Fall TV Warning Part 4

Parts 1, 2, and 3 are--well, they're right underneath this post!

Hostages: Your tolerance for this may depend on how ready you are to embrace a show in which Dylan McDermott is a hotshot super-cool guy with all the answers. He is an FBI agent who holds a surgeon's (Toni Colette) family hostage and tries to force her to botch an operation on the POTUS (that's the Prez, for all you non-insider types). This looks like a movie premise, not a series premise, and here I must confess that while back in Part 1 I said I was forming these opinions based on the previews alone, without any outside influence, I DID learn this week that "Hostages" is designed as a 15-episode event (though of course they have plans to continue it if it does well." So I'm no longer thinking, "How are they gonna stretch this for a whole season?" No, now I'm thinking, "How are they gonna stretch this for 15 episodes?"

The Blacklist: Another show with a slick Uberdude with all the answers. In this case, though, the role is made for someone with charisma, and James Spader looks to be having a great time in this Usual Suspects meets Silence of the Lambs deal. He's a villain who turns himself in and offers to help catch the most sought-after criminals in the world...but he will only deal with a particular fresh-outta-the-academy-type female agent.

This could be an entertaining program, but unfortunately, after watching a good deal of the 49ers/Seahawks on "Sunday Night Football" on NBC, I'm already sick of it. Maybe on Netflix next year?

Tomorrow People: I hate to be so dismissive of the CW, but I lost interest halfway through the 6-minute trailer, and I really only remember half of what it was about. I don't see much point in refreshing my memory. This is evidence of the show's blandness, my prejudice...or both.

Welcome to the Family: Carlos from Desperate Housewives (OK, he has a name, and it's Ricardo Chivera) and Mike O'Malley meet not-so-cute, then discover they're gonna be in-laws. This generic-looking comedy might give me some more of those patented Carlos "incredulous" takes , but I think I'd enjoy them a lot more if they were reacting to Eva Longoria in a nightie than to Mike O'Malley in...anything.