Meanwhile, there's a family on the lam, a man evading police while reliving the same day, and professional thieves looking for the next big score. Starting tonight, 27 new fall series are ready to grab you by the lapels. From the comic-tragic happenings behind the screens at a "Saturday Night Live"-type series in "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" to the American remake of the telenovela "Ugly Betty," there's a series to satisfy everyone's television tastes.

Salt Lake Tribune television critic Vince Horiuchi strapped himself to his family room couch and wasn't released until he watched the pilot for every new series. After emerging from his cave - and taking days to adjust to the sunlight - he penned this thoughts about each premiere episode, and spotlighted the best shows for each day of the week. (Saturday is not in the lineup because there's nothing new scheduled on that day - go on a date.)

Remember, these are not full reviews because a series can get better or much worse after just a few more installments. All times and dates are subject to change. Full reviews of many of these series will be published later in The Tribune.

Spotlight

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (Drama, 9 p.m., KSL Channel 5, Premieres Monday)

Grade: A

This witty, brilliantly-written drama (with a heavy dose of comedy) is the most anticipated new series of the fall season for good reason - it's so far the best new series of the fall season.

Thank the show's super-talented creator, Aaron Sorkin, for that. The writer of a "Few Good Men" and creator of "The West Wing" is legendary for bright, expertly-written dialogue and snappy character exchanges. Expect that same reparté when stars Matthew Perry and "West Wing's" Bradley Whitford take center stage in this drama about the goings on behind a late-night TV comedy variety show.

"At its heart, "Studio 60" is the same thing that 'The West Wing' was at its heart," Sorkin said about the show. "It's about a group of people committed to professionalism, committed to each other, committed to what they're doing, and hopefully, you know, we enjoy watching them every week."

After the pilot episode, I know you'll thoroughly enjoy watching them.

The Class (Comedy, 7 p.m., KUTV Channel 2, premieres Monday)

Jason Ritter stars as Ethan, who celebrates his engagement with a group of his goofy former third-grade classmates. The engagement turns into a breakup, but the classmates become quick friends. The pilot was a funny, friendly half hour with plenty of traditional but hearty laughs. Think of it as a more off-kilter version of "Friends."

Heroes (Drama, 8 p.m., KSL Channel 5, premieres Sept. 25)

A group of strangers from around the world learn they're developing super-human powers, including one who's learning to fly and another who can heal her wounds. Along with great production values, this quasi-remake of "The X-Men" is intriguing from the start as the superheroes-in-the-making converge on New York.

Vanished (Drama, 8 p.m., KSTU Channel 13, premiered Aug. 21)

Grade: C

A bland and uninteresting thriller about a senator's wife who ends up missing during an awards dinner. What's really been kidnapped from this one-hour series is compelling characters, a storyline worth following and enough logic and realism to suspend our disbelief. What do you say we forget about solving this one?

Runaway (Drama, 8 p.m., KUCW Channel 30, premieres Sept. 25)

One of my favorite actors, Donnie Wahlberg ("Band of Brothers") stars in this banal series about a family on the run from police after he's accused of murder. It's a cross between "The Fugitive" and (insert family show here) where Dad has to worry about ditching from the feds one minute and making sure his son gets straight A's the next. Neither story is interesting.

Spotlight

Friday Night Lights (Drama, 7 p.m., KSL Channel 5, premieres Oct. 3)

If there is a main character to this otherwise ensemble film about a fictional Texas town and its obsession with the local high school football team, it's the town itself.

This is a show, like the book and the movie before it, that is about the feel, the look and the personality of a town and the residents who let football rule their daily lives.

"[Author Buzz] Bissinger was able to, in the book Friday Night Lights, take a really deep, comprehensive look at the culture of athletics, not just Texas football, but athletics. And he was able to hit upon pretty complex issues - racism, education, parent-child relationships, celebrity, all these different issues. And in the film, we were limited," said the show's executive producer, Peter Berg, who also directed the film version. "That's what brought me back one more time, because obviously with a television series, if we're lucky, we'll have the opportunity to go deep."

Standoff (Drama, 7 p.m., KSTU Channel 13, premiered Sept. 5)

Grade: C-

FBI hostage negotiators who are having a secret affair on the side must deal with the hostage taker while trying to keep a healthy relationship with each other. Frankly, in this idiotic and mismatched crime drama, they fail miserably. Let's just say there is a breakdown in communication between the show and its audience.

Knights of Prosperity (Comedy, 8 p.m., KTVX Channel 4, premieres Oct. 17)

Grade: B-

The award for the most disappointing new series goes to this comedy about a group of New York misfits who hatch a scheme to rob Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger's apartment. A great premise is bogged down with few laughs and a boring caper. It was even given a lame title when it could have been called "Let's Rob Mick Jagger." Can't network executives get anything right?

Help Me Help You (Comedy, 8:30 p.m., KTVX Channel 4, premieres Sept. 22)

Ted Danson returns to primetime television with this new, sometimes daffy comedy about a group psychologist leading a therapy session of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" wackos while trying to get his own mind right. What makes this a possible gem is a cast of supporting characters who could keep the laughs coming.

Smith (Drama, 9 p.m., KUTV Channel 2, premieres Tuesday)

Grade: C+

Television nabs the great movie actor Ray Liotta ("GoodFellas") and this is the best they can do with his steely personality and piercing blue eyes? Liotta stars as yet another professional thief who hires a crew to crack open the safe-of-the-week. Yet none of the other characters are likeable (in fact, one of them has a taste for murdering innocent bystanders), and the action in the pilot was anemic at best.

Spotlight

The Nine (Drama, 9 p.m., KTVX Channel 4, premieres Oct. 4)

There's a lot of mystery in the bank robbery that kicks off "The Nine." It's just that we don't find out what it is in the first episode.

This intriguing one-hour drama begins with nine hostages caught in the robbery and a resulting 52-hour standoff, an agonizing ordeal that will affect the lives of each of them in a different way.

More about what happened during those key 2 1/2 days will be revealed with each episode. So far, the story has me hooked.

"We're going to unravel it over the course of the first season. It's a character drama

with a backdrop of what happened in the bank . . . which will be revealed through flashbacks," said creator Hank Steinberg. "And stay tuned for the season finale, and you'll have a lot of your questions answered."

This series is worth sticking with to find out how that season ends.

Twenty Good Years (Comedy, 7 p.m., KSL Channel 5, premieres Oct. 11)

Grade: D

Oh, what did actors John Lithgow and Jeffrey Tambor do to deserve this steaming pile of cow crapola? What is perhaps the worst of the new fall season series involves two of the finest character actors in the country making fools of themselves playing two older men who decide to make the most out of their lives. I ask the producers: Does America really want to get its yuks from Lithgow parading around in thong underwear?

Jericho (Drama, 7 p.m., KUTV Channel 2, premieres Wednesday)

You know something is not quite right when you look into the horizon and see a mushroom cloud blooming over the western horizon. Nuclear explosions have occured around the country, and the residents of the small town of Jericho, Kansas, are afraid to venture out to learn what happened. This new serial could keep us clinging to the TV like the characters cling to their radios. It begins with a rather tepid pilot, but hopefully the storylines will pick up.

30 Rock (Comedy, 7:30 p.m., KSL Channel 5, premieres Oct. 11)

Grade: C+

We know Tina Fey is hilarious - she made us laugh during her stint on "Saturday Night Live." Now that she's moved to her own show (a lot like "Studio 60"; see above for a synopsis) she's lost the funny. Fey plays the writer of a variety TV show, while Alec Baldwin plays the conniving network president. What they forgot to hire were crafty writers for this show.

Day Break (Drama, 8 p.m., KTVX Channel 4, premieres Nov. 15)

Here's another oddball mix: Imagine "The Fugitive" blended with "Groundhog Day" and you get a sense of what happens in this confusing, illogical thriller. Taye Diggs stars as a detective who learns he's being framed for the murder of the state attorney and has to find out who's behind it. The only problem is that he wakes up every morning to the same day. Sounds interesting, and maybe it will be. But it starts with a scatter-brained pilot.

Justice (Drama, 8 p.m., KSTU Channel 13, premiered Aug. 30)

A top-notch Los Angeles criminal law firm led by "Alias'" Victor Gerber wins cases by manipulating the media, from appearing on news talk shows to how best presen defendant to the cameras. This unrealistic but flashy crime drama is souped up with typically dazzling special effects like "CSI" but it doesn't show how real cases are tried.

Kidnapped (Drama, 9 p.m., KSL Channel 5, premieres Wednesday)

Yet another kidnapping serial, this time involving a crafty teen-age boy who was swiped as part of some bigger scheme. It turns out the teen has some ideas of his own to outwit the kidnappers while his family desperately works with police and a kidnapping expert (Jeremy Sisto). As uninvolving as that other kidnapping thriller (see "Vanished"), but a fine cast is at work here, including Oscar winner Timothy Hutton and Dana Delany ("China Beach").

Spotlight

Shark (Drama, 9 p.m., KUTV Channel 2, premieres Thursday)

In this year of movie actors jumping to television (Liotta, Sally Field, Virginia Madsen), the most exciting is seeing James Woods chew up the scenery in this legal drama.

He plays a conniving, hard-driven defense attorney who changes sides to become a deputy district attorney with a crew of rookies to help him.

The sole reason to see "Shark" is for Woods' superlative acting from beginning to end. If there is a series worthy of his manic performance, it's this one, with a character almost tailor made for this Oscar-nominated actor. Woods said it's the best material to come across his desk in a long time.

"Television is more sophisticated, more dynamic, more gut-wrenching to me today than the movies," he said. "I chose this job for no other reason other than it was the best thing I've read in 10 years, period."

Big Day (Comedy, 7 p.m., KTVX Channel 4, premieres Oct. 5)

Mix "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" with "24" and you come up with this look at a nervous young couple pulling off their wedding ceremony. The jokes were conventional, and the cast isn't that memorable. And does anyone really remember liking their wedding day? But the premise has promise if they would just turn up the gags.

'Till Death (Comedy, 7 p.m., KSTU Channel 13, premiered Sept. 7)

This could challenge "Twenty Good Years" and its thong-wearing Lithgow for worst new series of the fall. "Everybody Loves Raymond's" Brad Garrett stars in his own comedy about a long-time married couple grappling with the giddy newlyweds next door. The result is an unfunny and bitter half hour as coarse and whiny as the grumpy couple. I say it's time for a divorce.

Notes From the Underbelly (Comedy, 7:30 p.m., KTVX Channel 4, premieres Oct. 5)

Your first pregnancy is supposed to be life's greatest and most exciting journey - except for the nausea, the birthing classes, the lack of energy and growing to the size of a pumpkin. This half-hour serial about a young couple expecting their first baby just didn't bring on enough laughs. In the pilot, director Barry Sonnenfeld ("The Addams Family," "RV") doesn't seem to mine what's really a treasure trove of comic possibilities.

Happy Hour (Comedy, 7:30 p.m., KSTU Channel 13, premiered Sept. 7)

A swinging single with a penchant for 4 p.m. martinis befriends a new roommate he wants to tutor in the ways of the Rat Pack lifestyle. The comic riffs are sub par, but there's good casting and promising characters. Let's just hope Luck Be a Lady tonight for future episodes of this new sitcom.

Six Degrees (Drama, 9 p.m., KTVX Channel 4, premieres Thursday)

The lives of six strangers intersect in this tale of life, love and mystery in the Big Apple. Yet somehow that sounds more interesting than what really comes up in the pilot to this character drama so far populated with awfully average people. And like any typical drama, there will be those you love and those you hate. It's just I never thought they would all lead tedius lives.

Spotlight

Ugly Betty (Drama , 7 p.m., KTVX Channel 4, Premieres Sept. 22)

The first Spanish telenovela comes to American television in the form of this charming, often hilarious serial about a frumpy-looking woman (played with gusto by America Ferrera) who tries to get a job at a fashion magazine.

Like the premise, this is a refreshing and likeable comedy drama whose beauty is skin deep.

"It's about, yes, the fish out of water - probably the person that is not conventional in the way they look or the way they talk but that they are incredibly smart and hard workers and, of course, they get ahead in life using that," said executive producer Salma Hayek. "And everybody wants to see these kinds of stories. But at the same time, she's not a victim. She has a sense of humor about herself."

And yes, we are laughing. Now there's something Betty can be proud of.

Men in Trees (Drama, 8 p.m., KTVX Channel 4, Premieres Sept. 22)

The theory is that in the Alaskan town of Elmo, the ratio of men to women is 10 to 1. So when self-help relationship guru Marin (Anne Heche) arrives in the rustic town to promote her new book, she ends up trapped there and learns a thing or two about her own relationship. Part "Northern Exposure" and part "Hitch," this show has half the charm of the first and the same comic lethargy of the second.

The Game (Comedy, 7:30 p.m., KUCW Channel 30, premieres Oct. 1)

Football wives and girlfriends get together in this comedy about the other half of pigskin stars who play their own game of one upsmanship, jealousy and envy. The characters are likeable, and the idea is fun, but the jokes were a bit thin and need some polish. With time, there could be potential there for a winning game.

Brothers & Sisters (Drama, 9 p.m., KTVX Channel 4, premieres Sept. 24)

There's a fine line between fine drama and sudsy melodrama, and this one-hour drama about an upper-class family in crisis comes crashing down safely as a soap opera drama. Calista Flockhart comes back to TV after her "Ally McBeal" hit as a conservative talk show host (think of a thin version of Ann Coulter!) who returns home to the conventional daytime soap problems including infidelity, mother-daughter friction and of course, death. Overwrought yet banal. But great actors abound.