I won’t waste your time or mine.  I only watched fifteen minutes, and I haven’t seen all the new shows yet, but I’m ready to declare Knight Rider the worst new show of the season.

• KITT is now evidentally a Transformer.  He liteterally transforms from a car into a truck at one point (though not for any particular reason.)  Did you see the Transformers movie?  Knight Rider looks like it will have about that level of substance.
• In the overblown command center, one of the perfectly multi-ethnic beautiful people beams, “This just got interesting!”  Evidently, she’s quite pleased that her friends are about to be destroyed by a heat-seeking missile.
• The heroine has a “reason” to strip out of her cocktail dress before the end of act one.  She was still in bra and panties when I gave up on watching.
• The technology strains believability so incredibly far that “cartoon” is not an apt analogy.  The original Knight Rider may have been aimed at twelve-year-old boys.  But the average eight-year old watching this newest incarnation will stand up and yell, “Shyeah! Like THAT could ever happen!”

Sitcoms come in two general flavors: the workplace sitcom, and the family sitcom.  Cheers and Cosby.  30 Rock and Leave It to Beaver.  A recent trend among family sitcoms is the acknowledgment that family structure can be complex in our modern day, too.  Gary Unmarried is an example, featuring Jay Mohr as a newly divorcing father of two attempting to begin a dating life with a client, who has family complexities of her own.

Long story short, it’s a solid B-grade sitcom.  Nothing amazing, but not a waste of your time.  Jay Mohr, as always, delivers the needed charm.  The character quirks are (more than) defined, and the script offers a few solid laughs without being overly joke-y.

Best aspect: The cast.  Flat jokes aren’t oversold.  Characters feel full, even where they are 2-D in the script.  Of course, give some credit to legendary sitcom director James Burrows for his involvement (although he didn’t direct this particular episode.)

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A cynical, smirky rogue solves crime using his nearly inhuman observational skill, which is mistaken for psychic ability. Why yes, that is the premise behind USA’s Psych. But it’s also the pitch for The Mentalist, Tuesdays this fall on CBS. I haven’t been this unimpressed since Medium showed up as Ghost Whisperer.

The pilot episode features moments of highly intelligent writing, as one might expect from Bruno Heller, the man behind HBO’s Rome. You leave your comparisons to Psych behind pretty quickly when the opening draws you in. The depictions of our protagonist going around noticing and noticing are more elegant. The tone is readily dissimilar.

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Good enough. Not good, but good enough.

Are you the kind of viewer who expects a sitcom to deliver a little mindlessness at the end of a long day? Are you the kind of viewer who thinks Arrested Development or 30 Rock asks too much from you? If your TV is on CBS on Mondays at 9:30, you just watched Two and a Half Men, so the answer is very likely yes. If that’s your style, Worst Week will certainly be good enough for you.

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One doesn’t expect much from an awards show. Give me some small feeling of being friends with these people who make movies and TV. Let at least some of the jokes not be lame, maybe have a few entertaining moments, tell me whether my favorites are the favorites of others. I’ll trade you a few hours. But even with the bar set so low, the 60^th Annual failed miserably to clear minimum expectations.

Of course, from the moment producers made the call to give hosting responsibilities to the five nominees in the new category of reality show host, failure was written on the wall. Those personalities promptly proved how unworthy they are of the responsibility (and of having a category) by intentionally opening the show unprepared. Really? Following a major writers’ strike, you’ve chosen to slap that portion of the industry in the face? Their plan tanked, of course. Thanks, at least, for proving that there is a REASON that performers have chosen for centuries to have something prepared before stepping onto stage or screen.

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Privileged is the story of Megan Smith, a journalist struggling because she wants to do REAL journalism instead of fluff. (Yes, we’ve seen that before. It won’t be the last overused story element.) Her boss essentially fires her, but offers to set her up with another employment opportunity, presumably interviewing or writing for an uber-wealthy foundation chairwoman, played by Anne Archer. Archer’s character has two granddaughters, spoiled heiresses. (Even the show points out how often we’ve seen that before.) Grandma offers Megan a super-plush arrangement–room, board, a sweet car, and her days free to pursue her writing—if Megan will tutor the grandkids in the evenings. There’s some other stuff with a down-to-earth prince charming, an estranged sister, etc., but I don’t want to make it sound too much more complex than it is.

Perhaps its because I pay the bills as a professional yuppie larva trainer myself that I connected a bit with this show. Yes, it’s light fare. Lite, even. But, hey, while Privileged may be painting in archetypical characters, it promises to focus on the relationships between those archetypical characters in a worthwhile way. If this is your type of show, Privileged is at least a solid entry in its genre.

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In case you missed it, SNL opened their season with a pretty excellent sketch pointing out how ridiculous it is to compare Sarah Palin and Hilary Clinton as female politicians, and how worthy Palin’s rise to prominence is of ridicule.

Is it me, or did Tina Fey knock it out of the park?  Her performance completely eclipses my previous favorite, Gina Gershon over at Funny or Die.  Tina Fey must have started practicing the impression from the moment they picked Palin.  For a writer turned actor, she really impressed me here.  Now I’m all the more excited for 30 Rock to come back.

The only thing worse than the one-dimensional lady’s man played by Jerry O’Connell is the unbelievable way he suddenly reverses his habits when his staff confronts him. His main antagonist making herself a hypocrite helps slightly, but not enough to make this show worth sitting through.

No, the three-camera sitcom is not dead. But, no, Do Not Disturb won’t revive it.

By the way, in its identity struggle, the sitcom doesn’t know what to do with the laugh track. But one thing I’m certain is NOT the right answer is unenthusiastic, bemused half-laughter at each “joke.” It’s a trend from the last few years that has really confused me. If even the laugh track doesn’t think your show’s any good…

Jerry O’Connell will have to keep trying. His Carpoolers sitcom last year was better. Actually, I’d rather watch old episodes of My Secret Identity. It’s all in a day’s work for Ultra-Man.

Best aspect: I guess there’s a mix of characters here that will keep stories coming. Can you tell I’m reaching?

Worst aspect: Clunky exposition, forced plot, pat ending, lame jokes, staging as smooth as a Disney tween comedy.

Verdict: I knew after about a minute that I wouldn’t be following this show.

Odds of success: FOX is still playing ‘Til Death. They have some desperation for comedy. And anyone willing to waste their time on that might enjoy this. And for a script this unfunny to reach prime time, someone powerful must be rooting for it. But if there’s justice in the universe, Do Not Disturb will crash hard.