That's the highlight of the evening - but don't forget that there's also a new episode of Mad Men.

The big competition at 9 p.m. Wednesday's kicks off for real tonight, with Private Practice and Bionic Woman premiering opposite Criminal Minds and Gossip Girl. Dirty Sexy Money and Life also hit the airwaves at 10 p.m. Pushing Daisies doesn't debut until next week.

Update: I started watching the second Back to You, and I'm not finishing it. Too stale and forced.

Check out Reaper, even if it's not on your radar, and record the cast-shufflin' House.

Remember the rules - no spoilers until a show has completed airing on the West Coast, and no mention of scenes from upcoming episodes.

I'm going to do my darndest, though I wish PBS hadn't been scheduled it during season premiere week.

Talk about the Emmys, about Curb Your Enthusiasm, about what you did instead of watching Tell Me You Love Me ...

Update: I don't know, guys. It's a slow-paced show, but I think Tell Me is worthwhile. I think a good chunk of the stories are legit.

As for the Emmys, I'm not one given to grand pronouncements, but I'm sure that was the worst Emmy broadcast I've ever watched. It was awkward, strained and often grim. The highs weren't that high, and the lows were pretty darn low.

Writeups by Variety staff on the five broadcast networks can be found here. In addition, we have a section called TV Fall-Stars that focuses on 20 individuals or combos that have the highest expectations or the most at stake in the upcoming season.

Fewer than a million viewers tuned in for the series premiere of HBO's Tell Me You Love Me, according to John Dempsey of Variety.com.

* * *

ABC's "Cavemen" was not popular at all among the TV critics previewing the fall 2007 pilots, but at Season Pass, I try to point out the show's saving graces.

Originally published May 5, 2006

[I saw United 93 today. If you prefer to skip the following, I understand.]
Continue reading...

Here's a good James Gray feature for anyone who is interested, from Dennis Lim of the New York Times. Gray's We Own the Night comes out in a month.

Mr. Gray's first film since "The Yards" in 2000 got a decidedly mixed reception at the Cannes Film Festival in May. An early screening for buyers resulted in a bidding war, said Marc Butan, the president of 2929 Productions and a producer of the film. Sony Pictures eventually acquired it for $11 million. (It is set to open Oct. 12, on more than 2,000 screens, compared with 150 for "The Yards.") But when it came to the critics, as tends to be the case with Mr. Gray, things got more complicated.

In a recent interview in Manhattan Mr. Gray said: "Apparently I'm the dramatic version of Jerry Lewis. Someone wrote that I'm the object of Gallic fetish." ...

Curb Your Enthusiasm and Tell Me You Love Me rebegin and begin tonight.

Update: I have a brief post about the Curb premiere at Season Pass. Feel free to go over there to offer your comments agreeing or disagreeing with my smaller or larger points.

Tell Me You Love Me has my interest - I didn't love it, but I do want to see where it goes. I definitely like the idea of a serious show about sex and relationships.

Such a rich show ... frankly, it's becoming kind of epic.

The killer line tonight was, "I don't like you this way." It informs so much of the show, including the way the characters feel about themselves. But there was so much else that was great.

Did you notice good ol' Ernie Douglas in this one?

I haven't had time to read through this yet, but their choice for No. 1 is a great one - perhaps even better than the more obvious option, which took the No. 2 spot. (Thanks to Dodger Thoughts commenter D4P for the link.)