SEASON PREMIERE: It’ll take most of this second season to decide whether American Gods will manage to keep its momentum intact despite a series of behind-the-scenes changes. Neil Gaiman, author of the inventive source novel, remains involved, so it’s not likely to go too much off the rails. But after Season 1, two of the show’s executive producers, Bryan Fuller and Michael Green, left the series – and since Fuller was one of the very visual creators behind both Pushing Daisies and Hannibal, that’s bound to have a visible effect. And when Fuller left, so did, out of loyalty, two American Gods leading ladies who had worked with Fuller before: Kristen Chenoweth on Daisies and Gillian Anderson on Hannibal. But Ian McShane, whose old-style god was revealed last season as Odin, is back, as are Pablo Schreiber as Mad Sweeney and several other of the cast members playing old and new gods. Shadow Moon and his dead but still active wife, Laura (played by Ricky Whittle and Emily Browning, respectively), also are returning. A few episodes in, Anderson’s “new goddess” of Media is replaced by an even newer goddess, fittingly called New Media – played by Kahyun Kim (pictured). I’ll keep an open mind, but call me an old media guy if you must: I’ll miss Gillian Anderson. She impersonated everyone from Lucille Ball and Marilyn Monroe to David Bowie on Season 1 of American Gods, and was fun to watch in each and every Media incarnation.