The fifth season of this filmlike thriller is metaphorically knocking my socks off. My actual socks remain on.

The show's super strengths are its well-developed filmmaking, smooth pacing and a perfect cast. It views like the first hour of a fun, thoughtful movie.

It may be hard to believe that "Invasion's" premiere could be touching in the context of Katrina, and effective as a sci-fi drama. But that is the power of high-quality storytelling.

[A] rare work of brilliance.

"Day Break" asks viewers for faith, to believe unanswered questions will not go unanswered forever, and that every episode will be worth experiencing. For now, I'm willing to take that leap of faith, because the action is swift, the acting is taut and the premise is cool.

There is a challenge to "Smith." It may be wonderfully shot so far. It may be blissfully quiet. And it may be supremely acted. But how much can a viewer care about the bad boys and girls over the course of many episodes?

Fantastic, fascinating, creepy, charming and gruesome.

Dexter, one of the best shows on TV this decade. High praise, indeed. Deserved.

Scene by scene, "Mrs. Harris" overcomes the rote nature of true crime stories.

Pushing Daisies deserves its high praise. It's the best new drama of the fall, finding sweet hope in morbid tragedy.

In Treatment is exhilarating.

Cute, creative and slick, this is one of the best new shows of the fall season.

It's a lot of fun. It's funny. And stars Bret Harrison and Tyler Labine have better chemistry than most duos on TV.

Californication--the best new TV show in a year.

High School Musical 2 is very good. It's more than listenable. The music is surprisingly catchy, smartly penned and not annoying.

It's really kind of a glorious little miracle, a half-hour series of little pictures of simple, complex and unfamous Americans breathing everyday lives, with a twist of kookiness, while they search for the Meaning of Everything and The Big Picture.

Despite high praise, there are two serious problems: (a) The first new episode is crazy confusing, and (b) over the course of the first batch of episodes, the story lines don't develop quickly enough.

It's really quite good and oddly entertaining, as cynical as it is.

"Heist" is good TV -- not great yet, but good -- from the cast to the suspenseful pacing and a cool musical score.

The casting is for awesome, flat-out too-good-for-TV acting.

The show's appeal is its breezy verbiage and well-suited cast.

Boreanaz and Deschanel stir good chemistry as a crime-fighting duo.

What is special about "Ghost Whisperer" is the way it gets everything else right -- casting, acting, writing, directing, pacing, music, you name it.

Finally, a "Sex and the City" clone comes through.

Fans of Sorkin's years on "The West Wing" will likely enjoy "Studio 60." And there should be enough mature viewers who crave bright writing to make the show a sudden mainstay.

I don't want to spoil the great lines, delivered with perfect comic acting. To me, it's bliss.

If the series doesn't peter out after its first two great episodes, Comedy Central may at last have on its hands a live-action comedy as funny as "Chappelle's Show."

The Sarah Connor Chronicles" begins as an intense, thoughtful, exciting, fun spectacle. The first episode will kick your ass.