It all adds up to a dizzying series of cross-plots and so many brief and often odd alliances that some viewers may wonder if they've wandered into "Survivor." On the positive side, it's all done with standard Glee fun, the tongue never far from the cheek, and it's punctuated with upbeat musical numbers.

If the premise is somewhat forced, it sets up a situation with enough comic potential to sustain Hot in Cleveland indefinitely.

TNT's new Memphis Beat has a great soundtrack and a pretty good cop drama in between.

This requires commitment, it requires paying attention and it has few cartoonish interludes to give the audience a breather. It also reminds us the value and satisfaction we can find in a complex production executed well.

Treme, created by "Wire" mastermind David Simon, may not ultimately get to the level of those others, because it's going to take a while to sort out the characters and lay down the themes. It also looks to have a deliberate pace, and it doesn't seem to be setting up for a lot of blood-and-guts action, so it may end up attracting a more cerebral crowd.

A new ABC Family series built around four teenage friends and an ominous hint of supernatural forces that mean no good, makes most popular vampire romances look anemic.

But if Ugly Americans comes with a message, it is at least equally determined to just be funny, and at that task, it frequently succeeds.

A viewer who knew nothing of the earlier incarnations could come to this one and find it immediately engaging, like a good modern police buddy-team drama.

It's like three, maybe four sitcoms all squeezed into one, and quite an enjoyable one.

Life Unexpected is TV pleasure unexpected.

It's broad, accessible comedy - the kind of show where you aren't sure what to expect, but once you sit down, you keep watching.

If you enjoy following complex machinations, however, and enjoy watching smart TV characters try to figure them out, Rubicon is your ticket.

The show still occasionally talks about this stuff more than real-life guys probably would. But mostly it lets the action speak for itself. Men of a Certain Age is aging well.

It's nasty, hard-core stuff--a tale well told.

"Fun" hasn't been a big part of her job description, but she may have found some of it here.

Spy dramas sometimes get too enamored of their own twists, subplots and dark details, but this one never becomes impenetrable.

Tuesday night by plunging its characters deeper into a web of crisscrossing dramas that suggest the law and politics ultimately come down to soap operas. Whether it's true or not, The Good Wife makes the theory entertaining to explore.

The best new cop drama of a TV season that has more police than a presidential motorcade. Blue Bloods doesn't have the best time slot on TV, but it's got some of the strongest characters and performances.

[Executive producer Shawn] Ryan's a good juggler, especially when he can work at a cable pace. He likes to take a moment and roll it around in his hands. He's helped by first-rate chemistry between the show's two main dudes, and a uniformly strong supporting cast.

Human Target was a good wise-guy action adventure last season. It's already looking like a better one this season. The main reason: Two girls, Indira Varma and Janet Montgomery, have crashed the testosterone party.

So they mirror the plight of way too many Americans today, and while that isn't good news for the unemployed, it does give this Apprentice a bit more edge.

Patty returns to the unanswered question that Ellen asked her last season: "Is it worth it?" For viewers, yes, it is.

The game has always been better and more joyous than many of the people who played it. "The Tenth Inning," like its predecessor, makes that point as cleanly as a line-drive single to left-center.

Body of Proof would be interesting enough if it were just "Quincy" with better legs. Add the other elements and you have something worth checking out.

The result is intelligent if occasionally dense tales that focus on the hardest part of a detective's job, which is trying to outthink someone whose thinking is already, by definition, off-center.

The new guest cast is uniformly solid....The whole show is now on its own for the first time, since the previous two seasons were adapted from an Israeli series. That series ran for only two years, so this new In Treatment will have to work from scratch. What it has scratched out so far is impressive.

Moguls & Movie Stars has been assembled with obvious care, using a wide range of illustrative material and charming interviews with surviving major characters, descendants and historians.

Whether the people here are fifth-generation circus or they ran away to join it, their lives make for a good tale.