TV Daily

Prime Pick

Photo: NBC

If you took Seth Cohen from "The OC," put him to work as a techie geek in a consumer electronics store and then got him tangled up in some high-level spy activity, replete with car chases and super-hot spy babes, you'd end up with "Chuck" (premieres at 8 p.m. EDT on NBC), a dramedy that's really more of a comedy than a drama. But maybe that's just how it feels when nobody is getting drunk and falling off cliffs. "OC" creator Josh Schwartz has his hands full with two pilots airing this fall (the other is CW's moody-rich-teen soap "Gossip Girl"), a fact that doesn't bode well for either show, particularly considering that "The OC" itself careened off a cliff after its second season. Despite a pilot episode that never really surpasses mildly amusing, "Chuck" does have a likable cast, a reasonably interesting set-up and lots of potential for conspiracies and corruption and intrigue. And the enemy forces working against it? The demon dandies of "Dancing With the Stars," airing on ABC in the same time slot.

-- H.H.

Also…

CBS's "Big Bang Theory" premieres at 8:30 p.m. EDT, the second season of NBC's "Heroes" premieres at 9 p.m. EDT, while over on VH1, a master of slick moves is crowned in the season finale of "The Pick-up Artist" (9 p.m. EDT). Meet the "sexiest 'Bachelor' ever" when ABC's long-running swoonfest "The Bachelor" premieres at 9:30 p.m. EDT. NBC's "Journeyman," a drama about a time traveler played by "Rome's" Kevin McKidd, premieres at 10 p.m. EDT. And Part 2 of Ken Burns' seven-part documentary series on World War II, "The War," airs at 8 p.m. EDT on PBS (check local listings).

On the talk shows

Contributors: Megan Doll, Heather Havrilesky, Eryn Loeb, Amy Reiter

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