'Betty's' back

It's easy as ABC tonight on TV — for the first time ever, there are new episodes of "Ugly Betty," "Grey's Anatomy" and "Lost" all on the same night.

Betty (America Ferrera) is still the cutest thing on TV ... as long as you look past the braces and bad glasses. And tonight (7 p.m., Ch. 4), it's her birthday.

Of course, this being "Ugly Betty," there are all sorts of complications along the way. Her big plans with her boyfriend, Henry (Christopher Gorham), are scuttled when that nasty Charlie (Jayma Mays) — the woman who's carrying Henry's baby — shows up in town. But Gio (Freddy Rodriguez) is there to pick up the pieces.

Elsewhere, Wilhelmina (Vanessa Williams) tries to scuttle Daniel's (Eric Mabius) romance with her sister, Renee (Gabrielle Union).

"Daniel, I know we've had our issues..." Wilhelmina says.

"You tried to ruin my magazine, destroy my family, marry my father on his deathbed," Daniel retorts.

"... some bigger than others," Wilhelmina continues.

Tonight's episode isn't one of "Betty's" best, but it's still funny, dramatic, campy, romantic, heartfelt, over-the-top and surprisingly sweet.

In other words, pure entertainment.

IS IT JUST ME, or is the return of "Grey's Anatomy" sort of, well, ho-hum?

Not the episode itself. But the mere thought of the show airing its first new episode since Jan. 10 is, well, yaaaawn. ...

Actually, I've asked a number of other "Grey's" fans and they've felt much the same way. We'll all watch, but the big sense of anticipation is gone.

Maybe the characters are just starting to wear on us. Maybe Meredith's (Ellen Pompeo) unendingly annoying behavior has gotten to us. Maybe sending Addison (Kate Walsh) off to the barely watchable "Private Practice" left us with one less character to like.

Or maybe all of this will fade away once the episode gets rolling.

In tonight's episode (8 p.m., Ch. 4), Derek (Patrick Dempsey) has been dating Rose (Lauren Stamile) for six weeks and Meredith is jealous; Meredith, Alex (Justin Chambers), Izzie (Katherine Heigl) and Cristina (Sandra Oh) compete in a surgical contest; George (T.R. Knight) and Lexie (Chyler Leigh) decide to share an apartment; and Callie (Sara Ramirez) and Erica bond.

It wasn't available to preview, but it sounds sort of interesting. Sort of.

AS FOR "LOST," it's anything but ho-hum.

Stuff is happening. Lots of stuff. Exciting stuff.

I don't want to give away too much, but simply telling you that Locke's (Terry O'Quinn) camp comes under attack in tonight's episode (9:02 p.m., Ch. 4) doesn't do it justice. It looks like something out of a summer action movie.

Bullets will fly. People will die. And that's just the beginning.

"Lost" is great again. Even though I don't have the foggiest notion how the heck all of this is going to tie together.

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com