NEW YORK (AP) – The fall TV season officially began last night, with NBC popping the cork with its returning "Heroes" (a two-hour opener aired last night). CBS is ringing in the new year with "The Mentalist" (premiering at 10 p.m. Bermuda time tonight) and "Gary Unmarried" (9.30 p.m. Bermuda time tomorrow). NBC hits the road with its new-model "Knight Rider" (9 p.m. Bermuda time tomorrow).

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Back for its third season, "Heroes" is confronting high expectations from its besotted fans. And also a bit of resistance from former and would-be fans who couldn't make heads or tails of the show last season.

"Message: We care'', the producers have been saying as they promised to get "Heroes" heroic again.

But to judge from the season premiere (a second hour airing last night wasn't offered for review), the series has met with only mixed success.

The look and style of "Heroes" is as grand as ever. Everything about the show's design, including the lettering for the captions and the eerie three-note musical signature, feels like part of a marvelously unified package.

If only that package could contain the series' plodding mishmash of a story. At the risk of sounding feeble-minded or, even worse, un-cool, I again ask the question I've asked about "Heroes" so many times before: What is going on?

The murky, brooding, free-range narrative seems to glory in its abstractions. The action hop-scotches around the world, and back and forth through time. The internal logic of the show seems always ready to defer to the situation at hand. And the characters have multiplied like roaches.

There's a grandiose goal at the bottom of it all (saving the world, you know), in the face of fierce opposition. But is this existential tug of war really going anywhere? Couldn't everybody stop, relax their scowls and take a chill pill – just once?

I've always admired "Heroes" for its epic, sprawling vision – up to a point. But an occasional save-the-world pronouncement isn't sufficient to maintain coherence. Not with this scattered affair.

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"You're a psychic," someone says to Patrick Jane.

"No," he replies. "Just paying attention."

Later in the premiere of "The Mentalist'', he goes a step further: "There's no such things as real psychics."

Used to be, Jane marketed his skill for observation by masquerading as a psychic, making good money by "speaking with the dead" and other parlour tricks.

Now he's trying to redeem himself as a consultant with the California Bureau of Investigation. He wants to nab the serial murderer dubbed Red John, who leaves a shocking signature in blood at the scene of each crime and killed Jane's family while Jane was winning fame with his hoaxes.

He's already cracked a couple of cases, so his effectiveness is acknowledged, albeit grudgingly, by the cops he works with. Meanwhile, he can be hard to handle. He's flighty, cheeky, charming but sometimes insultingly blunt, a mite mysterious, and altogether disinclined to follow rules.

A character like that provides a great showcase for an actor, and Simon Baker ("Smith'', "The Guardian") is terrific in the role. Just watch him looking at things (he's a good-looking guy), sifting through clues, the wheels in his brain almost visibly whirring.

No wonder by-the-book senior agent Teresa Lisbon is torn between letting him into her unit, or giving him the boot, or (maybe) sleeping with him. She's played by Robin Tunney ("Prison Break"). Tim Kang, Owain Yeoman and Amanda Righetti play other members of the unit.

But you don't have to be psychic to see that "The Mentalist" is all about Baker's performance – and whether he will get scripts as good as he deserves.

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Jay Mohr commands a pair of facial expressions that serve him well in comedy: an impish smile and hollow-eyed bemusement. He makes the most of both in "Gary Unmarried''.

A better-than-you'd-think sitcom saddled with a worse-than-mediocre title, it finds Mohr playing the titular Gary, a recently divorced guy learning how to navigate his new world. Gary and Allison (Paula Marshall) share custody of their two kids, an 11-year-old daughter and a 14-year-old son.

Then things get really complicated as Gary meets and falls for lovely Vanessa (Jaime King) while Allison turns up engaged to Dr. Krandall (Ed Begley, Jr.), their couples therapist.

"I'm not sure what makes me more mad," Gary tells him after learning the truth, "the fact that you're sleeping with my ex-wife, or that you made me keep a dream journal."

Sure, it may sound like "The New Adventures of Old Christine" as told from a man's perspective. If you consider that a good thing, all the more reason to check out "Gary Unmarried''.

It's fast-moving and clever, and feels like, in the future, it could take some unexpected twists.

But couldn't the show have found a better name?

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There isn't much point reviewing "Knight Rider''. Any interested viewers can click their way to the Hulu website, where NBC has already made the first episode available for screening (because the network is so proud of it, or maybe wants to make an end run around snarky critics). Whatever, you'll know within a minute or two if "Knight Rider" is your cup of tea.

It has that beautiful car accessorised with artificial intelligence, transformative engineering, the voice of Val Kilmer and a pushy personality. The dashing young hero who looks great in a tux and is never at a loss for witty retorts. His gorgeous partner, who shares with him a bittersweet romantic past, and is equally adept at throwing a punch or throwing on a cocktail dress and looking like a million for the party at the consulate.

There's also lots of cartoony gunplay, explosions and turbocharged computer effects. Bad guys who go, "We can do this the easy way, or the very, very hard way''. And a missing data "package" that (as we are repeatedly told) is "vital to national security''.

Along with its real star, "Knight Rider" features attractive bipeds including Justin Bruening ("Cold Case"), Deanna Russo ("NCIS"), Sydney Tamiia Poitier ("Veronica Mars") and Bruce Davison ("Breach").

It's based, of course, on the 1980s hit that starred David Hasselhoff, which (who knows?) might have been based on the 1960s sitcom "My Mother, the Car''. Or not. But the real inspiration is the product-placement deal struck with a major auto maker. "Knight Rider" isn't so much an action-adventure show as a high-octane commercial.