New and returning TV shows

THERE'S more on this winter than British drama.

Here's a look at some of what's new, and returning, over the next several weeks:

New: "Deception" (10 p.m., NBC10), a soapy thriller in the style of ABC's "Revenge," focuses on an heiress' suspicious death and the childhood friend (Meagan Good), now a cop, who goes undercover with the dead woman's wealthy, wildly dysfunctional family. Victor Garber plays the dead woman's father, Tate Donovan her older brother.

* Returning: "Switched at Birth" (8 p.m., ABC Family). The network's billing this, one of my least-guilty pleasures, as a "winter premiere."

Returning: "Justified" (10 p.m., FX), with Patton Oswalt guest-starring as an overeager constable, and the network-switching "Cougar Town" (10 p.m., TBS).

Returning: If you missed last month's "sneak preview" of "1600 Penn" (8:30 and 9:30 p.m., NBC10), you can catch it at 8:30, then see a slightly better second episode at 9:30.

New: "Banshee" (10 p.m., Cinemax). The latest series from "True Blood" producer Alan Ball is about an ex-con who takes over the identity of a local sheriff in Pennsylvania Amish country. And you thought vampires were out there.

* Returning: "Fringe" (9 p.m., Fox 29) airs its last episode before the two-hour series finale at 8 p.m. on Jan. 18. If you've ever cursed a network for canceling a show too soon, think about tuning in to support a network that's given a high-quality, low-rated show the time to tell its story properly.

Jan. 13 *

Returning: Lena Dunham's "Girls" (9 p.m., HBO) and Laura Dern and Mike White's "Enlightened" (9:30 p.m., HBO), two comedies with an unshakable point of view. If you loved one or both of them before, you still will. And vice versa.

New:"The Carrie Diaries" (8 p.m., CW 57) purports to be a prequel to "Sex and the City," starring AnnaSophia Robb as 1980s-vintage Carrie Bradshaw. "SATC" purists may wonder how Carrie came to acquire a more interesting nose (and a very different backstory), but on the CW, anything's possible.

This apparently also applies to Pete Rose, whose new "reality" show carries the wince-worthy title "Pete Rose: Hits & Mrs." (10 p.m., TLC) and features the 71-year-old former Phil's relationship with his much-younger fiancée, Kiana Kim.

Also new (to the U.S., at least) is "Continuum" (8 p.m., Syfy), a Canadian series about a time-traveling cop (Rachel Nichols).

Returning: "Being Human" (9 p.m., Syfy) and "Lost Girl" (10 p.m., Syfy).

Returning: "American Idol" (8 p.m., Fox 29). Best year ever? Sigh. Probably not. Expect new judges Nicki Minaj, Mariah Carey and Keith Urban - joining survivor Randy Jackson - to soak up enough oxygen to leave the hapless contestants gasping for breath.

New:"Legit" (10:30 p.m., FX) stars Jim Jefferies as a crass Australian comic living in L.A. who's thinking it might be time to clean up his act a little to further his career - which he'll get started on as soon as he helps his best friend's wheelchair-using brother (DJ Qualls) to get laid. Fans of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" won't bat an eyelash but may bust a gut.

Returning: Charlie Sheen's "Anger Management" (9 and 9:30 p.m., FX), "Archer" (10 p.m., FX) and "Suits" (10 p.m., USA).

New: "Ripper Street" (9 p.m., BBC America), the latest drama to demonstrate TV execs' fascination with 19th-century prostitutes, looks at a London police unit whose chief (Matthew Macfadyen) is trying to move past the one who got away, Jack the Ripper.

New: "The Following" (9 p.m., Fox 29), from Kevin Williamson ("Scream," "The Vampire Diaries") is The One With Kevin Bacon. Easily the scariest thing on broadcast TV in a while (and probably the most violent), it stars Bacon as a former FBI agent brought in to track an escaped serial killer (James Purefoy, "Rome") he'd first brought to justice years earlier. And that's just the beginning of a tale that gets more twisted every week.

New: "The Americans" (10 p.m., FX). Keri Russell ("Felicity") and Matthew Rhys ("Brothers & Sisters") star as KGB agents living double lives in a D.C. suburb in the early days of the Reagan administration.

New: "Do No Harm" (10 p.m., NBC10). Set in Philadelphia and filmed here, too, it stars Steven Pasquale ("Rescue Me") as a brain surgeon whose Dr. Jekyll has lost control of his Mr. Hyde.

Mark your calendar if you follow these:

* "White Collar" (10 p.m. Jan. 22, USA).

* "Necessary Roughness" (10 p.m. Jan. 23, USA).

* "Spartacus: War of the Damned" (9 p.m. Jan. 25, Starz).

* "Dallas" (9 p.m. Jan. 28, TNT).

* "Body of Proof" (10 p.m. Feb. 5, 6 ABC).

* "Smash," two-hour premiere (9 p.m. Feb. 5, NBC10).

* "Community" (8 p.m. Feb. 7, NBC10).

* "Touch," two-hour premiere (8 p.m. Feb. 8, Fox 29).

- Ellen Gray