Four new series are added to the 2011 Fall TV lineup Thursday night: Person of Interest on CBS, Whitney and Prime Suspect on NBC, and, last but least, Charlie's Angels on ABC. You won't find any of them in Thursday's Best Bets, though -- and here, briefly, is why not...

2011

Sep

'WHITNEY' GETS OFF TO A SMART 'N' SNAPPY START By Ed Bark

NBC has branded Whitney Cummings this fall's "It" girl. This doesn't necessarily mean she's the best thing about the new sitcom Whitney (Thursday at 9:30 p.m. ET), although she's still quite a bit better than good. The revelation here is Chris D'Elia, who plays Whitney's live-in boyfriend, Alex...

2011

Sep

NBC'S 'PRIME SUSPECT' IS AN APPLAUSE-WORTHY ENCORE By Ed Bark

How dare they try to do a new Prime Suspect series without Helen Mirren as put-upon, hard-boiled London detective Jane Tennison? Well, NBC takes that dare Thursday at 10 p.m. ET and does a very decent job of it, in a Manhattan-based version starring Pennsylvanian Maria Bello as tough-minded detective Jane Timoney...

2011

Sep

'REVENGE': PRETTY EVIL SOAP SUDS By Alan Pergament

Who doesn't love Emily VanCamp? The Canadian actress has been adorable ever since she hit the American TV screen as a teenager on Everwood, the WB series in which she played Amy Abbott, love interest of the emotionally scarred Ephram. And now she gets her star turn on "Revenge", a new ABC drama that the producers told TV critics is loosely based on The Count of Monte Cristo...

2011

Sep

ON 'TWO AND A HALF MEN,' CHARLIE SHEEN'S CHARACTER DIED -- BUT THE WRONG WAY By P.J. Bednarski

I don't watch Two and Half Men often enough to know if that first episode was up to the show's usual comedy standards. But it wasn't very funny. And executive producer Chuck Lorre didn't find a very plausible way to introduce new lead Ashton Kutcher. All in all, Lorre missed the opportunity to make a statement he obviously believes: Booze kills...

2011

Sep

BOTH KUTCHER AND SHEEN SHOW UP ON TV MONDAY, BUT GET UPSTAGED BY STAR CAMEOS... AND A STILL PHOTO By David Bianculli

Ashton Kutcher inherited the co-starring mantle from Charlie Sheen on CBS's Two and a Half Men Monday night -- the same night, and only a hour before, Sheen himself was shown sitting through a Roast of Charlie Sheen on Comedy Central. And yet, after all that high-intensity media hype smoke cleared, I was left thinking about other things: Dharma, Greg, and the meaning of that vanity card photo...

2011

Sep

ON THE DRUG TRAIL WITH HANK SCHRADER By Eric Gould

Even though he's not a cop, he plays one on TV. And that's enough street cred for Dean Norris to dive deep into the history of drugs and their use on the new special The Stoned Ages (premiering Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET on the History channel). From ancient opium use to new medications hatched out of multinational corporations, the two-hour show looks at the roles drugs have played in our lives since humans discovered what plants could do for our health and our consciousness -- good and bad...

2011

Sep

DVD: CAN THE PACKAGING GET WORSE? By Diane Werts

Just got Star Wars on Blu-ray when it came out Friday, and couldn't wait to open it. Then I opened it. NOT again. Yes, again. The packaging for this super-duper much-hyped better-than-ever souped-up high-def edition is indeed worse for disc-keeping than previous editions...

2011

Sep

EMMY TELECAST BEGINS AND ENDS AS 'MODERN FAMILY' AWARDS SHOW By David Bianculli

AMC's Mad Men won again, deservedly, at the end of Sunday's 63d PrimeTime Emmy Awards on Fox. So did ABC's Modern Family, which won the final award of the night. Modern Family also won the first award of the night. And the second. And the third. And the fourth...

2011

Sep

FUNNY THING ABOUT THESE JOKES... By Ed Bark

Some things just shouldn't be joked about, particularly on network TV sitcoms seen by millions. Humor is subjective, of course. And political correctness can be insidious when taken too far, as it often is. But among the hundreds of one-liners in this fall's new crop of comedies, I'm still wondering about two of them...

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