Fall TV: Is there anything at all worth following?

Before I go any further, two hearty huzzahs, to Helen Mirren for her Emmy win for "Prime Suspect: The Final Act" and to David Cronenberg for winning the audience award in Toronto for "Eastern Promises" (which will hopefully propel that flick out here to the hinterlands some time in the coming weeks.

Today, however, is all about the good and bad news of fall TV. The good news, at least at my house, is that I've finally entered at least the 20th century and gotten a DVR. I was thrilled to come home from work Thursday night and find that it actually worked and I did indeed have two fresh (and obscenely funny) episodes of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."

The bad news, however, is that I got it at quite possibly the worst possible time. True enough, I mainly got it so I can tape the entire seasons of favorites like "The Office," "Friday Night Lights" (moving to the Friday night graveyard) and "Scrubs" (whenever it actually manages to return.) I'd add "How I Met Your Mother" to that list, but I'm usually home on Monday nights.

But the new networks shows? What a load of meh. Sifting through the debris, and with a big assist from the fine folks at Broadcasting & Cable, here are the only three (or maybe four) new networks shows I'll be tuning in for. (And yes, the season is so bad that I'm lifting my post-"Veronica Mars" CW boycott - at least they tried to offer something new!)

1. "Pushing Daisies"
I'm hardly alone here, since the critics have universally hailed this as the only truly good show coming up this fall (premiering at 8 p.m. Oct 10 on ABC.) I'm a little skeptical that it can sustain the rather wacky premise about a piemaker who can bring people back to life with one touch (but kill them again with two), but Pee-Wee Herman has been cast as a recurring character, so I'm hoping this will be truly askew (at least by network standards.)

2. "Aliens in America"
If there were any justice (and if this actually any good), putting this on Monday nights at 8:30 (starting Oct. 1), right after "Everybody Hates Chris," would give the CW one of the most popular hours on TV. That probably won't happen, but if this sitcom about a Wisconsin family who orders a Norwegian exchange student but instead gets a young Pakistani dude manages to be as genuinely politically correct as it should be, I'll keep tuning on.

3. "Reaper"
A good supernatural comedy on the CW? That means it will get two seasons at most, so enjoy it (if it just doesn't suck) while you can. This show, created by X-Files scribes Tara Butters and Michelle Fazekas and premiering Sept. 25 at 9 p.m., is about a dude who wakes up on his 21st birthday to find out that, at birth, his parents sold his soul to the devil, and now it's time to do his bidding. A little tired, I concede, but Kevin Smith directed the pilot, and word is it actually is pretty funny.

3.5 "Gossip Girl"
Three CW shows? Well, I'm not sure I'll be tuning in to this one because, as I far too often fail to remember, I'm more than a little older than the target audience. I do, however, have a soft spot for trashy teen TV, and Veronica Mars herself is the narrator for this, so I just might give it a chance.

4. "Somebodies"
BET's first scripted series, a sitcom about a group of University of Georgia graduates trying to figure out what to do with their lives, has yet to get a premiere date, but should come some time in October. Springing from a movie made by some dude named Hadjii and with some of the same folks who created "The Bernie Mac Show" behind it, I'm cautiously optomistic this will be worth tuning in for.

And there you have it. I wish there was more I could recommend, but there just isn't. If you want to get much more incisive writing about what to watch (and what to avoid) on the Boob Tube, read Philip Ramati's TV Guy blog. And please do tell me if there are any new and promising network shows that I've somehow missed.

"Angel" season six?

Never one to turn down a promising idea, Joss Whedon has indeed followed up his "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" comics from Dark Horse by overseeing a new series of "Angel" comics from IDW. The series, coming in November, will be called "Angel: After the Fall," and will be overseen by Whedon with Bryan Lynch and Franco Urru, the duo behind "Spike: Shadow Puppets."

Like the Buffy comics, it will pick up right where the TV series left off. Here's a description from Mr. Lynch himself: "Angel and his friends took a stand because he thought it was the right thing to do. They fought the good fight even though they were probably going to lose, even though they were facing insurmountable odds. But that's the thing about insurmountable odds...surmounting them can be quite a bitch. The series begins to tackle the fall-out of Angel's stand, and what it cost everyone near, around and close to him."

Sounds great to me. I've swiped and republished the cover, but you can read the first five pages at Aintitcool by clicking here (since it had the dreaded "exclusive" tag on it, I didn't dare to swipe all five pages.)

It does indeed look cool. And now I'm off to see Neil Jordan's "The Brave One," but only cautiously optomistic about enjoying it. Peace out.