Goth

It figures that Pauley Perrette would excel playing forensic scientist Abby Sciuto, the Goth lab rat on CBS' crime procedural, "NCIS. " On the job in her high-tech lair, Abby is an information magnet and a bloodhound for clues to help crack the latest case with a link to the Navy or Marine Corps. And in the process, she's brainy, beautiful, charmingly quirky and totally gung-ho — which is to say, a lot like Pauley Perrette. In its ninth season, "NCIS" (which airs Tuesday at 9 p.m. EST)

ALICE IN WONDERLAND ★★ (Comcast Movie Collections: Family Movie Night) A disappointment. There's nothing wrong with a revisionist "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," but Tim Burton's 3-D version ultimately looks like every other CGI action-fantasy epic out there, despite a few goth touches. Johnny Depp is fun but overindulged as the Mad Hatter; Mia Wasikowska's charming adolescent Alice gets lost under the sub-"Narnia" mayhem. The movie's not insane, and that hurts. (PG; runs through March 13)

VIGIL Third Wednesday of every month at the Middle East Upstairs, 472-480 Mass. Ave., Cambridge. 9 p.m. 18+. $7. 617-864-3278, www.mideastclub.com. The deal: Following a successful two-year run at Middlesex Lounge, Vigil moved to the Middle East Upstairs last month. This coming Wednesday will be the second edition of this reincarnated night, where people share a love of gothic and industrial music. "We're here for the sound and the camaraderie," said organizer Meghan Dahl.

Jackie Fraser-Swan of East Bridgewater showed her designs at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at the Studio at Lincoln Center on Tuesday. Fraser-Swan, 30, who's a descendent of Ralph Waldo Emerson (that's why she named her line Emerson), had a few celebs in the audience for her runway show, including "90210" actress Shenae Grimes and model-DJ Leigh Lezark. It seems that Fraser-Swan has a fan in Grimes, who tweeted that "the show was stellar," adding, "gotta love a fellow goth gal. " Emerson's dark line is inspired by the 1940s and World War II.

Jackie Fraser-Swan of East Bridgewater showed her designs at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at the Studio at Lincoln Center on Tuesday. Fraser-Swan, 30, who's a descendent of Ralph Waldo Emerson (that's why she named her line Emerson), had a few celebs in the audience for her runway show, including "90210" actress Shenae Grimes and model-DJ Leigh Lezark. It seems that Fraser-Swan has a fan in Grimes, who tweeted that "the show was stellar," adding, "gotta love a fellow goth gal. " Emerson's dark line is inspired by the 1940s and World War II.

Nearly a quarter of a century after the release of their first single, the four original members of English goth-rock outfit Bauhaus are back. Again. Their last reunion was in 1998, and the law of diminishing returns appears to have set in. Bauhaus 2005 is a strange and wistful mixture of echoing glories and cruel age. Sunday night at the Orpheum Theatre, whose noble decrepitude provided the perfect setting, Bauhaus served up the hits with a gloomy and rather serene lack of vitality.

Criminal Minds 9 p.m., Channel 4 “Gavin Rossdale guest stars as a gruesome goth rocker.’’ There’s so much wrong with that plot description, it sounds so right! Rossdale (above), former lead singer of Bush and husband of Gwen Stefani, continues to pursue his acting aspirations as a star whose concert tour schedule just happens to coincide with a serial killer’s pattern. Glee 9 p.m., Channel 25 There’s a diva-off between Kurt and Rachel tonight, since both want to sing the female part in the song “Defying Gravity’’ from “Wicked.’’ But most of the episode...

DEATH AT A FUNERAL **½ (Max on Comcast) A nearly shot-for-shot remake of the 2006 British comedy about a family wake that spirals from one disaster to the next. This new African-Americanized version is sloppy and completely unnecessary; it's also still funny thanks to smart casting in key roles. Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence star; Tracy Morgan and James Marsden steal it. (R; runs through Sept. 30) TY BURR ALICE IN WONDERLAND ** (Encore on Comcast) A disappointment.

Heart-Shaped Box , By Joe Hill William Morrow, 384 pp., $24.95 Jude Coyne, the hero of Joe Hill's gripping, "stay-up-all-night-reading" ghost thriller, is a 54-year-old former rock star with a fascination with the occult. And while jaded Jude is obsessed with the dead, he has absolutely no use for the living. He has dumped a series of 20-something Goth girlfriends, disposing of them whenever they cramp his "me-first" lifestyle. He is alienated from his family back in Louisiana, where his father is dying, and he loathes his personal assistant.

Missing the bulbous dementia of former bassist Nick Oliveri (recently fired from the band), Queens of the Stone Age turned in a rather more sedate set Tuesday night at the TD Banknorth Garden than its fans might've hoped for. The scuttling, screaming Oliveri had a shaved head, a beard like a burst of exhaust, and a penchant for playing naked, and without him the cerebral stomp of the Queens' music lacks a physical connector. Frontman Josh Homme is 6-foot-5 and sings in a remote tenor, and the band's pop-inflected meta-metal seems to have grown even stranger and more sardonic on the new...

VIGIL Third Wednesday of every month at the Middle East Upstairs, 472-480 Mass. Ave., Cambridge. 9 p.m. 18+. $7. 617-864-3278, www.mideastclub.com. The deal: Following a successful two-year run at Middlesex Lounge, Vigil moved to the Middle East Upstairs last month. This coming Wednesday will be the second edition of this reincarnated night, where people share a love of gothic and industrial music. "We're here for the sound and the camaraderie," said organizer Meghan Dahl.

It figures that Pauley Perrette would excel playing forensic scientist Abby Sciuto, the Goth lab rat on CBS' crime procedural, "NCIS. " On the job in her high-tech lair, Abby is an information magnet and a bloodhound for clues to help crack the latest case with a link to the Navy or Marine Corps. And in the process, she's brainy, beautiful, charmingly quirky and totally gung-ho — which is to say, a lot like Pauley Perrette. In its ninth season, "NCIS" (which airs Tuesday at 9 p.m. EST)

Criminal Minds 9 p.m., Channel 4 “Gavin Rossdale guest stars as a gruesome goth rocker.’’ There’s so much wrong with that plot description, it sounds so right! Rossdale (above), former lead singer of Bush and husband of Gwen Stefani, continues to pursue his acting aspirations as a star whose concert tour schedule just happens to coincide with a serial killer’s pattern. Glee 9 p.m., Channel 25 There’s a diva-off between Kurt and Rachel tonight, since both want to sing the female part in the song “Defying Gravity’’ from “Wicked.’’ But...

One of the more pleasant surprises of 2006 was the breakthrough of indie singer-songwriter Regina Spektor. Of course, she already had all the trappings of a star: Here was an eccentric piano pounder, blessed with a mercurial voice and a refreshing sense of humor, who wrote evocative songs inspired by the most minute details of her day. Yet Spektor’s greatest assets - her innate sense of quirk, her refusal to color within the lines - could easily...

It must be a little strange for Alanis Morissette to have to keep singing "Ironic," even after more than a dozen years of being lambasted for her failure to properly understand the titular concept. But the song is still one of her biggest hits, and the audience at the Orpheum on Saturday didn't seem to care what you call a black fly in your Chardonnay. It was too busy singing along. Then again, Morissette is an artist who provokes wild enthusiasm even in light of what might otherwise be considered shortcomings.

Heart-Shaped Box , By Joe Hill William Morrow, 384 pp., $24.95 Jude Coyne, the hero of Joe Hill's gripping, "stay-up-all-night-reading" ghost thriller, is a 54-year-old former rock star with a fascination with the occult. And while jaded Jude is obsessed with the dead, he has absolutely no use for the living. He has dumped a series of 20-something Goth girlfriends, disposing of them whenever they cramp his "me-first" lifestyle. He is alienated from his family back in Louisiana, where his father is dying, and he loathes his personal assistant.