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Gut instincts can be a reliable guide when falling in love, making friends or deciding whether or not to respect or trust someone. Yet when it comes to making investment decisions, it often pays to have second thoughts about first impressions.

Since the premiere of "Lost" in 2004, networks introduced a surfeit of serialized, large-ensemble, mythological dramas, but this fall there's really just one: ABC's "FlashForward," which begins with an adrenaline-fueled, disaster-movie-worthy pilot (8 p.m. EDT Thursday).

Rabbi David Kahn was a well-respected spiritual and community leader when he died. That's when his wife, three children and synagogue found out he wasn't a rabbi. And he wasn't Jewish. Heck, he wasn't even David Kahn.

He was a con man named Donnie Dobbs, a cheap grifter who fell in love with a Jewish girl and transformed into the good man she thought he was.

The family comedy gets a welcome and winning update in ABC's "Modern Family" (9 p.m. EDT Wednesday), the fall's best new sitcom.

"THE DIARY OF A NOBODY." (2007. NOT RATED. ACORN MEDIA. $29.99.)

As George Bernard Shaw famously put it (although Oscar Wilde made a similar observation), England and the United States are two nations separated by a common language. And to that we can sometimes add, "not to mention sense of humor."

ABC's "Eastwick," based on the John Updike novel that was also the basis for the 1987 Jack Nicholson-Cher-Susan Sarandon-Michelle Pfeiffer movie, attempts to be a fun, frothy enchanting TV show. But it fails to cast a spell.

The premiere is 10 p.m. EDT Wednesday.

NBC's new nurse drama may prompt viewers to shout its title in exasperation.

There's no question that CBS's "NCIS" became a hit because of the camaraderie of the characters and the relationships that have developed among them. Executive producer Shane Brennan is clearly working the same formula in "NCIS: Los Angeles" (9 p.m. EDT Tuesday), the spin-off series that introduced its characters in a two-part May episode of the original "NCIS."

So often quality TV is defined mostly by writing. But CBS's "The Good Wife" (premiering 10 p.m. EDT Tuesday) is both a well-written legal drama and a terrific showcase for actress Julianna Margulies, who elevates the already-good material with her perceptive, open performance.

They got it mostly right, they made it better than the year before, it wasn't nearly as boring as past shows and Neil Patrick Harris acquitted himself nicely at Sunday night's 61st Annual Prime-time Emmys. So, in honor of small miracles, the griping will be kept to a minimum.

Here's a random rundown of moments from the night: