1. “Lost” 7 p.m., Wednesday, ABC
What’s the deal? Plane crash survivors are stranded in the tropics, and the lead female strandee (Evangeline Lilly, below) is cagey about her criminal past. Oh, and there’s some kind of killer beastie in the forest.
Why it’s worth your time: Plots, subplots, cliffhangers and flashbacks all make a comeback in this scenic island thriller. Imagine “Survivor” with more attractive people and a better plot. Every week we can’t wait to see what happens next.
2. “Jack and Bobby” 8 p.m., Sunday, WB
What’s the deal? In this heartwarming original, set in the present day, nerdy younger brother Bobby McCallister tries to adjust to high school, while his track star older brother, Jack, woos the university president’s daughter. The twist: Bobby grows up to be president, and we follow his career through talking-head interviews with his future colleagues.
Why it’s worth your time: Both young actors do a fine job with the show’s top-notch writing, and we love the show’s way with plot twists, as when the boys’ memorable mom (Christine Lahti), a leftist college professor, learned a lesson in religious tolerance from her students and sons. And we’re so glad to see Bradley Cooper (“Alias”) back on the small screen; he turned up as the professor’s scrappy assistant — and maybe more.
3. “Kevin Hill” 8 p.m., Wednesday, UPN
What’s the deal? Taye Diggs (right) . . . do we need to say more? If so, just take our word for it that “Hill” — one of the more ethnically diverse offerings this season — has a great premise: Hotshot lawyer inherits cousin’s baby and goes from player to diaper-changer.
Why it’s worth your time: We’re hopeful the setup doesn’t wear too thin too quickly and that the office dynamics at the all-female law firm where Kevin works heat up a bit, but it’s too early to worry. And even if this B-plus show doesn’t get even better . . . did we mention Taye Diggs?
4. “Veronica Mars” 8 p.m., Tuesday, UPN
What’s the deal? We’re hooked on the show’s ongoing mystery, in which junior gumshoe Mars (Kristen Bell, left) is trying to solve the murder of her best friend and learn why her mom skipped town. The ingredients are fine (school outcast, teen detective, small-town shenanigans and class warfare) . . .
Why it’s worth your time: . . . but the execution is a blast, making this one better than the sum of its parts. The key to it all is star Kristen Bell, our favorite new actress this fall, who’s surrounded by an extremely capable cast.
5. “The Apprentice” 8 p.m., Thursday, NBC
What’s the deal? You don’t know the deal yet? Have you been living under a rock? It’s Donald Trump (left) and a bunch of wannabes competing to be Trump’s lackey.
Why it’s worth your time: Call us suckers for Mark Burnett’s magic, but we can’t look away, even when, as has happened several times this season, the female team drives us nuts and Trump fires people arbitrarily. Regardless, the second time around, we’re still watching.
6. “America’s Next Top Model” 7 p.m., Wednesday, UPN
What’s the deal? The title says it all — it’s just girls, gowns, glamor, makeup and cat fights.
Why it’s worth your time: We just love that this show doesn’t pretend to be anything profound (we even watch knowing that the previous two winners haven’t yet made the cover of Vogue), yet we still end up rooting for some of these scrappy would-be mannequins. In addition to providing top-notch reality escapism, the show caters to the dress-up fantasy of every little girl who ever tried on Mom’s heels.
7. “Complete Savages” 7:30 p.m., Friday, ABC
What’s the deal? It’s an all-male family (starring Keith Carradine, right) in messy, smelly, testosterone, Cro-Magnon overdrive, and way off the political correctness meter.
Why it’s worth your time: Though idiotic at times, it can also be howlingly funny.
8. “Desperate Housewives” 8 p.m., Sunday, ABC
What’s the deal? Arch, retro-’50s stereotypes and social satire mix it up in this hit drama centered on the well-to-do folks on suburban Wisteria Lane.
Why it’s worth your time: If the satire doesn’t work for you, the murder-mystery aspect of the show probably will. Why did Mary Alice shoot herself ? What’s buried in her family swimming pool? And what kind of secret spy is the neighborhood’s new bachelor hunk?
9. “Boston Legal” 9 p.m., Sunday, ABC
What’s the deal? Two refugees from “The Practice,” obnoxious lawyers Denny Crane (William Shatner) and Alan Shore (James Spader) butt heads with more conservative colleagues at a top Boston law firm.
Why it’s worth your time: The women characters need work, but Spader is magnificently magnetic and repellent at the same time, as well as snidely funny. And Shatner has shed Capt. Kirk once and for all, for rebirth as a caustic, whipsmart, dirty old man — possibly the role of his career.
10. “life as we know it” 8 p.m., Thursday, ABC
What’s the deal? Teen boys obsess about sex; one is hot for a seemingly willing teacher, another is torn up by dysfunction on the home front.
Why it’s worth your time: The drama, which is up against some heavy-duty competition on Thursdays, treats the sex-and-girls themes with surprising complexity, and the trio of lead boys are appealingly vulnerable.
