USA Network original shows generally do not suck. As the newest in the network’s character-driven series, Royal Pains does not suck, either. Mark Feuerstein plays Dr. Hank Lawson, who is dismissed and blackballed after a judgment call at his hospital that costs a major donor his life. After endless days of television watching and apparently not showering, his brother, Evan (Paulo Constanzo) drags Hank out to the Hamptons for a weekend break.

The etymology of the word glee is appropriate in discussing FOX’s one-hour preview of its high school musical comedy that shares the title. Executive producer/writer/director Ryan Murphy shoehorns plenty of “entertainment, mirth and jest” into his Glee but its creators sense of the latter is what keeps this unoriginal series from being merely another high school comedy. Sure, there’s a lot of material lifted from Election, Bring It On, The Breakfast Club, and Freaks and Geeks in this charming pilot but these misfit highschoolers (and adults) sometimes stand without aides. Murphy’s work on Nip/Tuck is certainly more inspired but this one-shot preview, airing after tonight’s over-inflated American Idol finale, gets more things right than wrong.

The producers of Modern Toss, the odd, ineffective little cartoon/live action hybrid being deposited on IFC viewers, seem to have confused the fact that shows like South Park are both rude and funny with the idea that rude is funny. But irreverence, or simple profanity, is no substitute for actual content. Promoters will try to argue that the show is too edgy for some, but in fact it’s too simple for most. These are half-clever sketches, done in an admittedly creative style, that amount to very little.

Fox seems to be attempting to lick Arrested Development fans’ old wounds with the underwhelming Sit Down, Shut Up. The live-action/animation comedy, reshuffled from a hit live-action Australian sitcom, is untidily sandwiched between The Simpsons and Family Guy.

Jill Scott is the central figure in this series, and its pilot was the last thing to be directed by the late Academy Award winner Anthony Minghella (Cold Mountain).

Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, returns with Eliza Dushku, an alum of both shows, for Dollhouse.

A definite improvement over its first season, Torchwood season two features more ambitious and emotionally involving stories. The Doctor Who spin off centers around a secret team of government agents who investigate the strange encounters that happen in Cardiff, Wales, which has a rift in space and time running through it.

The CW wisely took a chance on this darkly comedic series about a young man cursed to do the devil’s bidding due to his parents selling his soul.

Fox’s success with Bones has propelled them to another turning of a real-life scientist into a television scientist with Lie to Me. Tim Roth (The Incredible Hulk) stars in this drama about reading clues in facial, body, and vocal expressions to determine what is beneath the surface.