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12 of the best TV shows to watch this September

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From a new FBI thriller by the creator of Mare of Easttown to a sequel to The Office and a sports comedy starring Hollywood A-lister Glen Powell.

The US version of The Office is still beloved 20 years after it started. This spin-off has the same DNA and the same mockumentary style but is tailored to the totally changed media landscape. The documentary crew that followed Dunder Mifflin in the original is now focused on a different company that creates paper products, including toilet tissue, cardboard and a newspaper, The Toledo Truth Teller. The series follows the newspaper's bare-bones staff, some of them just part-time because they work for those other departments. Domhnall Gleeson plays Ned, the idealistic new editor of the Truth Teller, who wants to give it some journalistic integrity. The one holdover character from the old series is Oscar (Oscar Nuñez) who insists he does not want to be part of another documentary, even though he keeps saying so on camera. And Tim Key keeps his British accent as Ken, a corporate yes-man who might as well be an homage to Ricky Gervais' craven David Brent in the original British Office. The series, like Ned, seems nostalgic for print but has adapted to the new world on-screen and off. The spinoff, unlike its predecessor, is not on a network but a streamer, with all 10 episodes dropping at once.

The Paper premieres 4 September on Peacock in the US and 5 September on Sky Max in the UK

Mark Ruffalo stars in this series, which is a detective show and a family melodrama in one. He plays Tom Brandis, an FBI agent in Philadelphia leading a task force investigating who is stealing cash from the drug houses of a powerful gang. Tom's own life is falling apart. He is recently widowed, a former priest who drinks too much and whose son is in serious jeopardy. His two daughters disagree on whether their troubled brother should receive a tough sentence. That's the soapy side. On a parallel track we follow the men who are robbing the drug houses. Tom Pelphrey gives a star-making performance as Robbie, an unusually empathetic criminal who is in far over his head. He is raising two small children with the help of his resentful niece, Maeve, played in an equally strong performance by Emilia Jones, who broke out as the hearing child of deaf parents in Oscar-winner Coda. The show is the work of Brad Ingelsby, who also created Mare of Easttown, and it has a similar gritty feel and absorbing trajectory.

Task premieres 7 September on HBO and HBO Max in the US and 8 September on Sky Atlantic in the UK

If The Arconia were a real apartment building, it would single-handedly cause the homicide rate in New York City to skyrocket. Of course, it is only the setting for this gleeful comedy starring Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez as Charles, Oliver and Mabel, the friends and podcasters who can solve crimes but apparently don't have the sense to move out of "the murder building". At the end of last season, they discovered that their doorman, Lester, had been killed. As they investigate in season five, they cross paths with mobsters, power brokers, and their always suspect neighbours. Another round of guest stars joins them, including Bobby Cannavale, Keegan Michael-Key, Renée Zellweger, Christoph Waltz, Beanie Feldstein, Logan Lerman and Dianne Wiest. And regulars from previous seasons pop in, including Da'Vine Joy Randolph as the New York detective who can be a thorn in the trio's side and vice versa, and best of all that great comedian (really) Meryl Streep as Loretta, now Oliver's wife, who enthusiastically says in the trailer, "Let's talk murder!"

Only Murders in the Building premieres 9 September on Hulu in the US and Disney in the UK

It's not unusual for a mother to think no one is good enough to marry her son, but that idea takes a sinister turn in this thriller. Robin Wright stars as rich, successful Laura, whose son, Daniel (Laurie Davidson) introduces her to his fiancée, Cherry, played by Olivia Cooke. Laura thinks Cherry is hiding something and is not what she seems. (Perhaps she saw Cooke as the scheming Alicent in House of the Dragon?) As Laura's suspicions grow, we are led to wonder if she is being jealous, overprotective and paranoid – and looking down on the upwardly-mobile Cherry. Or maybe, she's absolutely right. Wright also directs several episodes of the show, which is based on........

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