The new shows

Stay tuned all season long for continuing sagas of kidnappings, bank robberies, murders, even reunions of third-graders

BY DIANE WERTS | Newsday Staff Writer

September 17, 2006

NBC's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" is the latest from hit "West Wing" writer Aaron Sorkin. (NBC Photo)

SUNDAY

THE GAME

CW, 8:30 p.m. (Oct. 1)

Tia Mowry becomes a pro football player's significant other in this "Girlfriends" spinoff. We become further persuaded the comic cleverness of "Everybody Hates Chris" is some fifth-network fluke.

BROTHERS & SISTERS

ABC, 10 p.m. (Sept. 24)

Calista Flockhart makes a winning return to TV as a winsome talking head who comes home to her contentious California family when she takes the conservative slot on a new tube shoutfest. But ABC's drama is no political debate. Those differences serve as a real-life reflection of personal conflicts among siblings (Rachel Griffiths as a liberal working mom), parents (uptight matriarch Sally Field) and colleagues (working in the family's mysteriously failing fruit company). Could this be the smart adult soap we'd adore getting addicted to?

MONDAY

THE CLASS

CBS, 8 p.m. (Sept. 18)

Perhaps life really is like third grade. Twentysomething schoolmates reconnect to find out in this uneven ensemble sitcom from "Friends" co-creator David Crane. Flashes of that hit's charm give way to snippy shrillness as laugh-happy punch lines overshadow underlying heart.

VANISHED

Fox, 9 p.m. (Premiered Aug. 21)

Kidnap saga No. 1. Or is it? When a senator's wife disappears, FBI agents (Gale Harold, Ming-Na) investigate a confusing scenario; the victim's extended family members dissemble; "age-old" conspiracies surface; and we wonder if this kitchen-sink collection of incidents will add up to anything.

HEROES

NBC, 9 p.m. (Sept. 25)

Everyday people around the world find themselves flying, time-traveling and walking through fire. What's the story behind their sudden powers? And do they even want them? Appealing actors in strangely interconnected tales play juicy enough to keep even non-fantasy-fans watching this unique (if sometimes heavy-handed) look at "human potential."

RUNAWAY

The CW, 9 p.m. (Sept. 25)

With Dad (Donnie Wahlberg) accused of murder, Mom (Leslie Hope) and kids join him on the lam, assuming new identities as he strives to clear himself. Broody teens share the story with adult concerns and mystery action. The WB lives!