The Following, compelling and frustrating from its opening credits, sets viewers up for a season-long, blood-soaked rematch between an evil intellectual and his law-enforcement nemesis.

Ripper Street was clever enough not to hang its hat on the over-examined killings of the five Ripper victims, and clever fans of police procedurals will relish spending eight hours with cops who have to invent the crime-solving tools at their disposal.

Deception borrows a lot from that show and others, ending up more fun than challenging.

Those who accept it for what it is--a funny, manipulative soap that relies on historical upheaval to frame its scarce plots--should be happy to hear that Downton’s new season is better than its last.

The Lost Valentine ultimately succeeds for two reasons: It is an engaging if somewhat convoluted little yarn. And White takes emotional command of the movie.

Unfortunately, neither Bates nor Kelley seems to have any heart in this show. Picking up pretty much where he left off with "Boston Legal," Kelley turns the courtroom into Air America.

It's a bright, fun little show, adhering to the formula that has worked for so many other light dramas on USA: tight writing, a little romance, whirly movement.

It all has the potential to add up. Eventually.

In the tradition of "The Day After" and "My So-Called Life" comes The Big C, an important show premiering Monday that's not necessarily a great show.

It's a heck of a show.

Unfortunately, whoever developed this show couldn't trust the audience to accept Piper Perabo's character as strong enough to get out of a pickle or two without male intervention. I won't reveal how, because the first episode is otherwise very enjoyable, thanks to a solid supporting cast including "O.C." dad Peter Gallagher, Kari Matchett and former WB/UPN heartthrob Christopher Gorham.

The darker tone of Haven (including a haunting piano soundtrack) and reliance on paranormal, rather than technological, story elements form an ideal counterpoint to the wonkery of "Eureka."

The people who create Eureka always seem to know how to add a few dabs of paint that no previous TV show covering time travel and electronic body transport had thought of.

Warehouse 13 has always been a hodgepodge of other people’s ideas and gimmicks, but the magic is how they’re thrown together here.

The indie-director touches do not narrow the appeal of Louie. It is, however, strictly for adults.

While capturing all this with seemingly unfettered access, Wrong finds the little dramas that provide insight into what it's like to be a resident at one of the world's premier teaching hospitals.

I'm happy to report that, much like the disembodied head of Richard Nixon (who shows up in the second episode), it's the same barrel of laughs it always was.

Whatever the reasons, True Blood has become stranger, more complicated and more satisfying to watch over time.

Yes, Treme is a tremendous document of the period following Katrina, how it shattered not just homes and infrastructure and tourism but, most important, families. All of that is on the surface and pretty accessible.

Justified is one of those programs where, when you get done with the three review episodes FX sends you, you're angry because you know FX could've sent more episodes if it wanted to.

Unlike the previous Hanks-Spielberg efforts, each of these men is really on his own journey, and the changing shift of focus doesn’t help us build affection for the characters, either. The other problem with “The Pacific” is not really its doing. We’re in two wars now; comprehending a third seems a tall order for most people.

This one starts out at a frenetic clip, and even A-list talent is helpless in the face of the formulaic banter that such occasions demand. Only when the show slows down--midway through, does Parenthood suggest that it may have something worth watching.

This one has an “Entourage” pedigree (Mark Wahlberg is a producer) and is technically billed as a comedy, though it has neither the witty banter nor satisfying ending of one.

How it all goes awry is the question that provides Caprica with its ripe potential. Unfortunately, a serious storytelling mistake in the early going has left me with doubts about whether it has the wherewithal to get there.

Though the violence is designed to be gorgeous, like a graphic novel, it doesn’t have the pacing of a comic book. The creators of Spartacus: Blood and Sand seem a little too enamored of their ability to sketch a vast Thracian tableau, a fight scene, or a coliseum full of cheering CGI Italians.

Whether Chance has any actual superpowers might be a point worth debating if watching Human Target weren’t so much fun.

I worry about Chuck. I see it moldering before my eyes. And it’s nobody’s fault

Not only is it funnier than its lead-in, it’s improved on its impressive (and sadly truncated) first season on ABC.