THE SEASON UNFOLDS . . . and unfolds . . .

Well, it takes a while to let all those shows return and debut, even as we continue to drool over the twists and turns of such summer nail-biters as DAMAGES (Tuesdays, 10 pm, FX). Glenn Close signed a multi-year contract, gang--so clearly they're not gonna kill her or send her to the Big House. Anyone else, on the other hand, would seem to be fair game--but who will it be?!

Three weeks in, CHUCK (Mondays, 8 pm, NBC) remains inventive, fast & funny, a joyful exercise with Zachary Levi making a sympathetic and rather charming nerd.

DANCING WITH THE STARS (Mondays, 8 pm, ABC; results shows, Tuesdays, 9 pm) is still enormously entertaining--and the level of performance has been unusually high from the start. Hard to predict who will take home the trophy at this point . . .

ABC seems to be taking the lead with a wide range of offerings, from the ridiculous to the sublime. (Have you noticed there have been no commercials or promos for MEN IN TREES, which starts on Friday? Not a single picture or commercial--what's that about? Are they sorry they committed to bringing it back? Will they burn it off right away? They've stuck it at Friday at 10 pm, one of the most notoriously difficult time slots.)

CAVEMEN (Tuesdays, 8 pm, ABC) is, sadly, just dull. Afraid of being too allegorical, the pilot show was re-shot to take out an overload of prejudice jokes. But why do a show about heavily made-up cavemen if you're NOT going to look humorously at being out of sync with the rest of America? (That was, after all, the thrust of the Geico campaign that spawned the show.) The unrecognizable actors have appeared on everything from THE VIEW to DANCING WITH THE STARS in character, responding to real-life stimuli, and were quite quick-witted and funny (especially Nick Kroll), but the actual first show was tentative, stiff and bland. Give these guys something to work with stronger than basic male dating problems, folks--the joke that all men are basically no better than cavemen is kinda tired.

DIRTY SEXY MONEY (Wednesdays, 10 pm, ABC) is neither especially dirty or sexy, but clearly this cast (Peter Krause, Donald Sutherland, Jill Clayburgh, William Baldwin) costs a lot of money. An idealist lawyer follows in his father's footsteps to become the attorney for a family of very questionable morals and behavior. Spoiled people behaving badly--c'mon, folks, unless there's something new or honest to say, do we need another program telling us that rich people are unhappy, too?

PUSHING DAISIES (Wednesdays, 8 pm, ABC) At last, something new!!! The power of life-and-death (and all the ethical questions that ensue) gets whimsical and humorous treatment with this visually-splendid, fast-paced comedy. Scripts are sharp and imaginative, with bite and panache. Ned, the hapless hero who also bakes pies for a living, has the power to bring people (and pets) back to life and then has one minute to decide whether or not to send them back to Death Valley, all with a mere touch. If he touches them again, they return to death forever. If he doesn't touch them within the minute, someone else in proximity dies in their place. It's a quirky concept, but it's pulled off with great, gleeful abandon. And the cast is priceless: Kristin Chenoweth, Chi McBride, Swoosie Kurtz, Ellen Greene, top off-beat professionals all, performing with enormous precision and detail. But none of this would work if it weren't for the superb anchoring performance of stage veterans Lee Pace and Anna Friel as star-crossed lovers who are re-united but simply can't touch! They are genuinely warm, attractive presences, cute but not never cloying or cutesy. Kudos to creator Bryan Fuller for risking an unsavory topic in order to create such a unique treat--sweet-and-sour rarely tastes this good! For once, a show that lives up to its hype!