Here’s a five-network rundown of new shows for fall, night by night:
Monday
“The Class,” CBS: It is amazing how much we remember about elementary school. Jason Ritter plays the relatively sane one in the midst of the eccentrics who haven’t seen each other since third grade. Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Heather Goldenhersh are mesmerizing as lovable nerds. Cool casting in a smart comedy, well written by David Crane (“Friends”) and Jeffrey Klarik.
“Runaway,” The CW: Donnie Wahlberg plays a defense attorney who is on the lam with his wife (“24’s” Leslie Hope) and kids after being framed for murder. Darren Star (“Melrose Place,” “Sex and the City”) is at the helm of this serial, which is the highest hope and the only new drama on The CW.
“Vanished,” Fox: Gale Harold (“Queer as Folk”) and Ming Na (“ER”) investigate when a Georgia senator (John Allen Nelson) discovers his wife (Joanne Kelly) is missing. Turns out, she’s not just missing, she’s got a hidden identity. There’s a big conspiracy at the heart of this complex drama from Josh Berman (“CSI”), and the pilot has high visual impact, thanks to director Mimi Leder. But keeping track of the multiplying clues won’t be easy.
“Heroes,” NBC: Not sci-fi, but long on paranormal. A tale of ordinary folks around the world who discover super-powers, this drama is a meditation on the nervousness of contemporary culture. No tights or capes, but abilities to see the future, levitate, halt time, beam through walls and withstand pain abound.
“Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” NBC: Opening with a Howard Beal-esque rant about the ills of the media, this promising hour details life behind the scenes at a late-night sketch comedy show. Bradley Whitford, Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet, Sarah Paulson and Steven Weber work from Aaron Sorkin’s scripts, his first since “The West Wing.”
Tuesday
“The Knights of Prosperity,” ABC: Co-creator Rob Burnett (“Ed”) originally pitched it as “Let’s Rob Jeff Goldblum,” but he wasn’t available. Amazingly, he landed Mick Jagger for what turned out to be funny cameos. With Donal Logue leading a gang of misfits who set out to rob a celebrity, the pilot is strong. But will viewers disappear when Jagger does?
“Help Me Help You,” ABC: Ted Danson plays Dr. Hoffman, a psychotherapist in the midst of divorce and midlife crisis. With a supporting cast including Jere Burns (“Dear John”) and Jane Kaczmarek (“Malcolm in the Middle”), the half-hour has its moments – Danson’s delivery and physical comedy skills – but will they amount to a full session?
“Smith,” CBS: Visually stunning, with a hot cast led by Virginia Madsen and Ray Liotta plus Simon Baker and “24’s” Shohreh Aghdashloo, the pilot for this tough crime drama doesn’t live up to its slick look. “Normal” American family life is in fact a cover for Bobby (Liotta) who occasionally disappears to pull off sophisticated high-stakes heists. Not there yet, but John Wells (“ER,” “West Wing”) has created a cinematically appealing showcase for a consideration of crime and punishment.
“Standoff,” Fox: Ron Livingston deserves a breakout hit. This probably isn’t it. With Rosemarie DeWitt, he plays half of a pair of FBI agents who are secretly dating. Their secret’s out in the pilot, however, and the two now must work out relationship issues while diffusing hostage crises.
“Friday Night Lights,” NBC: High school football is life in rural Texas. Peter Berg directs as he did the movie of the same name. Kyle Chandler is terrific as the coach (Billy Bob Thornton’s role in the movie), and the players are well-cast. Football sequences are woven into the stories every few episodes. The goal here is to tackle subjects like racism, over-bearing parents, education and the role of sports in public school.
Wednesday
“The Nine,” ABC: This ambitious hour uses flashbacks to let us in on what happened during a 52- hour hostage situation during which unlikely heroes were created, relationships changed and true character was revealed. Scott Wolf, Kim Raver, Tim Daly, Chi McBride and John Billingsley play survivors. Brother and sister producing team K.J. (“Judging Amy”) and Hank (“Without a Trace”) Steinberg wanted to study behavior in the aftermath of trauma. This one’s immediately engrossing.
“Jericho,” CBS: Dark, troubling and hitting all our nervous-nation buttons, this hour imagines a small Kansas town cut off from civilization after nuclear blasts around the country. Meanwhile, Skeet Ulrich is the prodigal son who comes home after a mysterious five-year absence. Gerald McRaney plays his estranged father.
“Justice,” Fox: Jerry Bruckheimer offers high-tech trial lawyers who know how to spin the media in cases ripped from the headlines. Victor Garber (“Alias”) is famous trial lawyer Ron Trott, who builds a dream team and teaches its members to litigate, using the latest technology to re-enact crimes. The clever postscript: Each hour ends by showing the crime as it really occurred, to see if justice was served. It’s a slick, workmanlike legal drama.
“Twenty Good Years,” NBC: Shrill, old-fashioned comedy. John Lithgow and Jeffrey Tambor ham it up as old pals who decide to make the most of their remaining years. Lithgow plays an egomaniacal womanizing surgeon, Tambor is a nervous widower judge who can’t make a decision. A throwback to the way TV comedy was before Tambor’s previous project, “Arrested Development,” liberated it. Throw it back.
“30 Rock” NBC: Tina Fey plays Liz Lemon, head writer on a late-night variety show called “The Girlie Show,” who is forced by new network suit Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) to hire wigged-out comedian Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan). The TV culture will be thoroughly skewered by “30 Rock” plus “Studio 60” this year.
“Kidnapped,” NBC: Suspect everything, trust no one. Creator Jason Smilovic (“Lucky Number Slevin”) offers a masterful serial thriller full of secrets and twists. Watching the daily lives of a Manhattan billionaire couple is interesting; following the rivalries of an FBI agent (Delroy Lindo) and a mercenary former agent (Jeremy Sisto) compounds the intrigue.
Thursday
“Ugly Betty,” ABC: America is about to fall for America Ferrera (“The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”). Executive Producer Salma Hayek tweaks the hit Latino TV series for an English-speaking audience, including short telenovela sendups within the show starring herself. Set in the high-pressure world of fashion, Ferrera plays smart and dedicated Betty Suarez, a plain Jane with a geeky sense of style who has been hired as an assistant to publishing scion Daniel Meade (Eric Mabius of “The L Word”), so as not to tempt the notorious playboy.
“Shark,” CBS: Even if you’ve seen enough legal dramas, James Woods is riveting. As Sebastian Stark (or “Shark”) he’s a slick, self-confident defense attorney with a house out of Architectural Digest, complete with mock courtroom. After a personal epiphany, he switches sides, joining the prosecutors. Tacked on to the story line is a 16-year-old daughter (Danielle Panabaker) who serves to humanize the barracuda.
“‘Til Death,” Fox: “Raymond’s” Brad Garrett gets his own show, full of insults. Trouble is, the gentle humor is missing. Joely Fisher is wonderful as his long- suffering wife. The pair of them play cranky marrieds living next-door to blissful newlyweds Eddie Kay Thomas and Kat Foster.
“Happy Hour,” Fox: John Sloan has a nice turn in this screechy half-hour about a wide-eyed kid in the big city. Henry Beckman (Sloan) moves to Chicago, and in the space of one morning loses his girlfriend, his job and his apartment. To the rescue rides Larry Cone (Lex Medlin), loud, brash, cocktail-serving ready-made buddy. Overall, a caricature of a Fox sitcom.
“Six Degrees,” ABC: J.J. Abrams collects another group of mysteriously interconnected characters. Working off the theme “Six Degrees of Separation,” the pilot is more steak than sizzle. Six New Yorkers pass in and around each other’s lives, with a mysterious black box begging for future attention. With Jay Hernandez (“Friday Night Lights”), Erika Christensen (“Flightplan”), Bridget Moynahan (“I, Robot”) and Hope Davis (“About Schmidt”).
Friday
“Men in Trees,” ABC: A renowned relationship expert, played by Anne Heche, doesn’t know much about her fiance, the cheater. She winds up in Elmo, Alaska, where the ratio of men to women is 10-to-1, and sets about reinventing herself. Producer Jenny Bicks (“Sex in the City”) aims for a female “Northern Exposure,” but so far this is a star vehicle rather than an ensemble piece.
Sunday
“The Game,” The CW: Originally a spinoff of “Girlfriends” from Mara Brock Akil, this half-hour is bound to do well with fans. Tia Mowry (“Sister, Sister”) finds it’s not that funny dating a pro football player (or being their wives or mothers).
“Brothers and Sisters,” ABC: The intertwined members of the Walker family have a history of secrets, some of which are about to come to light. A central theme is the difficulty of outgrowing one’s history, even when it’s is based on a flawed mythology. Rich material, stunning cast. Calista Flockhart gets too much face time in the pilot, but that may even out.
