"American Horror Story," a freaky new horror series from the team who brought us "Nip/Tuck" and "Glee," is easily the most polarizing new show of the fall season. Among television critics, there's very little gray area: you're either into it, or you despise it.

I think I'm into it.

I admit up front I have no idea what Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk are trying to do here. But I do know that "American Horror Story" is among the scariest things I've ever watched.

The series follows a couple as they move their teenage daughter to Los Angeles to try to heal their marriage and make a fresh start. The problem is they move into the most haunted house in the history of haunted houses. We're talking "gaping Hellmouth" kind of haunted. There are no romantic vampires or buff werewolves in this house. Right down to the last nail in the last creaky floorboard, this is a house of pure, ugly evil.

The fourth season of "Damages" premieres tonight on DirecTV (the show previously aired on FX). To celebrate the return of one of our favorite shows, we're giving away a DVD set of "Damages" Season 3, which just went on sale yesterday.

Season 3 borrowed from the Bernie Madoff scandal and featured amazing performances from guest stars Lily Tomlin, Martin Short, and Campbell Scott (as well as "Damages" regulars Glenn Close, Rose Byrne, Ted Danson, and Tate Donovan).

To win, send me an email with your name and mailing address. I'll draw a winner randomly from those entries. I'll take entries until midnight this Sunday (July 17).

If you don't win, the gorgeous Sony Home Pictures Entertainment set lists for $39.99, but you can usually get it a little cheaper than that (Amazon has it for $19.99 right now).

WINNER! Congratulations to Justin from Greenville! 

A lot of what you need to know about FX's new sitcom about a man and a dog can be deduced from the show's explanation of their TV-MA rating. "Wilfred," FX explains, is not suitable for people under the age of 17 and episodes may carry one of the following ratings: V for graphic violence, S for explicit sexual activity, or L for crude or indecent language.

You also need to know that the show, while incredibly crude, is also incredibly funny.

The premise of "Wilfred" is that a depressed man, played by Elijah Wood, forms an unusual friendship with his neighbor's dog, Wilfred (Jason Gann). Except while the rest of the world sees Wilfred as a regular dog, Wood's character, Ryan, sees and interacts with a gruff Australian man in a dog suit.

Wilfred, it turns out, is a bad dog. A very bad dog. Wilfred steals, vandalizes, manipulates, smokes pot, and abuses stuffed animals. He gets Ryan into all kinds of trouble, but is he really getting Ryan into trouble, or is Ryan imagining these interactions and self-sabotaging his own life?

Praise Elmore! The much-anticipated second season of "Justified" finally returns tonight (10pm, FX).

I've watched the first three episodes and there's not a whole lot to say about it without giving away plot points, except for this: Season 2 is every bit as fantastic as Season 1. Fans will love every second Timothy Olyphant's white hat-wearing, gun-slinging federal marshall Raylan Givens is on the screen, and they'll beg for more screentime from Walton Goggin's complicated bad guy, Boyd Crowder.

The first episode's action picks up immediately after last season's game-changing shoot out. Raylan has some loose ends to tie up, and that takes him back to Miami. And then there's also the matter of handling his worthless father and tracking down Boyd, and while working a sex-offender case. It's all good stuff.

I feel a twinge of apprehension as I realize I'm getting hooked on another stellar FX show, so soon after being hurt by the cancellation of the network's superb "Terriers." Will I fall in love with another cast of compelling FX characters to be heartbroken when I find I'm one of only a handful of viewers?

Let's hope not, because "Lights Out," a new drama about a retired boxer contemplating a comeback, is extremely good (I recently described it to someone as "a way way way way way way way better 'Rocky V'"). And I think "Lights Out" has better odds than "Terriers" right off the bell because (a) the show's title makes sense to potential audiences, and (b) the promotions for "Lights Out" actually feature photos of a boxer (promotions for "Terriers," a show about two private detectives, inexplicably featured a picture of a dog, which made people think it was a show about, you know, a dog.).

"Lights Out" stars Holt McCallany as Patrick "Lights" Leary, a former heavyweight champ who lost his last fight (and the heavyweight title) five years earlier in a controversial decision. Under pressure from his wife, Lights retired from boxing, but that fight still haunts him.

 
FX has canceled 'Terriers.'

I'm blaming all of you.

Going to a special place in my head right now...

(And next time someone says to me, "There's nothing but crap on television," I hope I don't have a baseball bat in my hands.)

FX just released a new trailer promoting the upcoming Season 2 of "Justified," a wonderful drama based on the stories of Elmore Leonard, and starring Timothy Olyphant (right). The trailer seems to mostly be a recap of the first season, but it's still very cool. If you missed the first season, do yourself a favor and get over to iTunes or Amazon Video, or be on the lookout for the dvd release. Season 2 debuts in February 2011.

Click below to watch the trailer.

"Terriers" (FX, 10 tonight) was created and executive produced by Ted Griffin, the man who wrote "Ocean's Eleven," and executive produced by Shawn Ryan, the man who created and produced "The Shield."

I mention that upfront because in just two episodes you can tell "Terriers" is a perfect mix of what you'd expect of those two men. It has snappy, funny, realistic, salty dialogue. It has some grittiness, focusing on two damaged anti-heroes, and you root for them. The world they inhabit is corrupt, but deceptively sunny and bright. And it's packed with great characters.

Monday night's "Lie to Me" will be a big treat for fans of "The Shield."

Several cast members from "The Shield" guest star in the episode (titled "Pied Piper") in which Cal (Tim Roth) and Zoe (Jennifer Beals) witness the execution of a man Cal helped nab, but who may be innocent.

I love Louis C.K.'s stand-up, and few people are funnier talk-show guests. But I admit I was no fan of his first attempt at a television show, HBO's "Lucky Louie." I tried to like it, but the vulgarity-to-comedy ratio skewed way too far into the humorless vulgarity spectrum for me (with "humorless" being the more offensive of those crimes).

There's still plenty of vulgar humor in his new show, "Louie," debuting with back-to-back new episodes tonight on FX, but it's so perfectly balanced and so funny, that even the really squirmy parts go down easy.