Comedy Show: My Name is Earl, NBC

The Gist: Earl (Jason Lee), a beer-swillin’, trailer-park livin’, chorus-girl-marryin’ petty thief, has made a list of everything he’s ever done wrong. He sets out to make right, one misdeed at a time. Earl just wants to be a better person.

Why it’s worth watching: Wrapped in trailer-park, laugh-out-loud humor, the core of the show is atonement. Earl has committed some ridiculous misdeeds: Made his brother lose a high school football game to fix his gambling ring; Faked his own death to escape a relationship; Burned down a barn at the “Right Choice Ranch” for troubled youth. Wild as his transgressions (and the repayments) are, the show treats the basic concept of atonement with respect.

Caveats: Although atonement is a Christian ideal, Earl looks to “karma” for inspiration. Plus, the show walks a line of edgy humor that sometimes slips into raunchiness. *** Show: Everybody Hates Chris, CW

The Gist: Chris Rock turns the camera on his childhood, with his parents determined to not let him get into any trouble in Brooklyn.

Why it’s worth watching: The show is a funny and encouraging take on growing up black in America. Chris (Tyler James Williams) is too scared of hard-working and penny-pinching dad Julius (Terry Crews) and tough-as nails-mom Rochelle (Tichina Arnold) to stray from the straight and narrow. His younger sister and brother torment him. As the only black boy in his school, he has to navigate racial expectations as well as neighborhood bullies. It’s a lot to handle when all you really want to do is meet cute girls.

Caveats: No caveats. This show deserves wider exposure. *** Show: The Simpsons, Fox

The Gist: Rascally Bart, sanctimonious Lisa, baby Maggie, tightly wound Marge and bumbling dad Homer meander through an inane world.

Why it’s worth watching: Satire in its purest form. Nothing escapes the eye of The Simpsons. The family remains intact. Whatever happens, Homer loves Marge, Marge loves Homer (although we may wonder why), and they love those kids.

Caveats: It doesn’t seem as funny when the satire is turned on you. Absurdly cheerful Christian neighbor Ned Flanders and the droning minister are set up along with conservative politicians. But maybe it’s good for us. Watch with a healthy sense of irony. *** Show: Reba, CW

The Gist: Reba McIntyre stars as Reba, a mom holding it together after her husband leaves her and her teen daughter gets pregnant.

Why it’s worth watching: Reba deals honestly with the long-lasting pain of a family split-up. Everyone is affected by the fall-out, yet humor and strength make things better. Steve Howey, as the daughter’s jock husband Van, and Melissa Peterman as ex-husband’s new ditzy wife Barbara Jean, bring hilarity to the set. Also, it’s one of the few sitcoms on air in which the children are part of the action and not just props.

Caveats: No caveats. This show deserves more credit than it gets. Unfortunately, it’s unclear if it will make it into the lineup at the new network CW. Reality TV Show: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, ABC

The Gist: Ty Pennington leads a crew of designers to build a new home for a deserving family each week.

Why it’s worth watching: Ty and his team demonstrate true compassion, educating themselves about the special circumstances of the family, respecting their strength, and quite often shedding sympathetic tears. Then they do something about it. Compassion is moved to action.

Caveats: No caveats. Watching is actually beneficial for kids, especially when discussed the next day at the dinner table. *** Show: Antiques Roadshow, PBS

The Gist: Antiques experts appraise your grandmother’s necklace, your great uncle’s letters, and that doohickey you found in the closet.

Why it’s worth watching: The first great reality show, each episode is a little history lesson. The reactions of people finding out their antique sideboard is a fake or their old blanket is worth $500,000: Priceless

Caveats: May encourage hoarding. *** Show: The Amazing Race, CBS

The Gist: Teams of two speed through an international race with occasional tasks to complete.

Why it’s worth watching: Pure competition without excuses. The team that arrives first wins. Some teams show grace and grit, while others exhibit pettiness. Only those who give it their all, and get a few lucky breaks, make it to the next round.

Caveats: Sometimes we wonder what the Vietnamese rickshaw drivers, the Indian bricklayers, and the Argentinean cowboys think of the crazed Americans that rush through their world. *** Show: Nanny 911, Fox; Supernanny, ABC (two different networks, two different shows, essentially same format)

The Gist: A nanny comes into an out-of-control home and teaches the parents to, well, parent.

Why it’s worth watching: These days, some parents need to be taught that it’s okay to say no to the children, discipline wrong-doing, expect children to help out in the house, and demand respect. Good thing. Anyone who has been to a park recently realizes that children need civilizing.

Caveats: Sometimes the turn-around in the family is hard to believe. What is the voodoo behind the scenes? Dramas Show: CSI: Miami, CBS

The Gist: Horatio Caine (David Caruso) leads an unnaturally attractive crew of Crime Scene Investigators in solving murders in Miami.

Why it’s worth watching: Caine is a stand-up guy in a world populated by tormented heroes. His goals are simple: to put bad guys away, and to protect victims. He never shoots a perpetrator in cold blood, no matter how badly the bad guy needs shooting. He never turns his back on a victim, no matter how sordid the victim’s life. In addition, Caine is a Roman Catholic and his faith informs and permeates his work. A good man is hard to find; Horatio Caine is a good man.

Caveats: The story lines of the murder victims can be tawdry at times and the depiction of bodies is grisly. *** Show: The 4400, USA

The Gist: A bright ball of light deposits 4400 disoriented people on the shore of a Washington lake, people who had vanished over the last sixty years. They have no memory of where they have been or who had taken them, but have begun to develop extra powers. Sure, it sounds strange, but it works somehow.

Why it’s worth watching: The 4400 and those around them wonder why they’ve been put on Earth, what their purpose is, who is controlling their destiny, and whether the controllers are ultimately good. An extreme scenario becomes a metaphor for existential questions.

Caveats: The 4400 can get confusing. Acting and writing are sometimes less than ideal. ***

Show: LOST, ABC

The Gist: A planeload of passengers, each with a secret past, is stranded on a mysterious island where nothing is as it seems. Polar bears, other crashed vessels, scary smoke columns, mysterious bunkers, and a creepy band of “Other” humans keep everyone on their toes.

Why it’s worth watching: Lost is the Rorschach inkblot test of TV shows. Everyone has a theory about what the island is. Is it a quasi-governmental conspiracy? Is it a psychological experiment? Or is it a supernatural place: purgatory, heaven, or hell? With a strong philosophical bent, (important characters are named and modeled after John Locke and Rousseau), the show explores the conflict between faith and science, guilt and redemption, self-preservation and communal good. Oh, and attractive people sometimes kiss.

Caveats: It’s easy to get lost yourself if you miss an episode. *** Show: Battlestar Galactica, the Sci-Fi Network (No pocket-protector or extensive knowledge of computer code required.)

The Gist: Set in a universe in which humans have colonized many planets, but have found no other intelligent life, Battlestar Gallactica takes place during and after a disaster. The cylons, human-like robots that we created, attack the 12 human-inhabited planets, wiping out all but 500,000 people. The refugees, huddled on a few rusty spaceships, must elude the cylons while trying to find a mythical place called Earth.

Why it’s worth watching: The aftermath of the Cylon attack resonates with our 9/11 experience. The Cylons, although robots, feel pain, experience love (to their surprise), and worship one god. However, it’s unclear if they can choose to act against their programming. They see humanity as inherently flawed and are willing to enforce what they see as perfection at the end of a laser beam. This becomes the central question of the series: What differentiates Cylon from human beings? Perhaps to be human is to be inherently flawed. Along the way, other themes emerge such as faith in disaster, survivor’s guilt, secret betrayal, and retaining democracy in desperate situations. Thorny love triangles, difficult working relationships, and family woes further complicate lives. Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell headline an amazing cast. Each character is crisp, their desperation is palatable, their humanity (or cylonity) apparent.

Caveats: This is the best show on television. Turn off the phone, put the kids to bed, and heat up some popcorn. Make sure to start with the miniseries, available on DVD, but set aside some time. Once you start, it’s hard to stop. – Rebecca Cusey writes from Washington, D.C.