vanished

• At 8, ABC has a new Wife Swap, followed by the premiere of The Bachelor: Rome.
• CBS has new episodes of The Class, How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, Old Christine, and CSI: Miami, starting at 8.
• NBC has a new Deal Or No Deal at 8, followed by new eps of Heroes and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
• FOX has a new Prison Break at 8, then a new Vanished.
• There's a new 7th Heaven on The CW at 8, followed by a new Runaway.
• Food Network has a new Emeril Live ("Home Ec 101") at 8, followed by a new Unwrapped, focusing on "Shakes."
• At 9, USA has a new Monday Night RAW.
• IFC has The Tao of Steve at 9.
• At 10, Food Network has a new The Secret Life Of..., about quick and easy meals.
• Showtime has a new Weeds at 10.
• Also at 10: Spike has something called UFC Octagon Girl Search. I have no idea what that is.

CBS won the ratings battle last night, with more good numbers for Jericho at 8 (beaten by Dancing with the Stars on ABC, but still good - looks like viewers from the first ep are sticking around), Criminal Minds at 9, and CSI: NY at 10. CBS was first overall on the night, with ABC second and FOX third (those numbers are the same for the all important 18-49 demo too).

But over on NBC? Kidnapped just isn't finding any fans. Which is too bad, because it's the good season-long-kidnapping-conspiracy drama this season (compared to Vanished). Is it the time slot? Is CSI: NY the best show, like, EVA? Or are people just getting weary of season long continuing dramas that might get canceled?

• At 8, CBS has a new The Class, followed by new episodes of How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, Old Christine, and CSI: Miami.
• FOX has a new Prison Break at 8, followed by a new Vanished.
• ABC has a new Wife Swap at 8.
• There's a new Deal Or No Deal on NBC at 8, followed by the series premiere of Heroes and a new Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
• The CW has the season premiere of 7th Heaven at 8, followed by the series premiere of Runaway.
• CNBC has a new Conversations With Michael Eisner at 8, featuring SNL-ers Martin Short, Steve Martin, Alec Baldwin, Tracey Morgan, and Lorne Michaels.
• At 9, Lifetime has the new movie My Silent Partner.
• USA has a new Monday Night RAW at 9.
• Food Network has a new The Secret Life Of..., focusing on movie snacks.

Every television season has its trend. After The Cosby Show premiered in 1984 the trend was toward family sitcoms. In the late 90's and the early 21st Century reality shows and nighttime game shows dominated the schedule. Last year, the trend was towards science-fiction and supernatural shows like Surface, Invasion, Threshold and, well, Supernatural.

This year is no exception as the very prominent trend is leaning towards the serial drama or comedy. Now, before you get all defensive I know that the serial has been around since the dawn of television, particularly in the daytime soap operas and previous shows such as Dallas, Dynasty, and Melrose Place. And, I also know that shows like Surface, Invasion, and Threshold, as well as the late-lamented Heist could all be considered serials. But, this year seems different because it looks like a good number of these shows could actually last the whole season and beyond.

This is a bad thing. Would you like to find out why? Then, jump ahead, my doubting friend.

• At 8, FOX has a new Prison Break, followed by a new Vanished.
• ABC has two new episodes of Wife Swap at 8, followed by a new Supernanny. What a terrible night of television on ABC.
• CBS' new fall starts tonight at 8, with The Class, How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, Old Christine, and CSI: Miami.
• NBC has a new, two-hour Deal or No Deal at 8, followed by the series premiere of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
• Also at 8: WE has a very entertaining movie, Quick Change, with Bill Murray and Geena Davis. It's repeated at 10:30.
• At 8:30, ESPN has Monday Night Football, the Steelers vs. Jaguars.
• At 9, USA has a new WWE Monday Night RAW.
• PBS has a new Great Performances at 9, with the Vienna State Opera 50 Anniversary Reopening.
• At 10, Food Network has a new The Secret Life Of..., focusing on road houses.
• There's a new Weeds on Showtime at 10.

• At 7, USA has more of the U.S. Open.
• At 8, FOX is repeating the first two episodes of Vanished.
• NBC has a new Dateline at 8.
• UPN has a new Friday Night Smackdown! at 8.
• TLC has two new episodes of Take Home Chef at 8, followed by a new What Not To Wear.
• A&E has the special Child Stars: Their Story, which has a bunch of former child stars discussing fame, including Patty Duke, Malcolm Jamal-Warner, Billy Mumy, Todd Bridges, Fred Savage, Jackie Cooper, Danny Bonaduce; Sara Gilbert; Melissa Gilbert; Tony Dow; and Jerry Mathers as the Beaver.
• HBO has The 40-Year-Old Virgin at 8.
• At 9, CBS salutes Dan Rather with A Reporter Remembers.
• At 9:30, TCM has two classic sci-fi flicks from the 50s: The Incredible Shrinking Man and It Came From Outer Space.

1. The Emmy Awards (NBC)
2. 60 Minutes (CBS)
3. CSI (CBS)
4. CSI: Miami (CBS)
5. Pirates of the Caribbean (ABC)
6. Without A Trace (CBS)
7. Law and Order: SVU (NBC)
8. Prison Break (FOX)
9. House (FOX)
10. CSI: NY (CBS)
11. Vanished (FOX)
12. Two and a Half Men (CBS)
13. Criminal Minds (CBS)
14. Big Brother - Thurs (CBS)
15. Big Brother - Sun (CBS)
16. Big Brother - Tues (CBS)
17. Without A Trace - Sun (CBS)
18. Grey's Anatomy - Thurs (ABC)
19. Cold Case (CBS)
20. Emmy Awards Pre-Show (NBC)

• At 8, CBS has the JC Penney Jam: The Concert For America's Kids, with Mary J. Blige, Kenny Chesney, Andrea Bocelli, and others. It's followed by new episodes of Big Brother: All-Stars and Rock Star: Supernova.
• NBC has a new Fear Factor at 8.
• Also at 8: ESPN has two new episodes of The World Series of Poker (the main event starts), while ESPN2 has more of the Little League World Series.
• At 9, FOX repeats the series premiere of Vanished.
• Discovery has a new Dirty Jobs at 9, followed by two new episodes of Stunt Junkies.
• Bravo has a new Work Out at 9, followed by a new Queer Eye.
• Spike has the very first James Bond flick, Dr. No, at 9.
• HBO has Acts III and IV of Spike Lee's When The Levees Broke. It's on at 9 too.
• At 10, Sci-Fi has a new ep of Eureka.
• There's a new Rescue Me on FX at 10.
• GSN has a new ep of The 50 Greatest Game Shows of All-Time at 10, with games 10 and 9.
• BBC America has a new Love Soup at 10.
• At 10:30, Food Network has a new Ham on the Street.

How do you describe Fox's new criminal drama Vanished? Well, combine the premise of Without a Trace with the technology shown on CSI, expand one episode to cover an entire season, and have all of the suspects become main characters on the show. Oh, and thrown in so many twist and turns that your head begins to spin.

You can also describe Vanished this way . . . a pretty decent show.