With students getting more and more school work, we all know that it can be quite the challenge finding time for ourselves to relax and have that ever elusive ‘me’ time. And with fall television just around the corner, LT has done the research for you and picked our favorite shows for the upcoming year. So after you’ve completed that English essay or just finished studying for your math test, take some time to unwind with Lions’ Tale’s guide to the top TV shows for the fall season.

Listings information from: http://www.tvguide.com/special/fall-preview/schedule/

SUNDAY

8-8:30
If you like a drama and don’t like comedies, “Once Upon a Time”, a show about fairy tale characters in our world, is a solid show and is your best choice. However, we recommend watching “Sunday Night Football” here so you can watch “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” later. “Sunday Night Football” is a staple for millions of people for a reason. Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, and Michele Tafoya do a great, professional, job every week of bringing one of, if not the best NFL game of the week to viewers.

8:30-9
If you’re watching “Once Upon a Time”, keep it going, but we recommend watching “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” on FOX, with Andy Samberg, Andre Braugher, and others who provide viewers with many laughs about their dysfunctional, yet productive, police station in Brooklyn. Samberg and Braugher’s dynamic is what makes this show particularly hilarious as Braugher’s tough guy captain gels in a funny way with Samberg’s silly detective.

9-9:30
A weaker timeslot than 8:00 and 8:30, until “Blood and Oil,” a new ABC drama, can prove itself, “The Good Wife,” on CBS, is the choice here. Julianna Margulies has won two well-deserved Emmys in her role as lawyer-turned-politician-turned-lawyer-again Alicia Florrick. The show has gone through many plot twists but the great acting is what holds it together. For a comedy, keep watching FOX for “Family Guy.”

9:30-10
“The Good Wife” continues through this timeslot, while FOX airs “The Last Man on Earth,” a not-so-great comedy starring Will Forte.

10-10:30
ABC gives viewers another new show in “Quantico,” a drama about FBI recruits at the training institute in the Virginia town that looks decent and worth a try. For non-football fans, we suggest trying this show out, as “CSI: Cyber,” on CBS, is yet another CBS crime show with better ones to come during the week. For football fans, this time slot starts the late stages of the “Sunday Night Football” game on NBC, which is often very important, so that is worth a watch.

10:30-11
This timeslot offers the same programming as the previous one, so stick with “Quantico,” or, if you want to watch football, the fourth quarter–the most important part–of the “Sunday Night Football” game should be on around now.

MONDAY

8-8:30
Monday is the home of two hour competition shows on ABC and NBC: “Dancing with the Stars” and “The Voice,” respectively. Although both, particularly “The Voice,” have their charm, we suggest watching the CBS comedy, “The Big Bang Theory.” This show has top notch acting, led by the great Jim Parsons, and many laughs every episode.

8:30-9
For just a taste of the competition shows, we recommend watching “The Voice” in this timeslot, at least for the beginning of fall. This NBC singing competition starts off every season with auditions, which involve judges blindly picking singers to be on their teams. When multiple judges pick a singer, they fight for that performer, often in pretty entertaining fashion. “The Voice”’s talent level is also consistently high.

9-9:30
A pretty weak timeslot, if you enjoy The Voice, keep watching. However, two dramas are on this timeslot: FOX’s “Minority Report,” a show that seems much like many others on television which, in its previews, doesn’t include anything not yet seen, and CBS’s “Scorpion,” a show about a group of brilliant, though not socially adept, people who help the Department of Homeland Security protect the nation. We recommend “Scorpion,” mainly due to its pretty interesting social dynamic and creativity of some of the cases and characters’ backstories.

9:30-10
No different shows come on in this timeslot. Later in the fall, you can see who will be moving on and who will be eliminated from Dancing with the Stars and The Voice.

10-10:30
Including such shows as CBS’ “NCIS: Los Angeles” and ABC’s “Castle,” this time slot is a pretty good one. However, we recommend NBC’s new drama “Blindspot.” The previews for “Blindspot” show that it will be a crime procedural but with more pace. It looks like it is worth at least a try before reverting to the more established options. Meanwhile, “NCIS: LA” is another solid CBS show while “Castle” might be lasting a bit too long, nowadays. Its backbone case, the one around which the shows finales and best episodes revolved, was solved, causing a noticeable void.

10:30-11s
No shows change for this time slot from the 10-10:30.

TUESDAY

8-8:30
Tuesday’s top 8:00 primetime slot is Grandfathered, a new comedy on FOX. Starring “Full House’s” John Stamos and “Drake and Josh’s” Josh Peck, “Grandfathered’s” premise is about a middle aged bachelor (Stamos) finding out he has a grown aged son (Peck) who is a single father with an infant daughter. This show will be sure to please anyone who are fans of Stamos and Peck, and the new comedic duo are bound to bring many laughs.

8:30-9
Coming into it’s second season on ABC, “Fresh off the Boat” is a fantastic comedy following a Chinese immigrant family set in 1990’s Orlando. Relatable to not only immigrant family’s, “Fresh Off the Boat” hilariously deals with the everyday problems of being outsider’s in a community. Starring Randall Park as Louis Huang, (who also played Kim Jong Un in “The Dictator”), Constance Wu as Jessica Huang, and Hudson Yang as the 12 year old Eddie Huang.

9-10:00
For fans of Marvel movies, “Agents of Shield” on ABC needs to be watched. Going into the third season, “Agents of Shield” takes place in between each Marvel movie, while also having it’s own storyline. As “Shield” agents battle the terrorist organization Hydra and also deal with a race of superhumans by the name of Inhumans, “Agents of Shield” is a fast-paced show with great writing and great action that appeals to not only Marvel fans but fans of the action-adventure genre as well.

WEDNESDAY

8-8:30
One of the most underrated comedies of today’s time in our opinion, “The Middle” entering its seventh season on ABC is a hilarious sitcom focusing on the Heck family, a middle class midwestern family living in the fictional town of Orson, Indiana. The show focuses on the family’s three children, Axl, the classic popular High school football star now playing college football, Sue, the awkward middle child who never gets noticed no matter how hard she tries, and Brick, the quirky youngest child who loves to read…and not much else. With something relatable to every family in each episode, “The Middle” has been flying under the radar while making its loyal viewers laugh out loud each week. Even though the show might not last for much longer, you should still tune in to watch it, or even better, start from the beginning and watch the family grow online.

8-9:00
Reaching an impressive 31st season and 16 years, “Survivor” on CBS is a great bet on an entertaining show. With each season taking place in a new exotic location, this season in Cambodia doesn’t stray from it’s entertaining past. The premise of the show always stays the same: The season begins with 16 “castaways” and each week they compete in physical and mental challenges, while living off limited resources in nature, and at the end of the week, someone is voted off at the infamous “tribal council.” “Survivor” always has and always will be one of the most entertaining shows, so whether you tune in from the beginning or start watching during the middle of the episode, you can do no wrong.

9-10:00
One of the most popular new shows of all of last year and arguably the most anticipated show of this year is “Empire”, on FOX. When Hip-Hop mogul Lucious Lyon finds out he is sick and can no longer run his company, his three sons and ex-wife each vie for his position. Chock full of drama, music, great acting, and pop culture icons as guest stars, “Empire” is one of the few critically acclaimed network TV dramas. So if you don’t want to be behind on what everyone is talking about on TV, “Empire” is a must watch.

Thursday

8-8:30
What is probably the richest night for television dramas, in our minds, starts off with dueling long tenured dramas on ABC and FOX along with CBS’ “Thursday Night Football” and NBC’s rebirth of the show “Heroes.” Rebirths often are not great, so we would pass. For the weeks when your team is not playing on “Thursday Night Football,” we recommend watching “Grey’s Anatomy” on ABC over FOX’s “Bones.” “Bones” seemed like it had a good ending at the end of the previous season and is now in serious danger of going over its lifespan. “Grey’s” also has this potential problem with one of the main characters having been killed off last year, but we trust creator Shonda Rhimes.

8:30-9
No shows change from last time slot.

9-9:30
A toss-up between two of our favorite shows dominates this time-slot as ABC airs Shonda Rhimes’ “Scandal” and NBC airs “The Blacklist.” We recommend the Blacklist for you to watch here, the main difference being James Spader’s mastery of the role of Raymond Reddington and the creativity of each week’s villain, but we do highly recommend watching Scandal on Hulu sometime else.

10-10:30
A weaker timeslot than the last one, we recommend that non-football fans try NBC’s new drama “The Player,” which looks pretty good. It was created by the same people as “The Blacklist” and had a good preview, so we think it is worth a try. At least watch for the irony of Wesley Snipes playing a character who skirts the law. For a more romantic show, Shonda Rhimes continues her almost unparalleled dominance of ABC Thursday Night television (Lorne Michaels’ supremacy over NBC’s late night television the lone exception) with “How to Get Away with Murder.”