Grade: B+ (Sept. 19)
“The Playboy Club’’ (NBC)
Period drama
Starring: Eddie Cibrian, David Krumholtz, Amber Heard
Concept: Early 1960s Chicago power brokers mingle with bunnies at the first Playboy Club. Cibrian is a lawyer who tries to rescue a new bunny from gangster trouble.
Am I hooked? No, not even on the articles. It wants to be “Mad Men,’’ as if that show is cloneable. But Cibrian, trying to be Jon Hamm, is too nice and dull; the bunnies are obvious types, from the alpha to the newbie; the club setting is claustrophobic; the gangsters are out of central casting; and historical clichés are everywhere.
Alternate title: “Hare Brained’’
Grade: C (Sept. 19)
“Terra Nova’’ (Fox)
Family adventure
Starring: Jason O’Mara, Stephen Lang
Concept: In 2149, Earth is dying. So scientists send colonists - including O’Mara’s fractured family - back 85 million years for a do-over. Power struggles emerge at the idyllic Terra Nova camp, which is surrounded by dinosaurs.
Am I hooked? I am, for now. The pilot, with subplots featuring O’Mara’s teen kids, is Spielberg 101 - mainstream, iconic, inoffensively predictable. As a weekly series, the effects need to remain impressive and the writers need to avoid falling into “Lost’’ and “Walking Dead’’ band-of-survivors rehash. Also, the family rapport is too smooth, given their troubled history. A rumored 13-episode first season might be just right.
Alternate title: “Swiss Family Dinosaur’’
Grade: B+ (Sept. 26)
“Hart of Dixie’’ (CW)
Ditzy doctor dramedy
Starring: Rachel Bilson, Scott Porter
Concept: A Manhattan doctor named Zoe Hart moves to small-town Alabama and turns her nose up at the quirky locals, including Porter’s hottie and his steel-magnolia fiancee. Hart needs more heart.
Am I hooked? Bilson is hard-pressed to pass as a doctor, and the relentless fish-out-of-water humor is exhausting. But what demotes it from a C to a D is some of the laziest plot setups ever, as well as the dumbing down of “Friday Night Lights’’ alums Porter and Cress Williams.
Alternate title: “Dr. Feelstupid’’
Grade: D (Sept. 26)
