In the grand USA scheme of things, it's pretty much same old, same old. But that's still a workable recipe.

It’s not a game-changer or first-rate through and through. But it is an interesting and very nicely acted look at online daters meeting for the first time.

It smoothly goes through its paces, with Hunt and Reiser engaged and looking happy to be together again. The “plots,” such as they are, tend to be mostly thin soup.

It seems like a harmless little diversion at this point, with Elfman and Dratch playing well off one another in a fantasy that may have enough winning moments to survive its tough-to-pull-off premise.

After a crackling good start, Prison Break begins to wobble but doesn’t quite topple in succeeding hours.

ABC made four episodes available for review. All have their moments, some of them cloying, others amusing.

The broad histrionics of Will, Grace, Jack and Karen, who are still cavorting before a guffawing live studio audience, at times seem more dated than NBC’s early reluctance to let Will have a same-sex kiss or be seen in bed with another man. But there’s no hesitancy from the actors in terms of re-committing to these roles with a vigor that still drives the series like an old Wild Mouse amusement park ride from back in the day.

Viewers looking for the best new medical drama of this still young season can find it in Chicago Med. Then again, there are only two of them so far.

There’s no laugh track involved in any of this, which is heartening. And Goggins fares fairly well in this very tamped-down mode, even if a number of his previous characters clearly would want to choke Wade Felton to death.

As a silly summertime lark, HGN pretty much hits it out of the park on opening night. Lynch brings some of her Sue Sylvester sass to the proceedings, Kudrow has an infectious laugh, Petty knows how to take a punch and Short is always a consummate mirth maker.

Mison and Beharie work well together as Ichabod and Abbie.... On the down side, Orlando Jones so far is stuck in the muck of a prototypically officious police captain named Frank Irving.... Whatever befalls its denizens, Sleepy Hollow gets off to a better and more “believable” start than anticipated.

Despite all its unanswered questions, Hostages is appreciably easier to grasp than NBC’s competing new The Black List, which also gets underway Monday. So for now, it seems worth seeing where this is all going.

From the network that brought you Quantum Leap, it’s NBC’s Timeless, which can be far-fetched even for a show of this genre. But it’s also agreeably fast-paced and a good deal of fun before jumping through another hoop at the end that might make the present an almost equally wild mini-ride.

Beals’ sturdy performance is an overall plus, but Proof has a harder time selling its basic week-to-week premise.

This is a comedy with a solid core group of characters and a chance to go the distance.

Frequency does a pretty solid job of juggling its balls and creating new intrigues. By the end of the premiere episode, another perplexing murder mystery is in play while Raimy wonders what hit her.

The Killing still has some pulling power, even if the initial thrill of Season 1 is long since gone.

Its characters are comparatively compelling even when they're falling a little short.

The whole enterprise is alternately laughable and affecting without committing the eighth deadly sin of being boring.

What emerges, in the three episodes made available for review, is an accessible, easily imbibed summertime series that basically beats actually going to camp for an entire gut-wrenching summer.

Deception isn’t likely to win any awards, except perhaps from the Society of American Magicians. As escapist fare, though, it turns the trick, plays its cards well, pulls a rabbit from the hat, etc. Or as ABC might say, “Abracadabra, here’s to another Castle.”

House of Cards also can be a victim of its own excesses, which are now built up into a heavy goo of previous evil and investigations of same by the sometimes ridiculously dogged Tom Hammerschmidt (Boris McGiver). ... Wright’s performance reflects all of [Francis's] cynicism, calculation and deep, unhealed wounds that powered his engine, and now hers as a President who pledges allegiance only to herself and her gender.

It's not a great series, but it looks to be a solidly commercial one.

As holiday newcomers go, this is much better than socks and underwear from Grandma. Just don’t expect a shiny new train set.

It’s not nearly in [Modern Family's] league, though--at least not now and likely not ever. Still, Akerman is reason enough to buy in for at least a few episodes.

Three episodes deep, there’s an appetite for more, but not a ravenous one. Taboo could develop into a whale of a tale once Delaney is fully seen in his earlier element.

Legends is too pockmarked with standard issue dialogue and situations to merit any awards for the series as a whole. But Bean, who this time is assured of staying vertical, might have enough pop in his performance to break on through.

This seems like a serviceable drama that merits a bit better ladder grade (heh-heh) for an improved second hour.