streaming services.

Once upon a time, competitors to the broadcast networks refrained from launching their best and strongest shows during the fall for fear of getting lost in the sheer noise of popular over-the-air shows premiering after a long summer hiatus. But in a world of 450-plus scripted series, cable and streaming services don’t have the luxury of ignoring any days on the calendar.

So viewers should expect to see a cavalcade of new as well as popular returning shows such as USA Network’s Emmy Award-winning series Mr. Robot on Oct. 11 and cable’s most-watched series, AMC’s The Walking Dead, on Oct. 22. New debuts such as Showtime’s drama White Famous, Audience Network’s Loudermilk and TBS’s The Last O.G. will undoubtedly draw their fair share of water-cooler buzz.

Streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu aren’t shying away from competing during the fall season. Netflix will look to scare up audiences with the October launch of Emmy-nominated series Stranger Things while offering a Thanksgiving Day serving of Spike Lee’s much-talked-about reboot of his 1986 film She’s Gotta Have It. Hulu will beam viewers forward in time Nov. 14 with the Seth Rogen-produced sci-fi comedy Future Man(pictured) while delivering its slice of the Marvel Comics franchise with the Nov. 21 debut of Marvel’s Runaways.

The fall is no longer the purview of the broadcast networks, and that only benefits viewers.

Netflix will launch its dramedy series She’s Gotta Have It this Thanksgiving (Nov. 23), the network said Monday.

The series is a contemporary update of Spike Lee’s 1986 debut film of the same name about a twentysomething artist struggling to define herself and define her time between her job and three lovers. DeWanda Wise (Shots Fired) stars as the series' lead character Nola Darling, said Netflix.

 Lee will direct all 10 episodes of the series, with Tonya Lewis Lee serving as executive producer for the series.

The summer television season is upon us, and cable networks along with video streaming services are gearing up to launch new scripted series in programming genres ranging from comedy to horror and drama.

Here’s a partial list of new original scripted series premieres from cable and digital subscription video-on-demand services from June 19 through Aug. 31.

THE PRODUCTION ISSUE > Cover Story: John Landgraf's Legion of Hits |Content: Family Business Expands Its Tool Set | Finance: Production Profits Now Power VOD Leaders | Viewpoint: What Comes After Networks? Neo-Studios | Through the Wire: ITN Plotting British Invasion Into U.S. Production Market

JUNE 19
Loch Ness
Drama (Acorn TV)

JUNE 22
The Mist
Horror/drama (Spike)

JUNE 23
GLOW
Comedy (Netflix)

Free Rein
Drama (Netflix)

JUNE 25
Hotel Transylvania: The Series
Animated (Disney Channel)

JUNE 27
Tales
Drama (BET)

JUNE 30
Gypsy
Drama (Netflix)

Little Witch Academia
Animated series (Netflix)

Danger & Eggs
Animated series (Amazon)

JULY 5
Snowfall
Drama (FX)

JULY 7
Castlevania
Animated series (Netflix)

JULY 10
Will
Drama (TNT)

JULY 11
The Bold Type
Drama (Freeform)

The Hollywood Puppet Sh!t Show
Comedy (Fuse)

American Ripper
Drama (History)

JULY 12
I’m Sorry
Comedy (TruTV)

JULY 14
Friends From College
Comedy (Netflix)

JULY 17
Loaded
Drama (AMC)

JULY 21
Raven’s Home
Comedy (Disney Channel)

Ozark
Drama (Netflix)

JULY 25
The Last Tycoon
Drama (Amazon) 

JULY 28
Room 104
Drama (HBO)

AUG. 2
Swedish Dicks
Comedy (Pop TV)

The Sinner
Drama (USA Network)

AUG. 3
What Would Diplo Do?
Comedy (Viceland)
Small Town, Big Mayor
Comedy (UPTv)

Aug. 4
Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later 
Comedy (Netflix)

AUG. 9
Mr. Mercedes
Drama (Audience Network)

AUG. 13
Get Shorty
Comedy (Epix)

AUG. 18
Marvel’s The Defenders
Drama (Netflix)

AUG. 24
There’s … Johnny!
Comedy (Seeso)

AUG. 25
Disjointed
Comedy (Netflix)

The Tick
Comedy (Amazon)

The premiere of Showtime’s new Twin Peaks series drew 506,000 million viewers on its linear channel, an audience that paled in comparison with other premium cable shows' performances Sunday (May 21)

For example, on HBO during the same time period (9-11 p.m. ET), The Leftovers drew 770,000 viewers at 9 p.m., while Silicon Valley at 10 p.m. had 844,000.

Related: Serving Up the ‘Twin Peaks’ Premiere … And a Slice of Cherry Pie [subscription required]

The premiere of the original Twin Peaks in 1990 had 35 million viewers, but that was a vastly different era for television.

Showtime is airing 18 episodes of the new Twin Peaks, with show co-creator David Lynch directing all of them.

Video: The 'Twin Peaks' Trailer

The network said the show generated a record number of signups for its direct-to-consumer streaming service for the single biggest day and weekend in its history in terms of signups; Showtime did not provide the number of signups.

“In the world that we live in now, offering original programming that attracts new subscribers is our primary business objective,” said David Nevins, president and CEO, Showtime Networks. “By that standard, the Twin Peaks premiere is the biggest single-night driver we’ve ever had.”

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

FX has had success reimagining established franchises such as Fargo and tailoring them to fit its “fearless” approach to scripted-series making. Legion certainly fits that bill.

Legion is based on a Marvel comic book character derived from the X-Men franchise, but bears little resemblance to the X-Men movies, or any other comic book-derived TV series for that matter.

The series stars Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey) as David Haller, a troubled and seemingly mentally ill young man who throughout his life has struggled to make sense of his life and surroundings. The pilot starts off with a visually arresting medley of David’s early childhood, mixed with memories of traditional childhood activities and very violent disturbing events borne from his uncontrolled psychosis. David is eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia and housed in a psychiatric hospital.

A diet of prescribed medications tempers David’s afflictions somewhat until he meets another hospital patient, Syd (Rachel Keller), who begins to unlock some of the mysteries of David’s mind.

In the pilot, Legion producer Noah Hawley (Fargo) tries to put the viewer into David’s world through a wild and visually alluring trip through how David perceives — and often confuses — the real world with his imaginary voices. Throughout much of “Chapter 1,” viewers themselves may be unable to rectify what’s real and what’s imagined. But if viewers are willing to stay patient and engaged through the often confusing twists and turns within the first three-quarters of the pilot, they will be rewarded toward the end as David begins to realize that he may not be as sick as people made him out to be and not everyone he comes in contact with has his best interests at heart.

Legion fans will like FX’s interpretation of the Marvel franchise, while the series should hold the interest of non-comic book aficionados who like a good psychological-themed, fantasy drama.

El Chapo, a scripted drama based on the life of Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman, will debut on Univision in April, the network said.

The series is the first co-production between the broadcaster's Univision Story House production unit and OTT service Netflix. The series will be available on Netflix following its broadcast premiere.

Guzman -- who after being captured by Mexican authorities in 2014, escaped from a maximum security Mexican prison in 2015 and was recaptured nearly six months later -- is currently awaiting trial in New York.

The series combines "world-class reporting and insights from Univision News’ investigative team with an outstanding team of talented storytellers and producers,” said Camila Jiménez Villa, who oversees Univision Story House as president and chief content officer of Fusion Media Group.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

As the holiday season approaches, several cable networks will hope to receive an early ratings gift by premiering high-profile scripted content in mid-November.

With the end of a long and ratings-rich presidential election and with the broadcast networks set to take a hiatus from scheduling new episodes of scripted shows heading into the holidays, cable networks like BBC America, Pop, National Geographic, TNT and TBS are all hoping to fill a programming void with original content.

“We wanted to get in just ahead of the holiday programming and take advantage of a moment when a lot of the noise around fall launches is abating,” BBC America president Sarah Barnett said. “No week of the year is uncluttered today, but believe it or not, there can be a small moment of relative space here.”

PAUSE BEFORE HOLIDAYS

BBC America on Wednesday (Nov. 16) will premiere crime drama Undercover, one of at least eight new cable scripted series premiering within 10 days of Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 24). Typically, networks tend to shy away from premiering new shows in the days leading up to the holiday season and the glut of holiday specials and movies. But with more than 400 scripted shows launching year round, Barnett said no time period is off-limits.

Pop president Brad Schwartz said strong ratings for presidential election coverage has shortened what is normally a solid series premiere window running from mid- October through mid-November. As a result, the network will debut its late night-themed comedy series Nightcap later than desired, on Nov. 16.

“If you’re waiting for the election to end but you want it be in front of the holidays, this is the time to launch,” Schwartz said. “You don’t want to get too far into the holiday season because then you get close to Christmas when people’s viewing habits begin to change and it becomes harder to get the message out for your show.”

National Geographic will premiere its highly-touted Mars series tonight (Nov. 14, see review). The network is launching a new on-air look and rebrand around the Brian Grazer/Ron Howard produced series, which will feature both scripted and documentary elements around the future colonization of the red planet.

“Mars is the centerpiece of our new premium strategy and its creatively ambitious for us,” Courteney Monroe, CEO of National Geographic Global Networks, said. “We’re really interested in what the audience thinks and how they react.”

‘SEARCH PARTY’ ON THE WAY

TBS and BBC America said they too are altering the debut schedule of their respective new shows to help build greater awareness and ratings. TBS will launch its 10-episode comedy series Search Party over five consecutive nights beginning Nov. 21, according to network officials.

BBC America’s six-hour Undercover series will air over two nights. Barnett said the network wanted to create some additional buzz for the series by allowing viewers to binge view the series over consecutive nights.

“As a linear network, we understand that there is some content that audiences especially love to binge, and phenomenally written, dramatically shocking mini seasons fall into this category of ‘must devour’ TV,” Barnett said. “We scheduled it in a way where fans could truly immerse themselves in this riveting thriller.”

SIDEBAR: On Script

A partial list of the scripted cable series premiering between Nov. 14-24:

Show                          Network                    Genre                     Premiere Date

Mars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nat Geo . . . . . . . . . Drama . . . . . . . . . . .Nov. 14

Good Behavior . . . . . . . .TNT . . . . . . . . . . . Drama . . . . . . . . . . . Nov. 15

Shooter . . . . . . . . . . . . . .USA . . . . . . . . . . Drama . . . . . . . . . . .Nov. 15

Sweet/Vicious . . . . . . . .  MTV . . . . . . . . . Dramedy . . . . . . . . . .Nov. 15

Ice . . . . . . . . . . . . Audience Network . . . . . Drama . . . . . . . . . . .Nov. 16

Nightcap . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pop . . . . . . . . . . . Comedy . . . . . . . . . . Nov. 16

Undercover . . . . . . . BBC America . . . . . . . Drama . . . . . . . . . . .Nov. 16

Lovesick . . . . . . . . . . . . Netflix . . . . . . . . . Comedy . . . . . . . . . . Nov. 17

Search Party . . . . . . . . . .TBS . . . . . . . . . . . Comedy . . . . . . . . . . Nov. 21

SOURCE :Multichannel News research

RELATED: Atlanta Review 

FX’s comedy series Atlanta drew big numbers among total viewers and adults 18-49 in its Sept. 6 debut.

The series, created by and starring Donald Glover (Community), averaged 3 million total viewers (Nielsen Live +3 ratings), making it the most watched network comedy series premiere since Wilfred in 2011, according to the network.

In addition, the series -- in which two cousins work through the Atlanta music scene in order to better their lives – delivered 1.9 million adults 18-49, again the most for the network since Wilfred.

A second original episode of Atlanta airing that night averaged 1.6 million viewers and 1.1 million adults 18-49, according to FX.

FX’s new series Atlanta is hard to define: It’s not quite a drama, but it’s not all comedy; it’s sometimes very edgy and yet often heartwarming. And that’s what makes the show unique and interesting.

The series revolves around Earnest “Earn” Marks, (played by series producer and Community alumnus Donald Glover), a young man looking to find his niche as a manager for his cousin, Alfred “Paper Boi” Miles (Brian Tyree Henry), an up-and-coming hip-hop artist.

Practically homeless (his parents won’t let him in to their house after his father says he can’t afford to have him live there), Earn stays with his child’s mother and on-again/off-again girlfriend Van (Zazie Beetz), whose expectations for Earn are much higher than what he’s currently living up to.

Atlanta is not a laugh-out-loud comedy, but the comedic elements of the series are very funny and often subtle, and can easily be missed or overlooked if you’re not paying attention. Many of the lighthearted moments are derived from interactions between Earn, Paper Boi and his best friend/right-hand man Darius (Keith Stanfield), who comes off as both unassuming and unnerving.

Earn’s first encounter with Darius at Paper Boi’s house — Darius meets him at the door with a butcher knife, but then offers him fresh baked cookies when he realizes Earn is cool — sets the stage and tone for one of the more integral character developments in the show, with free-spirited Darius playing off the more serious, slick Earn and hard-core Paper Boi.

Over the first few episodes, Glover slowly unwinds the show’s storylines around the main characters, through the lens of a focused slice of urban life that’s rarely seen on television. He also weaves in larger societal issues, such as racism, illegal drugs, the overcrowded prison system and poverty, helping shape a very intelligent and entertaining show.

TBS has greenlit a new season of its freshman comedy The Detour days before the series premiere.

The Samantha Bee and Jason Jones-produced series, which follows the trials and tribulations of a family vacation, is set to debut on TBS on Monday (April 11). TBS aired a sneak preview of the series immediately after ths past Monday’s telecast of the NCAA College Basketball Tournament.

TBS said it will make the The Detour pilot available to stream on The Detour Facebook page, TBS's YouTube channel, TBS.com, TBS On Demand and the Watch TBS mobile app, as well as on TV providers' sites and apps.

The series, which is exeutively produced by Bee, Jason Jones, Brennan Shroff and Tony Hernandez, stars Jones as well as Natalie Zea, Ashley Gerasimovich and Liam Carroll.

"Jason and Sam's vision and execution of the first season was original and unexpected at every ridiculous turn," said Brett Weitz, executive vice president of original programming for TBS in a statement. "Having Jason as executive producer, director and star really brought a definition to the voice of the characters and a realism to this family."

Dice, the Showtime series starring Andrew Dice Clay, debuts April 10 at 9:30 p.m., the network said.

The scripted, semi-autobiographical show follows the life of the comedian, “chronicling the stops and starts of his career resurgence in his transplanted home base of Las Vegas,” according to Showtime.

The series also stars Kevin Corrigan, with Lorraine Bracco, Wayne Newton and Adrien Brody among the guest stars.

Dice is produced by Fox 21 Television Studios and created by Scot Armstrong (Old School, The Hangover Part II). 

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

VIDEO:Click to view the trailer.

Bravo takes a stab at the sitcom with Odd Mom Out.

The series stars comedian Jill Kargman as reluctant socialite Jill Weber, caught between the trappings of New York’s rich-and-famous residents and a desire to live a “normal” life with her husband, Andy (Andy Buckley), and their three kids.

The first two (of 10) episodes follow Jill as she struggles to get her children into an exclusive private school alongside those of her more well-off neighbors, who tend to look down at her and her husband despite their financially comfortable lifestyle. Adding to her angst are Andy’s brother Lex (Sean Kleier), a multimillionaire who just closed a major deal to bring bagels to China; Lex’s pampered wife, Brooke (Abby Elliott), who looks fit and trim despite being eight months pregnant; and Andy’s mother, Candace (Joanna Cassidy), who can’t help but take pot shots at Jill’s attempts to fi t in with New York’s high society.

Keeping Jill balanced is her best friend, Vanessa (K.K. Glick), who is doing well in her own right as an ER doctor.

The show’s strength is in the quick and smart dialogue between Jill and her circle of high-society snobs, as well as the internal battle she faces in wanting to shun the high society life but at the same time embracing some of its entitlements and pleasures. In one scene, she reluctantly goes to a high-end day spa with Candace and Brooke, only to be enthralled by the comforts that such an experience can provide.

Odd Mom Out fits in well with Bravo’s lineup of female-targeted reality content. While not quite a scripted version of the network’s popular Housewives franchise, it should resonate with the network’s core 18-49 female viewers.