TV review: ‘Deception’ asks lots of questions — will it answer them?

At this point in the TV season, deciding which shows to watch is all about logistics.

The DVR may be empty now, but with a slew of January and February premieres, that space will soon be at a premium.

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Midseason television preview: After a mostly disappointing fall season, TV suits are meeting with TV critics, including Lisa de Moraes, to plug their next wave of shows. Here’s a look at what they’re talking up — and some familiar shows that have undergone major changes.

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So even if your interest is piqued by “Deception,” an enigmatic, serialized drama premiering Monday night that is one of NBC’s most high-profile midseason offerings, the most important question becomes: Is it worth it?

It’s a question viewers will have to seriously consider before delving into upcoming offerings from the broadcast networks. A host of dark, mysterious dramas are set to make midseason debuts: Fox’s Kevin-Bacon-catching-a-serial-killer series “The Following,” NBC’s Jekyll-and-Hyde-esque “Do No Harm,” ABC’s conspiracy thriller “Zero Hour” and organized crime show “Red Widow.” Even CW gets in on the act with“Cult,” about the dire consequences when fans get too obsessed with a creepy TV series.

The new broadcast options aren’t all dark (NBC is testing its luck with White House sitcom “1600 Penn,” and ABC rolls out two new comedies later this spring), although comedy has fallen on tough times this season.

CBS’s “Partners” was pulled from the schedule, and the status of the network’s second new comedy, “Friend Me,” is up in the air after the death of its co-creator.

NBC saw some mild success with “Go On” and “The New Normal,” but it yanked “Animal Practice” and is completely re-tooling “Up All Night” to be filmed before a live studio audience.

Fox’s “The Mindy Project” and “Ben and Kate” both earned full seasons with ratings that are more passable than blockbuster.

While networks are forever hoping for a hit and acting quicker than ever to cut bait on a flop, is committing time to a complicated show such as “Deception” a smart investment?

In this case, only if you enjoy watching a mystery for mystery’s sake and aren’t expecting to get good answers anytime soon. Oh, and if you’re into absurdly dysfunctional families. And seeing rich people swan around and vaguely threaten each other. There’s a lot of that.

Then you can settle in for what’s sure to be a bumpy, semi-compelling and sometimes unintentionally humorous ride. While watching “Deception” (formerly titled “Infamous,” and before that, “Notorious”) it’s hard to not notice the parallels to ABC’s hit drama “Revenge.” From a dead body in the opening scenes, to the story of scorned woman who embeds herself in a wealthy family to take them down from the inside, it’s sort of “Revenge”-lite, without the inherently likable characters but with about a dozen extra tangled subplots.

In “Deception,” the Scorned Woman character is Joanna Padget Locasto (Meagan Good), an New York police detective wrangled by the FBI to work on a possible homicide investigation. Vivian Bowers, a 32-year-old socialite and party girl, has been found dead on the floor of a hotel room, and no one’s buying that it was due to a drug overdose. That’s because Vivian’s an heiress to the billion-dollar Bowers Pharmaceutical fortune, and her family has been skating around the law for years. The FBI is convinced that this case will finally bring the Bowers family to justice, and since Joanna is Vivian’s former best friend, she’s the perfect person to get close to the family and expose their illegal activities.