As I was starting this review, a commercial for CBS' "Person of Interest" came on, a nice coincidence since like "Touch" (9 tonight, Fox), it too has a post-9/11 perspective.

"Person of Interest" sees the world post-9/11 through darkened lens; Big Brother is watching, we need a crusader to work against a machine that knows when our number is up, and yet the future is murky. "Touch" takes a more soulful view. It suggests that what's been lost in the last decade is what binds us.  It is a show about our need to connect, a near desperate need, and the ways we can and we do, whether we are aware or not.  Unfortunately, while I can get behind that idea, I can't throw my full support behind "Touch."

"Alcatraz" - DVR Record Series Options: ALL NEW EPISODES.

Easy call. If the first two episodes of Fox's new mystery-drama "Alcatraz" (8 p.m. tonight) are any indication, I'm enthusiastically in.

The premise of this captivating new JJ Abrams show is that when the legendary Alcatraz prison shut down in March of 1963 and prisoners and guards were transferred off the island, 302 of them vanished into thin air. Then suddenly, the missing people begin showing up one by one in present day San Francisco. The action of the show flips back and forth in time from 1960 (or 1963) to 2012.

The missing, dubbed The 63s, are being tracked by federal agent Emerson Hauser, played by a scowling Sam Neill. Neill, who can be menacing in the role, has a unique connection to The Rock and to the missing 63s. Sarah Jones plays San Francisco detective Rebecca Madsen, one of those beautiful-but-slightly-damaged TV cops that every crime show apparently needs. Her damage (at least the damage we know about so far): her last partner was killed in front of her in the line of duty and her parents died when she was a child. She was raised by "uncle" Ray (Robert Forster), who was a guard on Alcatraz, as was her long-deceased grandfather.

We have a special guest reviewer today with his thoughts on Fox's new animated series, "Napoleon Dynamite." Tom Edwards  lives in Raleigh and is a Systems Administrator for a local engineering firm, but also writes for websites like Popbunker.net and Geek Shui Living. He a husband and father of three sons, and describes himself as a baseball and comics geek. You can follow Tom on Twitter at @mrworkrate or read his blog, Buhner Dot Com.

When it comes to TV and films, there’s a concept I like to call the “Titanic Paradox.” It’s when a TV show or film comes out and everyone you know sees it, tells you how great it is, and how you have to see it, so much to the point that you don’t want to watch it, just out of spite. Titanic, the James Cameron opus that told us what would happen if the History Channel and Lifetime ever had a big budget baby, lends its name to the principle.

For me, "Napoleon Dynamite" was one of those films.

You can see it in the easy bromance between Geoff Stults and Michael Clarke Duncan. You can see it in the assortment of oddball Florida swamp characters. You can tell by the fact that suddenly you're being treated to a John Fogerty jam. "The Finder" (Fox, 9 tonight) has potential.

So even though this first episode doesn't quite gel, I have a feeling we shouldn't give up on this show.

If you didn't see the "Bones" episode that introduced the characters, "The Finder" is Walter Sherman (Stults), a war vet with a brain injury that gives him the ability, and the unceasing desire, to find things. His best bud Leo (Duncan) is kind of his manager, but he also has this wise man protector thing going too. They live and hang out at a bar called the Ends of the Earth on Looking Glass Key, along with Willa Monday (Maddie Hasson), a young grifter, who may or may not be reforming her ways. They've also got a Deputy U.S. Marshal friend (Mercedes Masohn).

Jaime Pressly has an Emmy under her belt and Broadway star Katie Finneran has two Tony Awards.

Yet, these two accomplished actresses have somehow gotten stuck with what might be the worst new show of the fall season.

"I Hate My Teenage Daughter," a Fox sitcom about two best friends who were losers in high school and are now tormented by their popular, mean-girl teen daughters, is so atrocious that it actually makes me feel sad.

Pressly, who won a much-deserved Emmy in 2007 for her role as Joy on "My Name is Earl," makes the most of what she's given here -- which isn't much. But Finneran has the worst of the bargain, given a histrionic character so emotionally insecure that she has to cram food into her face at the slightest sign of stress.

Time is winding down for DirecTV and News Corporation to work out some kind of deal.

The two are in the middle of nasty contract negotiations, with both sides warning customers that some Fox channels (FX, Fox Sports South, Speed, National Geographic, Fuel, Fox Movie Channel) will go black on November 1 if an agreement isn't reached. So far, no agreement, but it's likely they'll at least decide on a short extension before midnight tonight (3 a.m. Eastern deadline).

I'm sure everything will get worked out. It always does, right? But then again, I also said that about Aetna and UNC Hospitals/Rex Hospitals, and I'm almost 9 months into having nearly unusable health insurance, so don't go by me...

FX airs "American Horror Story," "Sons of Anarchy," "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," and "The League."UP

UPDATED: The New York Times reports that a channel blackout has been averted.

8:30 tonight, Fox

It’s actually Allen Gregory De Longpre, a 7-year-old boy with the sophistication of an adult -- an adult you’d find pretentious and obnoxious. Think “Family Guy’s” Stewie, older, without the British accent, and the disarming quality of being a baby no one can understand.

Allen Gregory lives with his two dads, the doting Richard (French Stewart) and the disrespected Jeremy (Nat Faxon). He also has an adopted Cambodian sister Julie (Joy Osmanksi), who was bought online. Money woes force the boy into public school with kids his own age. On the first day, he comes to the school cafeteria with a Bento Box; inside is sushi and chilled pinot grigio.

Terra Nova
Monday, 8 p.m. on Fox

I'm not usually much for futuristic stories or dinosaurs, so "Terra Nova" is exactly the kind of show I shouldn't like, even if it is executive-produced by Steven Spielberg.

But. This has Jason O'Mara ("Life on Mars") who is irresistible, and the show's two-hour pilot is pretty exciting.

"Terra Nova" begins at the dawn of the 22nd century when the world is on the verge of environmental collapse. It's a grim, gray, totalitarian existence. No sunlight, no vegetation, no fresh food. The air is dirty and depleted of oxygen. The only hope for a future is the discovery of a time fracture which allows people to travel 85 million years into the past, to the Terra Nova Project.

The first glitch is our family, the Shannons, have violated strict population control laws by having a third child, and this lands Jim Shannon in prison. His prison-to-Terra-Nova path is the weakest part of the pilot. Luckily, that doesn't take up much time, so don't give up if the beginning drags for you.

"The X-Factor"
Wednesday, 8 p.m. on Fox 

Yes, "The X-Factor" is a lot like "American Idol."

But based on the 12-minute presentation reel made available by Fox (the same network that airs "Idol"), it's like someone (Simon Cowell) took "American Idol" and revamped it, making it totally fresh and exciting.

The similarities between the shows are pretty obvious: "The X-Factor" is a singing competition show and two of the judges are Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul. The biggest difference is that there's no age limit for the contestants. Also, groups can compete. And the first time the judges (Cowell, Abdul, former Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger, and former Chairman of Island Def Jam L.A. Reid) see the contestants, the singers are on a stage with full musical backup and a big, live audience. But even though the performers have presumably already made it through a round or two of auditions to get the spot before judges, that doesn't mean there aren't also some clunkers and weirdos (because they know we like that stuff too).

"New Girl"
Tuesday, 9 p.m. on Fox

Either I was in a terrible mood the three times I watched this or I'm immune to the charms of the admittedly adorable Zooey Deschanel, but I found this a teeny bit disappointing (Disclosure: nearly everyone else counts this as one of their favorites of the season).

Hear me out. Zooey plays Jess, a goofy girl who is dumped by her cheating boyfriend and ends up with three male roommates who don't quite know what to make of her. The premise is fine, and the dialogue is often funny. But there are times when "charmingly goofy Jess" morphs into "annoying Kristin Wiig SNL character," and that's where they lose me. I buy that Jess is nerdy and offbeat, but I'm supposed to buy that the same girl who wears a cute black dress out with the guys later dons overalls for a hot date, and needs her supermodel best friend to come over and dress her in normal clothes? There are other Jess situations/habits that fall into the "A Little Bit Goes A Long Way" category, and the writers should be mindful of that.

All that said, "New Girl" has lots of promise (Justin Long will have a recurring role) and I'm not giving up! And there's a great rendition of "I've Had the Time of My Life" at the end that makes up for the other missteps. Damon Wayans Jr. ("Happy Endings") appears in the pilot but will be replaced by Lamorne Morris in subsequent episodes).