Most of the humor feels like a show that’s trying too hard, except when we’re watching the great-yet-tiny character actress Linda Hunt as the boss of NCIS’s Los Angeles field office.

Jenna Elfman (who plays a newspaper movie critic who gets pregnant after a one-night stand with the young guy on the left, played by Jon Foster) seemed like a loose, natural comedienne, but she's trying way too hard to sell the jokes here-possibly because she knows no one's going to buy them without a whole lot of help.

For one night, this is the best House, and its leading man, have been in a long time.

The "Seinfeld" plot doesn't kick off until the season's third episode. The first two, meanwhile, are a reminder of what a brilliant show, and a deep cast of characters, Larry has built ever since he said goodbye to Jerry and company.

Bored to Death (created by real-life novelist--but not private dick--Jonathan Ames) as a whole is so dry in its comedy that there's very little margin for error. (Like the "Star Trek" movies, I found myself enjoying the even-numbered episodes and struggling through the odd-numbered ones.)

I've seen the pilot episode at least four times already, in whole or in parts, and I laugh just as hard at the jokes now as I did the first time.

I've seen five Archer episodes--and laughed frequently and loudly at all five.

The one moment people will talk about, and remember, from The Jay Leno Show debut was one of the least comic of Jay's career. It's going to get NBC some water cooler talk, and a lot of website hits, but it's not going to work as a signature "This is why Jay is awesome" clip like I think they were hoping.

Now that Sutter and company have finished the long and difficult task of fixing what wasn't working, I want to know everything it has to offer--even if some of those things may give me nightmares.

Melrose does a better job integrating its two casts, and it embraces what it is: a trashy remake of one of the most memorably trashy hits in primetime history. It's still not good, mind you, but it's more honest and enthusiastic about its badness, you know?

Twists and rule tweaks will only carry a reality show so far by the time you're into the sixth season. The format itself has to be durable, and the casting has to be sharp--both of which seem to be the case in the early going.

The hour offers up office intrigue, romantic complications and a classic Don Draper pitch, not to mention the usual brilliant acting from all involved.

Defying Gravity--an international production with American actors--feels too slight, or silly, to treat as anything but the cheap, disposable summer programming it is.

The world of the warehouse, and the interplay with the characters as they deal with it, are amusing enough to mark Warehouse 13 as a very promising summer series--regardless of the name of the channel it's on.

Though it rushes a bit through its final episode, Torchwood: Children of Earth is big in a way that very little of TV aspires to anymore. Until we see what kind of late charge "Mad Men" will have when it returns in mid-August, this is the most exciting television of the summer.

Hung has more to offer than just John Thomas jokes. Amidst all the sniggering humor about how Ray has been taught to "do your best with the gifts God gave you" is some smart comedy about the state of 21st century America in general, as well as a superb lead performance from Thomas Jane.

There are enough intriguing, albeit deliberately unfinished, ideas in there to make it worth a look for any fan not only of "Galactica," but the kind of thoughtful science fiction it represented.

I want to see another episode or two before I can tell if The Philanthropist has the potential to be anything more than a summer trifle. But thanks to Purefoy, it's at least an entertaining trifle.

If you want a show with engaging characters and drama, and not just a public service announcement about the very real value of our country's nurses, then Hawthorne fails to deliver.

Royal Pains can't help but suffer in comparison, but it's not a bad summer diversion--which, frankly, is all that "Burn Notice" was in its first season.

Conan was simultaneously reassuring his fans that he wasn't going to change too much in the new gig, and telling the traditional Tonight audience what they might expect from the new landlord. This was the smart, and really only, play Conan could make on night one of such a high-profile job. I just wish the execution had been a little better.

While the jokes may be funnier than "King" has been in a long time, the new show also feels more uneven and strained.

Mental was produced on a relative shoestring by Fox Telecolombia, and there's a flatness not only to the sets (which look not unlike what you might see on a Univision show), but the dialogue and characterizations.

They're flashy and can be briefly shocking or funny or even moving, but the more they go over-the-top, the less impact they have for me.

The disappointing new project from "Arrested Development" creator Mitchell Hurwitz is mainly a reminder of how much the "Arrested" cast--several of whom provide voice work here--added to that show.

Fishburne doesn't show up until halfway through the episode and mostly stays in the background once he does, letting the intellectual chess match between Grissom and DJK be the focus. And that feels right.

It looks great, makes good use of Los Angeles locations and has a solid ensemble cast (including Regina King and Tom Everett Scott as detectives). But it feels emotionally empty in the same way "Third Watch" so often did.

What The Unusuals lacks in cinematic sheen, it compensates with humor and a more interesting group of characters.