STAY TUNED

A TV blog by Staten Island Advance staff

The new season is under way, and there are a ton of shows either returning or debuting. Here, we offer our best bets in primetime this week (all times are Eastern).

NBCZachary Levi is Chuck Batowski on "Chuck," tonight at 8 on NBC.

MONDAY, 10/6
Chuck, 8 p.m. on NBC -- NEW! -- Chuck goes undercover to pluck an important device from toxic spy the Black Widow (Melinda Clarke). But to penetrate her web, he must first learn the fine art of seduction from suave superspy Roan Montgomery (John Larroquette), whose best days are likely behind him. Elsewhere, Morgan provides unlikely romantic advice to Captain Awesome; and Lester adapts to his new position at Buy More.

Dancing with the Stars, 8 p.m. on ABC -- NEW! -- In the third week of performances, celebrities either dance the jive or Viennese waltz.

Want to know if a show is worth your time? Find out here.

The CWJeff Hephner and Laurie Metcalf in "Easy Money."

EASY MONEY -- The economy is in a slump; people are scrambling to make ends meet; banks are closing because they just can't keep up with the loans: What's someone in need of cash supposed to do?

If you live in the fictional southwestern town of South Nile, you'll hit up Prestige Payday Loans. And at only 25 percent interest a week, maybe the feds should follow their lead when bailing out Wall Street.

Unfortunately, there is nobody at The CW who can bail out this show, which centers on the Buffkin family and their daily operation of a successful short-term loan company. There are two brothers: Cooper, who became a computer whiz at the company because of all his pornography downloads, and Morgan, a braniac whose gut instinct is that he really doesn't fit in with the rest of his family and who doesn't want to continue being the muscle behind collecting on the outstanding loans.

Kitty, Kitty, Kitty. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

The ambitious press person for her husband went a little too far last night on week No. 2 of "Brothers and Sisters." She apparently wrote a tell-all book, titled "A Family in Politics," and Nora got hold of it because Kitty accidentally left it behind at her house.

Nora starts reading it as she prepares a gourmet meal to bring to Kitty and Robert's house to impress the social worker handling their adoption case. Needless to say, she's so enthralled with her profile that she burns the stuffed tomatoes; overboils the water and puts way too much paprika in her chicken.

Don't have time to watch TV, but want to stay up on all the big "it" moments that everybody's talking about? Catch them all right here.

"Saturday Night Live" needs to rehire Tina Fey. For the third week in a row, she was back as Sarah Palin.

Fey's not the only one back. Spaghetti Cat has resurfaced on the Web.

ABCLynette finds out her son Porter has a softer side when she signs onto a social networking site pretending to be a high school girl.

What would you do if your teen-age son's friend was dealing drugs? What if you were uninvited to one of the biggest parties of the year? Or, what if you're ex wanted to hang out with your new fling?

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

On last night's "Desperate Housewives," Lynette decides to join a social networking site to check up on her son Porter after his old friend is caught dealing drugs. What she ends up learning is that her son has a softer side and enjoys poetry. But when Porter develops a crush on the girl Lynette is pretending to be, things go downhill. Note to self: never sign a fake break up note from your son's crush, "Love, Mom." It just doesn't work.

Daniel and Betty toast to being restored to their posts as editor and assistant at MODE magazine in the latest episode of "Ugly Betty." (ABC Television)

Betty, Betty, Betty. Don't you know any better? Haven't you learned? Things are never, ever brighter on the dark side.

But they certainly are more interesting! Wilhelmina may be a bitch, but we love watching her. Vanessa Williams is just that good at being bad. ("She's not smiling, she's showing her teeth.")

MTVAshli packed her bags on "The Island."

Following in Rachel's footsteps, Jenn approached Johnny and Kenny's alliance last night and asked to be included in their group.

Johnny and Jenn concocted a plan in which Jenn and Paula would enter the next face-off and eliminate KellyAnne.

But before the plan could be put into play, Ashli got into a fight with Robin because Robin called her a "rookie." Later that night, Ashli cut her foot, requiring stitches and putting a smile on Robin's face.

The CWSerena lets herself shine on "Gossip Girl."

Sorry for the delay! Here's a recap of what happened on "Gossip Girl" and "90210" this week.

The CW this week was all about those who are falling or are about to fall. For instance, take Blair, aka Queen B, on "Gossip Girl" who is seeing her throne usurped by her bff Serena. Or, on teen drama "90210," Adrianna, a former child actress has a drug problem that is causing her to crash real fast.

FOXThe doctor, right, and his detective, Lucas, compare notes on "House."

Hmmm ... they're even more crafty than we thought. And by "they" we mean the creators, producers and general miracle-workers at "House."

Coming attractions, aired at the end of last night's show, made us realize something we might have missed about the episode we'd just seen: House has a son.

FoxWalter examines the vibrating underground missile.

Last night's episode of "Fringe" was either a set-up (meant to frustrate fans trying to get into the series) or the set-up (meant to lay out how the rest of the season will unfold).

The latest Pattern had the gang investigating an underground missile that operates on its own. It routinely pops up out of the ground, and eventually disappears back into the earth.

Simply put, the storyline was confusing (Why would the bad guys want the missile if it's just going to go back underground on its timer? Can they stop it?).

ABCRump-shaker Kim Kardashian got the boot last night on "Dancing With the Stars."

We're going to call Cloris Leachman "Sanjaya II."

You remember him, the not-so-great teen singer who the audience from "American Idol" refused to vote off a few seasons back, don't you? Well, that's the way we can explain the influence of the voting audience for "Dancing With the Stars," and their collective decision to keep Cloris alive, so to speak.

NBCNoah Bennett, aka Horn-Rimmed Glasses

Is "Heroes" back?

We'd called strikes one and two upon their disappointing season opener, but last night's third episode was a hit.