Television

By TERRY MORROW
The network fall season begins Monday, but only seven of the new programs are coming out of the gate during the first week.

Fox trotted out its newbies early to give viewers time to warm to them before baseball playoffs take over in October.

By TERRY MORROW
With "The Class" _ the story of eight former classmates reunited _ a "Friends"-envious CBS has made the right pals.

At least the Tiffany Network gets an "A" for effort.

"The Class" (which premieres, 8 p.m., EDT, Monday) is the best new sitcom to come along on CBS in recent memory.

By TERRY MORROW
Describing the 2006 TV fall season, which officially begins Monday, as "not half bad" is not a backhanded compliment. It's downright praise.

In the typical fall TV season, we have only two or three shows worth checking out.

By ROB OWEN
With new networks launching and several programming trends occurring simultaneously, the Fall 2006 TV season beckons with promise.

Generally speaking, the quality of new series is better than usual with minimal stinkers and even fewer middle-of-the-road shows.

With The WB and UPN consigned to the dust heap of TV history, The CW rises in their place, carrying hits from both of the networks it's replacing ("Gilmore Girls," "Veronica Mars," etc.).

By ROB OWEN
Want to know when you can see new episodes of your favorite shows? Here's a list of returning prime-time series and their premiere dates:

"According to Jim" _ Midseason.

"All of Us" _ Oct.

By ROB OWEN
How good are the new TV shows this fall? So good we had a difficult time containing the "best" list and filling the "worst" list.

There are only a few new procedurals, but both Fox's "Justice" and CBS's "Shark" are much better than typical close-ended fare.

By ANDREW A. SMITH
I'm a Star Trek fan, and darn proud of it.

I make this pronouncement on the occasion of the franchise's 40th anniversary _ the original series (ST:TOS in fan-speak) debuted Sept.

Food Network premieres another round of its traveling food fights this week. Only this time it's one for the record books.

For the first time, the Food Network Challenge's battling chefs not only will be competing against one another, but 10 of the competitions within the four-day special will have a shot at Guinness World Records.

Beginning Monday night with an episode titled "Sugar Skyscrapers," three pastry chefs set out to build the tallest sugar structure ever constructed in competition.

By MEL BRACHT
Some 20 years after a state legislator introduced a resolution trying to ban him from calling Oklahoma sporting events, Paul Maguire is back in the state.

Maguire will be part of ABC's announce team for the Washington-Oklahoma game Saturday in Norman.

By ROB OWEN
Maybe it's a reaction against the overabundance of procedural crime shows in recent years. Maybe it's due to the success of ABC's 2004 hits "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives."

Whatever the reason, close-ended TV shows are out and serialized dramas are in this fall _ in a big way.

Already, Fox debuted "Vanished," the ongoing story of a kidnapped U.S.