television

Ken Burns' six-part series, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea," will make you want to swoop like an egret in the Everglades, romp like a young gray wolf over lichen-covered rocks in Yellowstone.

This gorgeous 12-hour series -- a project that took six years to film -- will air on PBS at 8 p.m. EDT on six consecutive nights beginning Sunday.

Acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns turns his documentarian eye to the national park system in the 12-hour story "The National Parks: America's Best Idea," debuting 8 p.m. EDT Sunday on PBS.

PASADENA, Calif. - Filmmaker Ken Burns should be the best ambassador for his new film, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea." But Shelton Johnson, one of Burns' interview subjects, may have him beat.

Fox premieres the new comedy "Brothers" on Friday with two back-to-back episodes, which does the show no favors. The first episode (8 p.m. EDT) is not great but there are a couple of funny moments and it's fun to see CCH Pounder, so tough on "The Shield," back in a comedic role.

In the first season of "Dexter" (9 p.m. EDT Sunday, Showtime), it made sense to put the smiling serial killer who dispatches other murderers in jeopardy. The tension of "Will Dexter Get Caught?" created a rich atmosphere that helped make Dexter sympathetic despite his status as TV's blood-spattered anti-hero.

Long gestating as a spinoff of "Family Guy," Fox's "The Cleveland Show" arrives Sunday (8:30 p.m. EDT) and proves to be just as rude-crude as its progenitor. But there is a key difference: "The Cleveland Show" has more warmth that flows from its gentle title character, Cleveland Brown (voice of Mike Henry, also the show's co-creator).

Since the premiere of "Lost" in 2004, networks introduced a surfeit of serialized, large-ensemble, mythological dramas, but this fall there's really just one: ABC's "FlashForward," which begins with an adrenaline-fueled, disaster-movie-worthy pilot (8 p.m. EDT Thursday).

The family comedy gets a welcome and winning update in ABC's "Modern Family" (9 p.m. EDT Wednesday), the fall's best new sitcom.

ABC's "Eastwick," based on the John Updike novel that was also the basis for the 1987 Jack Nicholson-Cher-Susan Sarandon-Michelle Pfeiffer movie, attempts to be a fun, frothy enchanting TV show. But it fails to cast a spell.

The premiere is 10 p.m. EDT Wednesday.

NBC's new nurse drama may prompt viewers to shout its title in exasperation.