TV

This strange TV season, still suffering from last winter's writers strike, will produce more new watchable shows in winter and spring than it did in the fall.

There's a bit of the optimism of a TV lover in this list, arranged by series premiere dates. While two of the shows are returning series, some of the new ones have been available to critics only in promotional clips. Nonetheless, every single one is fresh and out of the ordinary.

If you don't find a couple of keepers, you should unplug your TV.

   - Jonathan Storm, Inquirer TV critic

The United States of Tara (Showtime; premiered last Sunday). Box up the Emmy and save it for Toni Collette, who plays mom and housewife Tara and her multiple personalities, including those of a slutty teenager and a redneck man.

It will take an episode or two to become hooked on this fascinating family comedy/drama from Steven Spielberg and Diablo Cody (scriptwriter for the movie Juno) that treats all its characters - even the ones who emerge from Tara's subconscious - with depth and care.

Lost (ABC; returned Wednesday). With just two seasons (16 episodes each) to go, the Lost producers are broadening the palette of this gorgeous show, with separate stories, in separate geographical and temporal locations, following castaways, the supposedly rescued, and even some folks who once upon a time were dead.

Rabid fans spend hours on-line parsing every nuance, and even the writers have said it might be hard for newcomers to the show to get up to speed.

But the confusion can be delicious, and isn't it also the point? The show is called Lost.

Dollhouse (Fox; premieres Feb. 13). Combining with the restart of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, this breathlessly awaited series from Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Joss Whedon tops a solid night of sci-fi that might lure viewers back to TV on Friday nights. (Or at least inspire them to watch their TiVo'd episodes over the weekend, which now counts in the ratings.)

Eliza Dushku stars as one of a group of operatives who are programmed to perform amazing capers, only to have all memories of their derring-do (as well as their original personalities) erased when they return to the high-tech cocoon run by a modern-day Dragon Lady and her amoral genius minions.

After Sarah segues to hiatus, Prison Break returns April 17 on Fridays for its final episodes. One critic, at least, is still hooked on its exciting foolishness.

Breaking Bad (AMC; returns March 9). Bryan Cranston won a surprise but justly deserved Emmy for his portrayal of a science-teacher nebbish who turns drug dealer to provide for his family after he learns he has terminal cancer.

AMC president Charlie Collier promises "bolder and more surprising storylines," but it is wit that sets this show apart. Cranston seasons the desperation and confusion of a man in horrid circumstances with just the right touch of the self-deprecating humor that powered Hal, the Malcolm in the Middle dad.

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (HBO; premieres March 29). A breath of sweet, humid fresh air blows in gently from Botswana in this adaptation of Alexander McCall Smith's popular books.

Philadelphian Jill Scott plays Precious Ramotswe, who parlays her fabulous inheritance (180 cows) into a new career, and since she's the only female detective in Botswana, she's the best.

The mysteries are intriguing, but the real joy of this show comes in its refreshing portrayal of an African country with love and gentle humor.

Masterpiece: Little Dorrit (PBS; premieres March 29). An eight-hour Dickensian delight, this one stars an impressive newcomer (Claire Foy) and comes with all the usual slick 19th-century trappings that go with PBS/BBC treatments of one of history's best novelists.

Andrew Davies, whose rendition of Bleak House with Gillian Anderson was one of 2005-06's best TV shows, has turned his talents to this weighty tome, and the result promises to be addictively entertaining.

The Unusuals (ABC; premieres April 8). The title refers to offbeat cases and the police who investigate them in this New York cop show that teams Amber Tamblyn (Joan of Arcadia), Harold Perrineau (Lost), and Adam Goldberg, who has guest-starred on everything from Friends to NYPD Blue to Medium but hasn't had a lot of luck as a series regular.

The producers promise humor with their bloody corpses and devastated rape victims. We will take them at their word.

Harper's Island (CBS; premieres April 9). Harry Hamlin plays everybody's Uncle Marty, but that's about it for the star power in this murder mystery with horror undertones. Big names won't sign to a show that kills at least one character a week.

It's a big wedding on the island outside Seattle, with the poor orphan boy marrying the gorgeous rich girl, who's still being pursued by an old lover, and - who knows? - maybe a murdering maniac, too. His/her first victim becomes fish food after an unfortunate encounter with a boat propeller.

The show ends after 13 episodes, when all will be revealed.

Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire (Comedy Central; premieres April 9). The title only hints at the hilarity of this series, as crazy as anything on TV this century.

A screwy cross between The Office and Xena, Warrior Princess, the show focuses on a band of long-ago losers who must prevail in the battle against the evil Chancellor Dongalor. Yes, there is a sophomoric double entendre there (as well as almost everywhere else on the show), but that's just the glossy surface of a series that will go anywhere for laughs, and find them.

The final two series, both from Fox, have no firm premiere dates:

Glee Goofy kids find redemption in a sparkling series from Ryan Murphy, creator of FX's smarmy Nip/Tuck, as the ambitious new director of the high school show choir who will not be distracted from his mission of excellence.

Murphy brings none of the cynicism and depravity of his cable show to this one, which features a couple of young Broadway stars and production numbers, and some very well-known tunes, in every episode.

But there's also little of the squeaky-clean phoniness of High School Musical in this sweet and straight-ahead series, even if it does examine the age-old problem of whether the football star can work with the stage geeks.

Osbournes: Reloaded. Everybody in that terribly dysfunctional reality-show rock-and-roll family we saw on MTV seems to have gotten his or her act together. And they've taken it to this hybrid game/sketch comedy/variety show that seems genuinely funny and not at all exploitive.

Told you this season was strange.