TV is the new reading

Networks’ fall seasons are off to a great start

There’s often a space between waking up in the morning and having that first cup of coffee. For me, that’s been like the space between the beginning of the fall season and last week’s premieres.

ABC’s “Stay at Home Week” was nearly as compelling as NBC’s appointment television a decade ago, but Christmas came early on the other networks, too. Here's a few of the more caffeinated pick-me-ups from this past week or so:

Chuck – The second season of the geektastic secret agent show blew open with life-threatening bad guys, gunplay, ambushes and oh yes – an upgraded Intersect. The Intersect is a zillion national security images that was inadvertently fused in the brain of mild-mannered electronics salesman Chuck Bartowski, so now he’s a hapless superspy. He gets support from CIA and NSA operatives as well as his friends in order to thwart international espionage and, well, save the world. “Chuck” airs at 7 p.m. on NBC.

Life – NBC’s high-atmosphere detective fiction plays out in a second season of “Life.” Det. Charlie Crews, wrongly imprisoned for 12 years, was given his life back and then some. He got a $50 million settlement with the City of Los Angeles and a chance to resume his duties as detective. He brings a different perspective to his work now, and a focus on solving the crime that put him in jail in the first place. Throughout he maintains a whimsical attitude that keeps his financial adviser, his partner and his supervisor on their toes, and helps keep him sane through some of the troubling cases he confronts. “Life” airs Fridays at  9 p.m. on NBC.

Pushing Daisies – This show’s return last week was like the sun coming up. Ned the Piemaker operates the Pie Hole in Couer d’ Couers. His life is unremarkable except for the fact that if he touches something that is dead, it comes back to life.   If he touches it again, it dies again, this time forever. And if he fails to touch it again within a minute, something else dies, too.

This rather macabre situation is enhanced by the love of his life, Charlotte “Chuck” Charles, who he reanimated in the first season and who he can never touch again. He also works with a private investigator who he helps to solve murders. This entire story is told amidst the most beautiful art direction and some of the most inventive and wickedly arch character development on the box. “Pushing Daisies” airs at 7 p.m. Wednesdays on ABC.

Dirty Sexy Money – The antics of the Darlings, the richest family on the planet, continue unimpeded by any stock or credit crisis as family attorney Nick George deals with a spot of arson to cover a death in the family, his wife smooching an heir, his former girlfriend turning up nude for an office call on her way to sabotaging a family rival she’s also currently sleeping with, and the family matriarch getting hauled in on suspicion of his father’s murder. It’s all go with the Darlings on “Dirty Sexy Money,” airing at 9 p.m. Wednesdays on ABC.

Criminal Minds – Joe Mantegna hasn’t convinced me he’s in charge of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit yet, but fortunately all of the other characters have stepped up in the wake of the vacuum left by Mandy Patinkin’s sudden and impolitic departure. The explosive cliffhanger led to some superior investigation and the followups have been just as strong as ever. That and I’m a sucker for profiler shows. “Criminal Minds” airs at 8 p.m. Wednesdays on CBS.

Other great shows debuting shortly and worth a look are the British import “Life on Mars,” airing tonight at 9 p.m. on ABC, and the new Christian Slater vehicle “My Own Worst Enemy,” debuting 9 p.m. Monday on NBC.