29 new shows are headed for your TV

The show wants to be "NYPD Blue" but comes off more like "Starsky & Hutch." It's cop-show cliche after cop-show cliche.

What's to like? It's a nice idea to do a show in New Orleans, and it's even better that it's actually being shot there.

What's not to like? At best, it's not that great a cop show. At worst, it's just downright stupid — there's a "big revelation" about one of the characters at the end of the first episode that's just ridiculous and completely erases what little credibility the show has.

Will it work? I doubt it. Once people get a look at this, they'll quickly realize it looks nothing like the show Fox has been advertising.

Debuts: Monday, Sept. 17

SAMANTHA WHO? (Mondays, 8:30 p.m., ABC/Ch. 4) turns memory loss into comedy. Samantha "Sam" Newly (Christina Applegate) wakes up after spending eight days in a coma with retrograde amnesia — she can function in the world, but she has absolutely no memory of who she was.

And, as it turns out, Sam was a horrible person. Mean, vain, venal, unethical, deceitful, snotty, vicious — you name the adjective. Which comes as a complete surprise to her. And offers her a chance to start over with her life.

The people in her life (whom she cannot, of course, remember) include her self-centered mother (Jean Smart of "24") and disconnected father (Kevin Dunn of "Transformers"), to whom she hasn't spoken in two years. Her best friend (Jennifer Esposito) is a lot like pre-amnesia Sam — and not in a good way. Her boyfriend (Barry Watson of "7th Heaven") is a good guy who has put up with a lot.

Sam's other best friend (Melissa McCarthy of "Gilmore Girls") is not what she seems. And one of the few people she can talk to honestly is the doorman (Tim Russ of "Star Trek: Voyager") at her building.

What's to like? Applegate is underrated as a comedic actress — she's a TV star. And the rest of the cast is equally good. Plus, there's a lot of comedy to be mined from this premise.

What's not to like? All the ingredients for a really good comedy are in place on "Samantha Who?" — but they somehow don't seem to blend together. The pilot not particularly funny. And that's not a good thing for a comedy.

Will it work? Well, maybe. Airing after 90-minute episodes of "Dancing with the Stars" will help, but the episodes need to be funnier and ABC will have to be patient.

Debuts: Monday, Oct. 15

JOURNEYMAN (Mondays, 9 p.m., NBC/Ch. 5) is about a guy who travels through time, although he doesn't know how or why. And audiences who tune in may wonder why they bothered.