BONES (8PM FOX)
We watch for the Sam and Dianne will they or won’t they dynamic, and it seems ever so closer to being realized in the season premiere: six weeks after his injury, Booth (David Boreanaz) is starting to realize his feelings for Brennan (Emily Deschanel) – except, ah, a catch, one involving guest star Cyndi Lauper as a psychic and a clown. Hey, it’s progress, right? Grade: B — Aleks Chan
FRINGE (9PM FOX, ‘A’ in Canada)
We last saw FBI agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv, who’s like a Jennifer Garner-Elizabeth Mitchell hybrid), she was gazing out of a still-standing World Trade Center in an alternate universe. We next see her hurling out the front windshield of her SUV. Not a lot of explanation in the premiere (which is mostly the producers setting the stage for the season), but its back in the same focused state of mind we left it in, and it only makes the tricky season ahead seem that much more promising. Grade: B+ — Aleks Chan
COMMUNITY (9:30PM NBC, CityTV in Canada)
Joel McHale, Chevy Chase and THE DAILY SHOW’s John Oliver are just a few of the reasons why we can’t wait for school to start at the fictional Community College of Greendale. Other reasons include the brains behind COMMUNITY — who are none other than Dan Harmon (THE SARAH SILVERMAN PROGRAM) and directors Joe and Anthony Russo (ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT) — all of whom not only get an ‘A’ for effort, but a ‘B’ for big laughs. Thanks in no small part to the hilarious group of underachieving students and faculty that they have assembled which McHale, Chase and Oliver aside feature two of the fall’s guaranteed break-out stars: The pop-culture obsessed Abed (played by the new ‘Jack McBrayer’, Danny Puddy) and The Hangover’s Ken Jeong, who recently signed on to play faculty member Professor Sénor Chang. If only Community College was this funny in real life.
IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA (10PM FX)
The gang from Paddy’s Pub are back for another season of debauchery, exploitation, and vulgarity. Tonight’s premiere is wonderfully topical: Frank (Danny DeVito, who I can’t tell if he is loving this or going crazy) buys a house in foreclosure…with the family still living in it. As always, the comedic approach is comparable to throwing things against the wall to see what sticks: when it works, it kills; when it doesn’t, it’s painful. Grade: B- — Aleks Chan