What good are fall predictions if they aren't BOLD? Sure we all know Dr. Ken will stink, but what about blindly picking the biggest new hit or the most important new show of the season? I'll throw my reputation further into the garbage and give it a shot! Below I've made six BOLD(ish) predictions about the fall season and encourage you to do the same in the comments section. Go out of the box! Never even get in the box, in fact. Just avoid that dumb box and go BOLD!

Bold Prediction: NBC's The Player will do much better than Blindspot

WHY IT'S BOLD: NBC has put all its marketing and strategic power behind Blindspot, instead of the fun and bonkers The Player.

WHY IT COULD HAPPEN: The Voice has a generally favorable track record of boosting a show's ratings into super-hit territory, with Season 2 of Revolution getting a huge bump in 2013 and The Blacklist becoming an NBC staple thanks in large part to audience bleed-over from the singing show hanging out because they're too lazy to change the channel. NBC has placed Blindspot behind The Voice this year hoping for similar juice, but The Voice couldn't help Katherine Heigl's State of Affairs last season, as that show drew about 4 million viewers less than The Blacklist did behind The Voice. Plus Blindspot, which has no big star at its center like The Blacklist did, is about a woman covered in tattoos that double for clues to crimes? What the? The Player, meanwhile, has Wesley Snipes and is action packed, and forms a solid evening of entertainment with Heroes Reborn and The Blacklist, a much better flow than going from amateur singing to a naked woman in a duffle bag.





Bold Prediction: The Walking Dead's streak of season premieres breaking ratings records will end

WHY IT'S BOLD: Every season premiere of AMC's zombie drama has set a new series high, and there's no stopping this lumbering juggernaut! This is like stepping in front of a speeding freight train.

WHY IT COULD HAPPEN: Honestly, the idea "it has to stop sometime" is the real thinking behind this, but there are a few other factors. Seasons 1, 2, and 3 of The Walking Dead all had finales that outperformed the same season's premiere, but in Seasons 4 and 5, the finales (and every other episode) never topped the premiere and the negative difference in viewers was much more pronounced in Season 5 than it was in Season 4. So in-season, the show is no longer building its audience, which could be a sign of fatigue, and that will be more pronounced with the introduction of Fear the Walking Dead last month. Another basis for my reasoning is a good problem for AMC to have: Season 5's premiere drew 17.29 million viewers, which is insane in this day and age, and HAS to be the show's peak. Right?





Bold Prediction: Scream Queens will get the first Season 2 order of any new network show

WHY IT'S BOLD: There's a lot of new shows... why this one?

WHY IT COULD HAPPEN: Ryan Murphy's Scream Queens has the chance to make the biggest splash right off the bat with a two-hour premiere of sliced-up sorority sisters, big-name cameos, and head-snapping twists. And we all know that Murphy is great at making a first impression, which will lead Fox to hand out an early renewal. Plus, Murphy and Fox have a great relationship with Glee, American Horror Story, Nip/Tuck, and the upcoming American Crime Story all airing on a Fox property. That'll give him a first look from Fox, who will want to make sure it keeps him in its stable as it recovers from a disastrous 2014-2015 (aside from the Empire phenomenon). Don't be surprised if Scream Queens—which is a limited anthology series that isn't in contention for a full season (22 episode) order—gets a second season by its second week.





Bold Prediction: The most important new show for any network in the fall will be Amazon's The Man in the High Castle

WHY IT'S BOLD: Because it's fairly low-profile and is on Amazon, which is still trying to break into the streaming biz.

WHY IT COULD HAPPEN: Even though we're smack in the middle of "Peak TV," innovative, quality shows will find a way to break from the crowd no matter where they are. Look at this summer's Mr. Robot for example; though it was stuck on USA Network and quietly premiered, word of mouth spread and soon it snowballed into an unlikely hit (by critics' standards) for USA and changed the network's credibility. Something similar will happen with Amazon's The Man in the High Castle, an alternative history drama based on the Philip K. Dick novel of the same name that asks what would happen if Japan and Germany had won World War II. Like Mr. Robot, it's a show that opens up its potential fan base by appealing to both sci-fi fans and more mainstream fans, and its pilot is very, very, very good. Obviously the biggest roadblock is its exclusive availability on Amazon Prime, but don't underestimate the power of internet pirates: this one will be downloaded illegally when word gets out how good it is, and that won't bother Amazon too much as it needs a talked-about title to boost its brand. One thing not working in The Man in the High Castle's favor is its all-at-once dump, which might keep ongoing water-cooler talk down as everyone consumes the series at different rates. But as long as people talk about it at all, it'll help put Amazon's streaming service on the map.





Bold Prediction: Supergirl will have the biggest debut of any new network fall show of the season

WHY IT'S BOLD: Almost everyone laughed at the much-hyped trailer. And everyone had every right to.

WHY IT COULD HAPPEN: Ooof, that trailer did not do the show any favors, especially for fans of current superhero programming that's on the more serious side. But Supergirl's brand doesn't fit what Arrow and Daredevil are trying to do, and the potential for mass appeal—something CBS knows a thing or two about—is greater for Supergirl than any other show debuting this fall. While this mass appeal may turn away hardcore comic fans, it's going to bring in others who wouldn't normally watch a superhero show, thanks to curiosity and attraction to Melissa Benoist's beaming smile. But the biggest reason its premiere will be huge: CBS has positioned it behind the debut of The Big Bang Theory. That's instant viewers.





Bold Prediction: Wicked City won't make it to its sixth episode

WHY IT'S BOLD: Picking any show to get canceled quickly is never an easy task, especially with networks being more patient these days. And because the first season is only 10 episodes long, it's even BOLDER.

WHY IT COULD HAPPEN: Wicked City—an anthology crime series starring Ed Westwick—already has had a weird path onto ABC's schedule. It was supposed to be a midseason show, but was moved up to the fall when Of Kings & Prophets was pushed back. Now Wicked City slides into the spot formerly occupied by Quantico, and that slot is ABC's deadly Tuesdays at 10pm opening, which has a morbid history of murdering shows. Last season, Forever's one-and-done performance was actually decent considering its recent history. The previous year, Tuesdays at 10pm killed Lucky 7, Killer Women, and Mind Games all in the same season, and not one of those programs went beyond six episodes. Plus, Wicked City makes its debut in late October, when we've all awoken to the reality that this new crop of fall shows is terrible... again. Add in competition from The Bastard Executioner, Limitless, and Chicago Fire, plus a tonal difference between Wicked City and its lead-in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and things already don't look good for the series. The one problem with this prediction: what does ABC put in its place? Well, since it begins October 27, it might not matter and ABC can just coast into the holidays with "holiday programming." Another likely option, Wicked City will get burned off and run all its episodes, but it will already be dead in the ratings.

What are YOUR bold predictions for the beginning of the 2015-2016 TV season?