Fall TV season preview

Welcome, Fall TV Season, already in progress. Despite myself, and knowing that you will let me down at least as much as you might lift me up, I must admit that the big billboards heralding your big new shows raised in me a childlike rush of anticipation. (Though perhaps it is really the memory of “Get Smart!” I am excited for.)

I notice that you are especially full of cops and lawyers this year — and superheroes, detectives and spies — which means you are also full of criminals. What is up with that, Fall Season? Is it the climate of fear engendered by opportunistic pundits and politicians? Or are you just out of breath for the moment, falling back on what you know, and on Jerry Bruckheimer?

FOR THE RECORD:
‘Mike & Molly’: An article last Sunday previewing the new CBS comedy series “Mike & Molly” identified Chuck Lorre as the creator. Lorre is an executive producer; Mark Roberts is the show’s creator. —

Still, I hope for the best. We are all in this together. (Here’s a partial list.)

Now playing:

“Hellcats” (CW, 9 p.m. Wednesdays) Aly Michalka is a poor girl cheerleading her way through law school. Inspirational dialogue: “We need to mix it up or Memphis Christian kills us at qualifiers.”

“Terriers” ( FX, 10 p.m. Wednesdays) Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James are low-rent PIs tilting at wasps’ nests in San Diego in one of the season’s best new shows.

“Nikita” (CW, 9 p.m. Thursdays) The leggy assassin is back again, this time in the person of Maggie Q, who has a score to settle.

“Outlaw” ( NBC, 10 p.m. Fridays). Bizarre legal drama — comedy? — in which hard-partying conservative Supreme Court Justice Jimmy Smits changes literally overnight into a crusading liberal lawyer.

Up next:

Sunday, Sept. 19

“Boardwalk Empire” ( HBO, 9 p.m.) Martin Scorsese executive-produced and directed the pilot for this brash pocket epic about Atlantic City at the dawn of Prohibition — sort of “Deadwood” meets “The Sopranos,” in its exploration of fact-based crime and place. Created by “Sopranos” vet Terence Winter, with art-house favorite Steve Buscemi as courtly kingpin “Nucky” Thompson. And some nice, old cars.

Monday, Sept. 20

“Mike & Molly” ( CBS, 9:30 p.m.). Sweet, plus-size sitcom features teacher Melissa McCarthy and policeman Billy Gardell as large folks out to lose pounds and find love, not necessarily in that order. After the fat jokes thin out, something substantial may be revealed. Chuck Lorre ( “The Big Bang Theory”) is the creator.

“The Event” (NBC, 9 p.m.). Jason Ritter is a Regular Guy caught up in a fractured flashback that points toward oncoming heavy strangeness. Blair Underwood is the president of the United States, and Laura Innes a mysterious prisoner whose mystery might be guessed — indeed, I am guessing — from the fact that creator Nick Wauters also has the sci-fi “The 4400” on his IMDB page.

“Lone Star” ( FOX, 9 p.m.) Imprudent Texas con man James Wolk lives dual lives: responsible married man in Houston, hang-loose boyfriend in Midland, but torn also between oilman Jon Voight as the father he never had and grifter David Keith as the father he did. Sibling rivalries suggest Shakespeare — or do I mean “Dallas”?

“ Hawaii Five-0” (CBS 10 p.m.,). Following iconic Jack Lord into the shoes of Aloha State supercop Steve McGarrett, Alex O’Loughlin has big hair to fill. Hyperventilating, trigger-happy remake of late-midcentury TV favorite makes the original seem like cinéma vérité. Along for the tire-squealing ride are Bizarro versions of Danno ( Scott Caan), Chin Ho ( Daniel Dae Kim) and Kono — no longer Zulu, but … Grace Park!

“Chase” (NBC, 10 p.m.) Truth in advertising. Kelli Giddish, Cole Hauser and Jesse Metcalfe are Texas-based U.S. Marshals tracking fugitives. Running and jumping leads to hitting and kicking. Giddish wears cowboy boots and so is called “Boots.” Jerry Bruckheimer gives this gift to you.

Tuesday, Sept. 21

“Detroit 1-8-7” ( ABC, 10 p.m.) “Sopranos” survivor Michael Imperioli crosses from the wrong arm to the long arm of the law in this admirably multiethnic shaky-cam police drama given to stating the obvious. (“We need to find these kids before he does.”) Detroit offers novel atmosphere, but it’s largely familiar stuff — though not without potential. Includes a hot coroner (see “Body of Proof,” below) who skates roller derby.

“Raising Hope” (Fox, 9 p.m.) Greg Garcia (“My Name Is Earl”) takes out the white trash again, as Lucas Neff becomes a father after a one-night stand with a fleeing murderess. Martha Plimpton, Garret Dillahunt and Cloris Leachman are the family who form the village it takes to raise a child.

“Running Wilde” (Fox. 9:30 p.m.) “Arrested Development”-style comedy from people who brought you “Arrested Development.” Will Arnett (co-creating with Mitch Hurwitz and Jim Vallely) is an insensitive rich dodo in love with tree-hugging childhood crush Keri Russell. Stefania Owen is a little girl named Puddle, Peter Serafinowicz a funny competitive neighbor. Won’t stop you missing the Bluths, but you may laugh.

Wednesday, Sept. 22

“Better With You” (ABC, 8:30 p.m.). A sparky cast (including Joanna Garcia, Debra Jo Rupp and Kurt Fuller) enlivens this not wholly predictable multi-camera sitcom focusing on three linked couples (two parents, their daughters and respective menfolk, one a longtime live-in boyfriend, the other an overnight fiancé). New kid on the ABC Wednesday night domestic-hilarity block.

“Undercovers” (NBC, 8 p.m.) J.J. Abrams is the marquee name attached to this Nick & Nora action-comedy about married spies-turned-caterers ( Boris Kodjoe, Gugu Mbatha-Raw), pulled back into the game by Major Dad Gerald McRaney. That both leads are black sadly still rates as news in 2010.

“The Whole Truth” (ABC, 10 p.m.) Bruckheimer again. Maura Tierney and Rob Morrow play opposing counsel and old friends: She prosecutes, he defends; they grab dinner later. Not knowing for whom to root is the original twist.

“The Defenders” (CBS, 10 p.m.) I find something oddly comforting in the durability of the career of gruff Jim Belushi, who here joins smiling Jerry O’Connell in a strenuously rollicking legal drama about a pair of flamboyant Las Vegas attorneys. Not exactly credible, yet not beyond hope.

Thursday, Sept. 23

“$#*! My Dad Says” (CBS, 8:30 p.m.) The first and quite possibly last series to be based on a Twitter feed stars the normally amusing William Shatner as a dad who says $#*!. (As in “crazy $#*!”) His blogging, live-in son has been recast since the pilot, but I’ve seen the pilot — directed by James Burrows, inevitably — and casting wasn’t the problem.

“My Generation” (ABC, 8 p.m.). Fictional documentary series revisits nine members of the high school class of 2000 (“the punk,” “the wallflower,” “the beauty queen,” “the overachiever,” “the nerd,” etc.) to find — you might want to sit down now — that things do not always work out as planned. A sort of “St. Elmo’s Fire” for those young enough to feel nostalgia for the millennium.

“Outsourced” (NBC, 9:30 p.m.) Ken Kwapis of “The Office” is behind this series, based on a 2006 indie flick, though “Community” is the NBC Thursday night institution it more closely resembles. Ben Rappaport plays the Midwest man sent overseas to oversee the call center of a novelty company, where Asian actors better known in Britain sell plastic vomit by phone to Americans.

Friday, Sept. 24

“Blue Bloods” (CBS, 10 p.m.) Steely-eyed Tom Selleck, screaming integrity even with dyed hair, is chief both of the NYPD and a complicated family of crime-stoppers; it’s hard work, either way. Donnie Wahlberg is his No. 1 Son, a detective who does not stand on ceremony.

Tuesday, Sept. 28

“No Ordinary Family” (ABC, 8 p.m.). Former “Shield” Michael Chiklis finally gets to be a nice if not normal guy in this surprisingly downbeat drama about a family that gains superhero powers. Dad Chiklis is like Superman; harried Mom Julie Benz is as fast as the Flash; their learning disabled son becomes a brain. Still, says telepathic teenage daughter, “I think I liked us better when we were just dysfunctional.”

Wednesday, Sept. 29

“Law & Order: Los Angeles” (NBC, 10 p.m.) Dick Wolf’s East Coast variation on a theme by Jack Webb — just the facts, man — opens a franchise in its spiritual home. Skeet Ulrich, Terrence Howard and Alfred Molina get it done.

Friday, Oct. 1

“The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret” (IFC, 10 p.m.). David Cross is the schlub at the center of (and co-creator of) this transatlantic comedy of panic, as a clueless salaryman mistakenly sent (by Will Arnett) to sell an energy drink to quizzical Brits. Blake Harrison (“The Inbetweeners”) and Sharon Horgan (“Pulling”) bedevil and support him, respectively.

Coming soon:

Monday, Oct. 11

“Carlos” ( Sundance Channel, 9 p.m.). Airing over three consecutive nights, this multilingual miniseries, directed by bona fide French art-movie director Olivier Assayas, re-creates the life of celebrity terrorist Carlos the Jackal ( Edgar Ramirez) with grace and speed and a feel for period that stays subtle. It’s a lot of time to commit to a jerk, but as pure filmmaking, the best TV biopic in memory.

Friday, Oct. 15

“School Pride” (NBC, 8 p.m.) Sort of “Extreme Makeover: School Edition,” but students, parents and teachers do the work, guided by an interior designer, comedian, journalist and SWAT commander. (I don’t quite get that part.) Cheryl Hines, from “ Curb Your Enthusiasm,” is an executive producer.

Sunday, Oct. 17

“Luther” ( BBC America, 10 p.m.) Dark detective drama with Idris Elba hunting psychos and serial killers as he battles his inner demons and pines, as so many TV lawmen seem to nowadays, for his estranged wife. High-style unpleasantness is balanced by nicely matter-of-fact performances from Elba, boss Saskia Reeves and Ruth Wilson as his personal sociopathic human Tinkerbelle.

Monday, Oct. 25

“Dead Set” (IFC, 11:59 p.m.). British-import zombie show, from journalist-comedian Charlie Brooker, slips in just ahead of AMC’s “The Walking Dead.” Satirical, because zombies always are — the series is set in and around the U.K. “Big Brother” house — and profane, because it’s British. But not really a comedy. Tense and gross, rather, in the tradition.

Sunday, Oct. 31

“The Walking Dead” (AMC, 10 p.m.). The deliberate pacing that’s become AMC’s stock in trade would seem naturally to lead to zombies, the slowest ex-people on Earth. Frank Darabont ( “The Shawshank Redemption”) directs from the Robert Kirkman comic, with Andrew Lincoln as the cop searching for his family among the flesh-eaters.

To be announced:

“Body of Proof” (ABC) Hot coroner Dana Delaney, sidelined by an accident from a brilliant surgical career, cuts up corpses for cops, then solves their cases for them.

“Secret Millionaire” (ABC) New in network only, this show bears the same title and working parts as a Fox series from 2008, itself based on a British series. A rich person goes incognito among the poor, “searching for unsung heroes who need his help,” which is to say, money. Says one multimillionaire, walking L.A.’s Skid Row, “Quite honestly, this neighborhood’s pretty depressing.”