The likable Pete and Myka are a classic match, bickering until they need to stop and work together, which they do. Artie provides both comic relief and a reminder that their job is difficult and dangerous--point also made by Artie's boss, Mrs. Frederic (CCH Pounder). Not too much new here. But there's nothing wrong with taking the old and doing it well.

Some of the pirates tonight, perhaps inevitably, take on a little of Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow. But the acting is generally solid and the action is both stirring and, happily, easy to follow.

Mainly, underneath the sitcom setups and witty banter, this show moves to the pulse of the ad game. The mystique and power of raw ideas push this story as surely as they push the characters of "Mad Men."

Crucial, sometimes hopeful and sometimes worrisome as the larger issues of modern medicine are, Hopkins excels on the human side.

It's a fun ride and Wyle has gotten a little better each time. That's why it's a shame there apparently won't be another.

With 19 episodes remaining in this season, there's plenty of time for all this drama to intensify and the characters to sort themselves out as good and not-so-good.

Shirley MacLaine will get most of the attention for playing fashion legend Coco Chanel in this smart-looking and solidly crafted new Lifetime biopic premiering Saturday night.

Add strong performances by a dozen major characters, starting with Claire Foy as Little Dorrit, and you've got the kind of production television is often accused of having abandoned.

The best moments in Wednesday night's chat between Elvis Costello and Elton John, which are good enough to recommend the show for fans of both men, serve up small but sparkling musical pleasures.

Tuesday night’s premiere packs a lot of trash into 42 minutes, between the quips about “jewelry whores” and an almost pathological concern with whose “bubbies” are and aren’t authentic. It plants the first seeds of drama, too.

There are no actual fires involved, and several key scenes are played in near-silence. The emotional intensity, though, rips right through the screen.

Unlike shows that rely on flamboyant judges for much of their color, Top Chef has mostly risen and fallen on the personality and skills of the contestants. So it's off to a good start this time around.

While some of their "family values" are perverse and illegal, most are rooted in the same principles embraced by the straightest arrows in town. That's what makes them more than motorcycle thugs and makes their show worth the discomfort it sometimes takes to ride with it.

To be as much fun as it strives to be, Warehouse 13 can't be just a cop show with a gimmick. It needs to make the gimmick interesting and fun. Season one was promising and season two seems to be staying on track.

It's well-paced, it's fun to watch and none of the characters needs to be anywhere near as annoying as, say, Nick Castle.

Based on the first episode, the team seems to work about two cases at a time, and while neither of tonight's feels wildly creative--one warns of the downside to an intense religious upbringing, the other catches an elected official in an ethics scandal--both are engagingly told, with humor and little twists.

What Southland has, already, is its own swagger, a get-outta-my-way style of moving and talking that says it's going for the raw edges we see on cable shows like "Breaking Bad." Southland pulls it off, too. If Thursday night's premiere episode is an indication how it plans to roll, it's a keeper.

Just reciting plots can make Southland sound like a soap opera, and in some ways that's what ensemble shows are. But this one is more than that.

As viewers, we're less interested in the destination than the ride, and this one starts out feeling like fun.

The new musical-comedy drama Glee dresses like "High School Musical" and has the heart of "Porky's." That's a compliment.

Everyone in "How to Make It" isn't a winner. But the show looks to be just that.

A splendid new addition to pay-cable's stock of dark comedies that keep a human heart beating behind the laughs.

It's now even easier to get so caught up in the dramas that you can forget this show is really funny.

ABC's new FlashForward requires concentration and endurance. It's well worth the investment of both.

It sounds soapy, but it's all handled well enough, and with enough humor, that we believe it.

Undercover Boss isn't spectacular TV. But its real appeal lies in the exercise itself: watching a CEO meet actual workers and realize they work hard at jobs often made harder by petty rules and policies.

Margulies puts a powerful combination of cold fury, bewilderment and tenacity into Alicia Florrick, the wife of a disgraced Chicago politician in a new series that readily admits it ripped itself from the headlines.

The good part is that the drama should be fun to watch for us. And for the guy at Pizza Shack, too.