NEW YORK (AP) – Let's all marvel at the bumper crop of new shows about cops and courtrooms!

Let's welcome back favourite stars from the past like Tom Selleck, Jimmy Smits and Dana Delany! Let's cross our fingers that ambitious new series like 'No Ordinary Family' and 'The Event' will find their way!

Let's get ready to laugh at the half-dozen new comedies (at least, some of them).

But let's dedicate this autumn broadcast season to Jay Leno.

Sure, sure. It was LAST autumn that Leno invaded prime time with his weeknight talk-comedy show, only to scurry back to 'The Tonight Show' in March.

By then, the guy who got caught in this squeeze play – 'Tonight Show' temp Conan O'Brien – had not only bolted from NBC, but also from broadcast TV altogether. He'll be launching a new late-night talk show on cable's TBS in November.

Credit Leno (and the game of musical chairs he set in motion) with reminding us how the difference between broadcast and cable is increasingly hard to detect.

Now comes the onslaught of freshman autumn series on the big five broadcast networks (almost all of which will premiere the week of September 20). Even with the gaping five-hour prime-time hole Leno left behind for NBC to fill, the new autumn crop adds up to just 22 shows – only one more than debuted last autumn.

But NBC, which finished the 2009-2010 season ranked a dismal fourth, is bouncing back invigorated and maybe even contrite as it reinstates the 10 p.m. ET (11 p.m. Bermuda) hour with scripted shows. And it can rest secure in the knowledge that, no matter how its autumn schedule may falter, nothing could match last year's 'Jay Leno Show' for stinking up the joint.

With that upbeat prelude, I'd like to say broadcast's autumn season – on NBC and elsewhere – boasts some pleasant surprises and good reasons to explore what's new on broadcast even as cable continues its year-round rollout of competing fare.

One very pleasant surprise: No new hospital shows! (How did the networks avoid that rut?)

Of course, other ruts – make that creative trends – remain in force. The twentysomething crowd is the focus of, and the designated audience for, numerous new series. Meanwhile, among autumn's 16 new dramas, 11 are firmly rooted in crime-fighting and/or the justice system.

¦ Granted, 'No Ordinary Family' (ABC) puts the emphasis on, well, family. It's a family (headed by Michael Chiklis and Julie Benz) that acquires superpowers each member must learn to use responsibly. But Chiklis plays a cop who wants to prove his worth.

¦ 'Detroit 1-8-7' (ABC) is a by-the-numbers police drama, with one difference: Michael Imperioli, who stars as homicide detective Louis Fitch. His glum, quirky, unsociable manner yields a character so distinct it could eclipse Imperioli's signature role as Christopher on 'The Sopranos'. If only the rest of 'Detroit 1-8-7' were as distinctive.

¦ 'The Whole Truth' (ABC) has what might seem a clever format: It follows a legal case from the alternate perspectives of the defence and the prosecution. In practice, however, the show unwinds in a choppy, he said-she said fashion whose payoff seems to come only at the end, when the truth, and the correctness of the verdict, are revealed.

But maybe the project will be improved with Maura Tierney replacing Joely Richardson as the prosecutor.

Rob Morrow remains as the defence attorney.

¦ 'The Defenders' (CBS) co-stars Jim Belushi and Jerry O'Connell as flashy, high-flying Las Vegas attorneys. Their chemistry is good. The writing could be better.

¦ 'Body of Proof' (ABC) stars Dana Delany as a brilliant, sexy medical examiner with a really bad attitude. Think 'Crossing Jordan' with sassy defiance upgraded to obnoxiousness.

¦ 'Blue Bloods' (CBS) gathers an impressive cast (led by Tom Selleck) as a multigenerational family that permeates the New York City cop and court system. But 'Blue Bloods' bleeds cliches. It's a good-looking, well-meaning rehash.

¦ 'The good news about 'Hawaii Five-O' (CBS): It takes the DNA from the circa-1970s original and reaps a robust, character-driven, crime-busting romp.

¦ 'Outlaw' (NBC) wastes the fine actor Jimmy Smits as a rascally US Supreme Court justice who up and quits the high court to reclaim his ideals and practice law as a social activist. He vows to fight for lost causes. This show might be one of them.

¦ The title of 'Chase' (NBC) says it all. It's an action-packed Jerry Bruckheimer-produced drama about US marshals in Houston. Kelli Giddish is hot. So is her partner Cole Hauser. They chase bad guys, and their tight jeans don't slow them down a whit.

¦ 'Law & Order: Los Angeles' (NBC) extends the 'L&O' franchise to its fifth edition, the first to venture outside New York's jurisdiction.

The pilot was unavailable for review, but cast members include the splendid actors Alfred Molina and Terrence Howard.

¦ 'Undercovers' (NBC) has the sheen of uber-magnate J.J. Abrams. It has the undeniable heat of Boris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw as husband-and-wife CIA agents who are drawn back into espionage after leaving to begin a new life as caterers. It has lavish production values (at least in the pilot episode). Too bad the story is silliness and fluff. (Caterers?!)

And now, for something a little bit different, the other five new dramas:

¦ ABC's 'My Generation' takes the form of a documentary chronicling the stories of young adults in the present day, intercut with footage flashing back to them as graduating seniors a decade ago.

¦ The Fox melodrama 'Lone Star' is the smartest, sexiest, most entertaining new guilty pleasure on the schedule. James Wolk plays a charismatic Texas con man living a double life mating with two dishy women he genuinely loves – even as he secretly betrays both of them.

¦ NBC's much-hyped 'The Event' is an intriguingly disjointed, keeps-you-guessing thriller, the one new entry in the mystery-serial category.

¦ 'Hellcats' is set among the cheer-leading squad of a Southern university. It shrewdly adapts 'Glee' to a CW sensibility: Well-toned young men and women cope with hormone-dominated college life, jazzed by acrobatic cheer-leading routines. What's not to like?

¦ Also on CW, 'Nikita' is a re-imagining of the bygone action-intrigue series and feature film. Maggie Q stars as the bootie-kicking former spy and assassin who's out to destroy the covert agency that did her wrong.

Besides all those dramas, there's also laughter available from the new autumn lineup – if you choose carefully.

¦ Fox's 'Raising Hope' is a riotous return to the unrefined world in which 'My Name Is Earl' resided. On this show, also created by Greg Garcia, a directionless lad becomes an unexpected father – and recruits his dysfunctional family to help him with his worthy new role.

¦ Another promising Fox comedy 'Running Wilde', stars Will Arnett as a lofty, self-involved scion of an oil company who is trying to win favor from a lovely, but equally daffy environmentalist (Keri Russell).

¦ NBC's 'Outsourced' ships a management trainee for a Kansas City-based novelty company to its relocated call center in India. Not only is this sitcom painfully timely, but hilarious.

¦ Not so good is CBS' romantic comedy 'Better With You', which reunites Jennifer Finnigan and Josh Cooke (remember this appealing pair from the much-funnier sitcom 'Committed' back in the 2005-06 season? No?) as a couple who have been living together for several years, then feel upstaged when her younger sister abruptly gets engaged.

¦ Nearly unwatchable is CBS' 'Mike & Molly', which tries to present a relatable romance between a portly man and woman, but undercuts the humor with easy jokes and cheap gags about being fat.

¦ And what about the much-talked-about sitcom, '(Bleep) My Dad Says'? Starring William Shatner as a cantankerous senior, the pilot was a disappointment and this CBS series is being overhauled. So we'll wait and see if (bleep) ends up as its operative word.

Happily, there's more than that to say about the new autumn season overall.