Unlike last month's ABC Family misfire "Make It or Break It," 10 Things contains clever dialogue that's rooted in its characters.

This first episode has brief nods to the deaths last season of two series regulars--Owen and Toshiko--and it acknowledges advances in the relationship between bisexual Jack and Ianto (Gareth David-Lloyd). But more than anything it's a propulsive action-adventure.

It's possible that Hung will lighten up as time goes on. The weak ending to Sunday's pilot is trite and feels like a half-hearted effort to be uplifting. It doesn't work.

Virtuality is a fascinating, over-stuffed pilot episode, and as intriguing as its concept is, you can see by the end of tonight's two-hour premiere why Fox passed on making it a weekly series.

Against all odds, this week's premiere turns out to be a competent, highly watchable hour of television, the most promising broadcast network premiere since "Southland."

Merlin looks, well, typically British with shoddy production values. Worse, it tells dull stories.

Smith is a winning TV star who's adept at scenes that require great empathy or a withering stare. Given time (and more realistic characterizations), Hawthorne may grow into a series worthy of her talents.

Not only do the other stories save True Blood--before you can get sick of Sookie and Bill, Blood shifts its focus to more interesting characters--but the show's persistent humor breaks through with enough frequency to have an impact.

Tonight's pilot suffers from a few up-the-ante, "look-at-me!" moments, like when Coop grabs Jackie's breast and claims it's a nervous tic. Future episodes are more grounded and less desperate to shock for the sake of grabbing viewer (and network) attention, but they're no less enthralling with both drama and humor.

USA's Royal Pains is an amusing, enjoyable addition to basic cable.

Goode really does feel too much like the flip side of "King of the Hill." The humor comes from the opposite point of view but it's still a too-similar-to-stand-on-its-own comedy.

If you're bereft without new episodes of "House" this summer and willing to settle for a pale imitation, there's always Fox's Mental.

Glee does the teen years with some edge, but we've seen that before on Glee executive producer Ryan Murphy's previous series, The WB's "Popular." Still, Glee is delightful enough to qualify as a fall favorite.

Tonight's extended episode--it runs until 11:15 p.m.--comes off as the trashier, less sophisticated cousin to "Project Runway." If that's the appeal of "Runway," then have at it. But if you're a design fan, The Fashion Show may prove to be an unfashionable disappointment.

There are some truly funny moments in Fox's manic, animated comedy Sit Down, Shut Up, a series that requires almost rapt attention to pick up all the jokes and amusing dialogue that's hurled at viewers. If a TV series ever suffered from Attention Deficit Disorder, this is it.

It must be said that viewing Grey Gardens without prior knowledge of the Beales' story would make it easier to like the HBO version....Michael Sucsy directs an HBO version that takes a little of this, a little of that, in building toward a (sort-of) happy ending that's hard to swallow.

It's an entertaining enough diversion that may grow more intriguing as other series end their season-long runs next month and viewers become more desperate for fresh entertainment.

Of the two new cop shows this week, Southland is the more serious and realistic. It also demonstrates the potential for greater depth in its exploration of characters and their stories.

The Unusuals offers an odd combo platter of tones that don't allow the show to jell in its premiere episode.

It's difficult to imagine many "Dancing" viewers will be suckered into watching this unimaginative, predictable comedy series for more than the first couple of minutes.

It's impossible not to compare the two casts or to find the new version a pale imitation whose characters don't feel fresh in the slightest, because, well, they're not.

If you have the patience and good humor to let the back stories and mysteries unfold in the 109 minutes of the first episode, you'll enjoy spending time with Mma Ramotswe and getting to know the landscape of her beloved Botswana, a peaceful nation in southern Africa.

Party Down can't decide if it wants to be smart-funny or dumb-funny. Maybe if it does, the party will truly begin.

Set in the offices of Veridian Dynamics, a behemoth conglomerate, this single-camera, laugh-track-free comedy is the funniest show ABC has birthed in quite some time.

Kings begins with a refined approach and grows more pedestrian in subsequent episodes. Still, there's plenty to love about this series that dances with symbolism--the butterfly on the Gilboa flag is not a mere adornment--and replaces clandestine backrooms with windowed board rooms.

As reality shows go, the concept isn't bad: Two teams with four couples each operate restaurants across the street from one another in New York. But Chopping Block botches the introductions in tonight's premiere.

There's nothing in ABC's Castle viewers haven't seen a million times before, but the cast elevates the pedestrian material.

There's no question about the quality of this relentlessly suspenseful drama about former high school chemistry teacher Walter White (Bryan Cranston), who turns to drug dealing to raise money for his family after he receives a terminal cancer diagnosis. Whether viewers can stand the nerve jangling they're in for as season two begins will be decided on an individual basis.