The Big Bang Theory
A lighthearted, laugh-inducing sitcom with a fresh spin on a familiar setup: two roommates who are thrown into a tizzy by their desirable new neighbor. The fresh spin, of course, is that this plays like a (slightly more) staged version of Beauty and the Geek(s). Roseanne vet Johnny Galecki plays Leonard and Jim Parsons is hilarious as Sheldon — they\'re smart, they\'re awkward, and they\'re utterly likable. Kaley Cuoco costars as Penny, the lovely blonde object of desire next door. — Nina Hämmerling Smith


The Bronx Is Burning
Back in the summer of 1977, the Son of Sam serial killer was on the loose in New York, and a devastating blackout led to arson, looting and chaos in the streets. Against this turbulent backdrop, the New York Yankees experienced a tumultuous season of their own. Three decades since that unforgettable baseball summer, ESPN brought it all back in this eight-part miniseries. John Turturro is fantastic as pugnacious Yankees manager Billy Martin, who at one point had to be held back from punching his star player, the arrogant slugger Reggie Jackson (Daniel Sunjata). Oliver Platt is Martin\'s nemesis and boss, George Steinbrenner. It\'s a gripping three-way battle of titanic egos. — Nina Hämmerling Smith


Chuck
Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levy) is arguably NBC\'s new face of comedy. The computer techie becomes the concern of both the NSA and the CIA when their intel is accidentally downloaded to Chuck\'s brain. Now that he\'s government property, agents John Casey (Adam Baldwin) and hottie Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski) must keep a watchful eye on him during their precarious secret missions. The show drops shout-outs to Comic-Con, video games and Princess Leia, so it\'s a perfect lead-in to the network\'s Heroes. But all viewers can relate to Chuck\'s everyman issues as the unattached good-guy (whose chemistry with Strahovski is palpable) and the underappreciated geek stuck working for "the man" at a big-box retail store. — Aimee Deeken


Damages
One of the breakaway hits of the summer, Damages is the rare example of a legal drama that actually breaks that venerable television mold with great success. Driven by a stellar cast that\'s headed up by Glenn Close as ruthless attorney Patty Hewes, Ted Danson as the scandal-scarred Arthur Frobisher and Rose Byrne as Patty\'s protégée Ellen Parsons, the show\'s controversial first season was equally shocking and riveting. — Nina Hämmerling Smith


Dirty Sexy Money
A bona fide guilty pleasure that unabashedly embraces what it is. Dirty Sexy Money centers around Nick George, played by Six Feet Under star Peter Krause and tells the tale of an idealistic lawyer attempting to manage the ridiculously wealthy Darling family: patriarch Tripp (Donald Sutherland); his wife Letitia (Jill Clayburgh); their children, the "professional divorcée" Karen (Natalie Zea), the "principled politician" Patrick (Billy Baldwin), the flawed "man of God" Brian (Glenn Fitzgerald), and the "well-behaved twins" Jeremy (Seth Gabel) and Juliet (Samaire Armstrong). A family saga with all the drama of modern life and all the sordid appeal of classics like Dallas and Dynasty. — Nina Hämmerling Smith


Gossip Girl
This deliciously juicy new CW series has combined the upper-class secrets of The O.C. with the unsupervised and super-sexual teens of Cruel Intentions. Pit all that money, fashion, alcohol and parties against the non-Upper East Siders and you\'ve got enough competition, backstabbing and moral confliction to fill Page Six. Not surprisingly, these high-schoolers are unbelievably gorgeous but have enough flaws to scar those who come within five feet. Blake Lively, who plays troubled-yet-desirable Serena, has stepped up her game since The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and convinces audiences with her quiet demeanor and ability to rise above the rest. What\'s more, a mysterious narrator (voiced by Kristen Bell) named Gossip Girl not only keeps us all in the loop about these lovelorn adolescents but leads us into temptation each week. — Megan Cherkezian


Mad Men
From Sopranos scribe Matthew Weiner comes this scintillating, sexed-up period piece about the advertising industry\'s watershed era, the early 1960s. AMC\'s first foray into original programming, Mad Men takes an uninhibited look at what life on Madison Avenue was really like for the ad men, their mistresses, their steno staff and their lonely housewives at home. Newcomer Jon Hamm stars as Don Draper, a chiseled, sharp-as-tacks ad man with a lot of dark secrets — and even more mistresses; meanwhile, his sometimes-smarmy, usually alcoholic coworkers and their not-quite-demure secretaries dabble in adultery and unabashed ambition. Noir, often funny and always unflinching, this sleeper success examines everything from feminism to anti-Semitism, all against a backdrop of material excess, impeccable art direction and sumptuous costume design. — Michelle Heller


Pushing Daisies
For a show that\'s all about death, this most creative entrant to the fall 2007 TV season manages to leave viewers smiling and cheerful. Loner Ned (Lee Pace) is a talented pie-baker whose touch brings the dead back to life. It\'s the latter gift that leads to his partnership with a PI (Chi McBride). Though he was able to bring his murdered childhood sweetheart (the quirky Chuck, played by Anna Friel) back to life, Ned can\'t have his pie and eat it, too: One more touch and she\'s gone forever. Rooting for the socially awkward but quick-witted Ned is easy, as he navigates two divergent lives, and watching the series\' cast of other eccentric characters (including Kristin Chenoweth\'s Olive, who pines for Ned) against such a lavish, whimsical backdrop offers a fairy-tale escape from the muted, everyday grind. — Aimee Deeken

Samantha Who?
Most people think of Samantha Who? as Christina Applegate\'s long-awaited small-screen return, but the quirky sitcom also boasts one of the best casts of the 2007 TV season. Jean Smart, Barry Watson, Jennifer Esposito and Gilmore Girls\' Melissa McCarthy all make their presence known as screwball characters. The premise is simple: A girl loses her memory and is shocked to learn about the horrible person she used to be. She sets out to right her past wrongs and figure out who she wants to be. The end result is a laugh riot, which is why this show was one of the first of the year to be picked up for a full season. — Adam Schubak