It's always tempting at this time of year to look for patterns where perhaps none exist. With four confirmed cancellations ('Charlie's Angels,' 'The Playboy Club,' 'How to be a Gentleman' and 'Free Agents') and several on-the-bubble new shows ('Pan Am,' 'Prime Suspect,' 'Body of Proof'), the only real theme (besides being awful) is a tendency to take themselves too seriously. I do take some satisfaction from seeing all the nostalgia shows die an early death. Apparently the one thing 'The Playboy Club' team didn't look up about 'Mad Men' were the ratings -- a couple million viewers. It was also the only thing they were able to duplicate.

If it seems like we just saw Kevin Dillon on 'Entourage,' that's because we did. But he's back already, and he's playing pretty much the same guy on 'How to Be a Gentleman' (Thu., 8:30PM ET on CBS). That said, he's not the titular gentleman ... or is he?

The name is based on a column written by Andrew (David Hornsby), while Bert (Dillon) is a guy who used to bully him in high school. But when Andrew's magazine forces a new direction on him, suddenly a guy like Bert is exactly who he needs to be trying to understand.

Suburgatory - Wednesday September 28, 8:30PM ET/PT, Citytv/ABC

A little bit 'Mean Girls,' a little bit 'Easy A,' this new sitcom goes for the fish-out-of-water gambit, when a single dad (Jeremy Sisto) pulls his precocious teen daughter out of Manhattan and settles them both in a suburban town where the social scene is even more broken. The father-daughter relationship is as warm and lovely as anything on 'Modern Family' and many of the jokes are just as funny. Plus Cheryl Hines is hilarious as a woman trying very hard to be Barbie.