The Season's Best, Ripe for Picking

"Justice" purports to take viewers backstage at dramatized high-stakes trials. Unfortunately, courtroom dramas are not exactly rarities on the tube. This one is spiced up with the kind of fancy, high-tech gimmickry for which the executive producer, Jerry Bruckheimer, is famous. The production values are strikingly high, but that might not be enough to justify yet another "Law & Order" imitation, especially when the producers of "Law & Order" are so busy imitating themselves over on NBC. (Wednesdays, 9 p.m.; already premiered.)

' 'Til Death'

" 'Til Death" transfers Brad Garrett from second banana on the now-extinct "Everybody Loves Raymond" to top banana on a so-so comedy. The show contrasts two couples who live side-by-side: veterans of a lengthy if bumpy marriage and a naive pair of cutesy, cooing newlyweds. Garrett is about the only thing the show has going for it, but he's no slouch at getting laughs. (Thursdays, 8 p.m.; already premiered.)

'Happy Hour'

The worst new sitcom of the season, this is also the most old-fashioned. Its stale adventures of two mismatched roommates and their daily 4 o'clock martinis are all vermouth and no gin, one might say. We wouldn't, but one might. The cast is as unattractive as the scripts are crude. (Thursdays, 8:30 p.m.; already premiered.)

NBC: 'FRIDAY NIGHT' SCORES; 'GOOD YEARS' IS GOLDEN

'Heroes'

"Heroes" is a spectacular adventure series hobbled by its own pietistic pretentiousness. The heroes are a far-flung group of young people who come to realize they have superhuman powers, although what they intend to do with them -- and how they'll all get together to battle the evil in the world -- isn't revealed in "Volume One," as the series premiere is called. One woman can fall out a window, break every bone in her body, then mend miraculously in a twinkle. A peculiar young man paints accurately prophetic pictures of future catastrophes and complains, "Something's wrong with me." The transformations into superheroes "will not occur overnight," the prologue warns. By the end of the first hour, though, viewers might already be running out of patience -- and wandering amongst the other channels. (Mondays, 9 p.m.; premieres Sept. 25.)

'Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip'

One of the most eagerly awaited of the new dramas, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" is Aaron "West Wing" Sorkin's attempt to dramatize what might go on backstage at a sketch comedy show like NBC's own "Saturday Night Live" (also the setting, of course, for another new NBC series, "30 Rock"). Sorkin's drama takes place in Los Angeles -- one of the superficial ways to tell it from the other show -- and gets off to a fairly compelling start: Judd Hirsch, as the aging grump of a producer, tells viewers, "It's not going to be a very good show tonight; change the channel." He's obviously been inspired by Peter Finch's immortal Howard Beale in Paddy Chayefsky's "Network," and as part of his rant, he tells viewers they've all been "lobotomized" by television. Speak for yourself, pal. A very iffy beginning, but hopes for "Studio 60" remain high. (Mondays, 10 p.m.; premieres tomorrow night.)

'Friday Night Lights'

Based on a movie about a Texas town's obsession with its high school football team, "Friday Night Lights" is one of the season's best and most evocatively atmospheric new dramas. The premiere follows a week in the town's life as it prepares for the big game Friday, with Kyle Chandler giving a strong, convincing performance as the coach (a man apparently under about as much pressure as the president of the United States). One player drinks heavily, another is a snarling racist, and the star quarterback (pure as Ivory Snow) unfortunately suffers a major injury in the season's first game. You don't have to give a hoot about football to find the details fascinating, and "Friday Night Lights" is habit-forming from the very first scene. (Tuesdays, 8 p.m.; premieres Oct. 3.)

'30 Rock'

"30 Rock" is former "Saturday Night Live" head writer Tina Fey's sitcom about being head writer of "The Girlie Show," a network comedy. The pilot shown to critics is undergoing major renovations -- partly because things weren't working very well, but also because Alec Baldwin, several times an "SNL" host, has joined the cast as a network executive. Fey is a clever writer with a wicked wit, but as an actress, she tends to vanish into her own scenes. Even so, there are plenty of laughs on the premiere, and it's the kind of quality show worth rooting for. (Wednesdays, 8 p.m.; premieres Oct. 11.)

'Twenty Good Years'

"Twenty Good Years" dares to star two actors who are not in their twenties or thirties or even teens. In fact, Jeffrey Tambor and John Lithgow play baby boomers who are facing a fearsome crossroads in their lives: turning 60. What they go through is not only funny but also often touching, resonant and, if you happen to be part of the same generation, a trifle terrifying. Both actors are at the top of their game; they're like a Hope and Crosby for our time -- richly and royally hilarious. (Wednesdays, 8:30 p.m.; premieres Oct. 11.)

'Kidnapped'

"Kidnapped" is another TV series that seems like it should be a movie. In fact, it was a movie, more than once: Parents wait anxiously for news of a child abducted by criminals. The versatile Jeremy Sisto is the standout in this version, playing a kind of freelance private cop who's an expert at retrieving kidnapped children alive. The suspense is intense, and the second episode takes surprising twists and turns, which suggest that the producers and writers (and an outstanding cast) will be able to keep the story going week upon week. (Wednesdays, 10 p.m.; premieres Wednesday.)

The CW: Stepping Out With a Bit Of Drama

The CW is a semi-new network formed by the merger of the now-defunct UPN and the WB -- "weblets" in industry parlance. The bill of fare mostly includes such returning shows as "7th Heaven," saved from cancellation by the merger, but there are two new dramas:

'Runaway'

"Runaway" stars Donnie Wahlberg as Paul Rader, a husband and father of three who sinks his Volvo in an early scene before gathering up the family and running away (hence the title) to Bridgewater, Iowa, population 23,827, plus five. Rader was wrongfully convicted of committing what CW publicity calls "a terrible and violent crime." So his wife, two teenagers and cute little boy must assume new identities and be suspicious of every knock at the door. A suspenseful drama, "Runaway" bears a superficial resemblance to "Running on Empty," an underrated Sidney Lumet movie about a family of hippies in the same predicament as the Raders. (Mondays, 9 p.m.; premieres Sept. 25.)

'The Game'

"The Game" is football, but the series is not so much about the players of the game as their wives, girlfriends and groupies. Not likely to be as racy as "Footballers' Wives," the British import playing on BBC America, this grown-up soap -- co-produced by Kelsey Grammer -- stars Tia Mowry as Melanie (girlfriend of the team's new wide receiver), who's headed for a crash course in the politics of pro sports. (Sundays, 8:30 p.m.; premieres Oct. 1.)

PBS: New Season? What New Season?

Little seems new on the PBS bill of fare as the season wobbles off to a start. PBS officials are excited, however, about a two-part, three-hour special called "The Mormons" that will mark the first time that old PBS reliables "Frontline" and "American Experience" have pooled their resources on a program. But it won't air until April.

Among the "Masterpiece Theatre" offerings this season: a two-part, four-hour adaptation of the very venerable "Jane Eyre," with no big names in the cast -- not that there's anything wrong with that. Otherwise, it's more of "Antiques Roadshow" on a network that is beginning to look like something of an antique roadshow itself.