Living in Hollywood means more than just lining up with celebrities to get your morning coffee. It also means that even if you don’t own a television, you always know what’s coming. That’s because almost every available advertising space — and some spots that aren’t so self-evident — are used to promote television and movies.

Changing billboards are the only way residents know time passes, since seasons — well other than fire, mudslide, earthquake and super hot — don’t really exist. Fall TV is fast approaching, bringing with it a new crop of billboards, bus-stop posters and bus-side graphics.

The fate of CBS’ Madam Secretary appears to rests on Tea Leoni’s star power, since her face is this season’s most ubiquitous, appearing everywhere. CBS has its shows plastered up all over Hollywood though, with big posters also featuring NCIS spin-off NCIS: New Orleans, Scorpion and Stalker.

ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s is the most unique of these efforts: offering no text, no network logo, no characters, not even a title. Unless you’re knee deep in Marvel, this vague billboard flies further above your head than the ad itself. Fans hope it’s a sign that the show is embracing serialized mythology in season two. More likely, its mystery is the selling point, but how would you find more information? Smart seekers will turn to Google, where a “cryptic billboard Barham” search delivers some answers.

If we judge a show’s quality by its posters, we’re going to rely on old favorites this fall. The simple and foreboding ads for the last seasons of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire and FX’s Sons of Anarchy manage to stand out from a crowded field.

Meanwhile, it’s not just new shows and quirky dramas clamoring for attention. Both Sony Pictures Television and CBS Television Distribution are promoting their shows’ moves to new stations, with Dr. Oz, saying “He’s bringing healthy back!” Rachael Ray’s move to WABC Los Angeles is touted with the punny tagline, “new channel, new thyme.” And HBO reminds us that Real Time with Bill Maher will turn in a live double-header on Friday, Sept. 12.

Here’s a look at what you might see if you were taking a walk down Hollywood or Sunset Blvd. You’d certainly know that fall TV is upon us.

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